Hide and Seek is a story with conflict running through its very core. The story of two very different people who are trapped in the pigeon-holes society has put them in, struggling to come to terms with their own identities when they are pressured to be people they are not and are finally freed to be themselves in the claustrophobic single setting of the play. Written by Tobia Rossi and directed by Carlotta Brentan, Hide and Seek explores the relationship between two school-age young … [Read more...]
Pecs: Christmas Queer at The Pleasance | Review
With the seemingly ever-increasing media promotion of a certain ex-club kid and his Drag franchise, Drag Queens have arguably never had a higher mainstream profile. Sadly this is less so, I find, for Drag Kings. With less exposure to Drag King shows, I did wonder if for Pecs: Christmas Queer, the muses might have been left to run wild and free however they saw fit and our Christmas this year might be lifted by some unexpected, boundary-pushing performances - even within the theme of the … [Read more...]
Ginger Johnson presents Ginger Johnson’s Christmas Egg | Review
Advertised as ‘an evening of camp laughs, filthy looks, and all the usual shiny shit you’ve come to expect’, Ginger Johnson’s Christmas Egg manages to firmly under-sell itself. There’s very little ‘usual’ to be found in this impressive array of off-beat acts, the filthy looks expand into filthy comments and filthy jokes, and the laughs are plentiful and far-ranging from camp to full belly. Even if this year hadn’t been woefully lacking in laughs, Ginger Johnson’s acerbic wit is a welcome … [Read more...]
The Off Key by Scott Mackie at The White Bear Theatre | Review
With a ‘heart on sleeve’ honesty that’s warming to the core, The Off Key is a modern musical that offers genuine laugh out loud moments, tear-jerkers, and everything in-between. It’s the oldest tale known to man; boy and girl meet, fall in love, have monogamy issues, and have a long and messy breakup. But told through the medium of pop/rock/musical theatre songs in an acoustic singer/songwriter performance style. The show advertises that it “begins where most love stories end” and in … [Read more...]
User Not Found at The CoffeeWorks Project | Review
None of us can deny that we live in a digital age. Love it, hate it, or anything in between - we all have some kind of presence online and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling occasionally that web life is almost as important as the ‘real world’ flesh and blood one. And, this age of social media, chatrooms and apps has been around for a while now. Some of us - not me that I know of, fingers crossed - are running out of corporeal days (a 404 Runtime Error on Life.exe, if you will). As a society … [Read more...]
Night Of The Living Dead Live! at The Pleasance Theatre
As a huge, huge fan of George R Romero’s work and with his sad passing in 2017 (without coming back in the style of his creations, disappointingly), I was excited to see a theatrical adaption of the ground-breaking film Night of the Living Dead advertised at the Pleasance Theatre. As a fan (huge, huge as described earlier), I wasn’t sure how the film would work on ‘the boards’ and while I could see that as a two-setting piece it would work better than many of Romero’s other works, I was … [Read more...]
Among Angels at the Courtyard Theatre | Review
Everyone has a dark side, right? And as such every part of our community too? So it’s no surprise that the LGBT community is no exception and of course, some of these darker elements are quite well known these days but perhaps the lesser discussed or publicised side of this is the influence of drugs. The war on drugs has been going on for more years than I can count even with my shoes off and it’s still the case that many people would rather pretend it’s not a problem or doesn’t exist. So, … [Read more...]