Stephen Schwartz's 1971 musical Godspell is probably not his most famous work, it is, however, the first one I became aware of when, aged 13. I was granted a solo in my church choir's performance of Prepare Ye which, it turns out, was nothing like Schwartz had originally intended (and not just because I was slightly out of tune). When I arrived at Cadogan Hall this evening I was expecting some quiet and gentle songs based on Bible stories. Those of you who are even slightly familiar with … [Read more...]
Witness for the Prosecution at London’s County Hall
The Mousetrap is perhaps Agatha Christie's most famous offering to London Theatre, but there's another Agatha Christie across town which is just as gripping. The Witness for the Prosecution is a courtroom drama, following the trial of Leonard Vole who is accused of murdering his rich friend. He looks certain to be hanged - even his wife, Romaine, has become a witness for the prosecution - but then a mysterious woman appears with some potentially life-saving evidence. One of the best things … [Read more...]
La Realidad/The Reality written by Denise Despeyroux | Review
What is reality? That is essentially the overall question that this play asks. As twin sisters on different sides of the world talk to, and manipulate, each other, it is clear that their recollections of the same childhood are remarkably different. What’s more, their whole lives have been shaped by their feelings, Lucy retreating to the other side of the world and discovering Buddhism, Andromeda studying psychology and becoming progressively angrier. Denise Despeyroux's complex script is … [Read more...]
The Elephant in the Room at the Hen & Chickens Theatre
We're overrun at the moment with stories of women struggling to be taken seriously and to break through the glass ceiling in a male-dominated business environment, but who would have thought this problem was just as rife in the criminal underworld of South-West London in the 19th and 20th centuries? The Elephant in the Room shatters any illusion that Victorian gangs were a male-dominated world, presenting the true story of Alice Diamond and her all-female gang the ‘40 Elephants.’ The problem is … [Read more...]
My White Best Friend and Other Letters Left Unsaid at The Bunker
"Straight, white, able-bodied males to the back, queer, ethnic minority females front and centre." The first line of the show. Later on class was used to arrange the audience too and so, as a straight, white, middle-class female, I found myself on the fringes of the audience from the get-go and that is where I stayed both physically and metaphorically for the rest of the evening, and that's exactly where I needed to be. My White Best Friend and Other Letters Left Unsaid is a fantastic … [Read more...]