Even in the best circumstances, growing up can be difficult and experiences during childhood can have a profound and long-lasting impact on the adult we become; furthermore, social and economic background can have a huge influence on a child’s future, because while social mobility has improved over the past decades, there is still a lot to do to ensure equal opportunities for everybody. So, what does the future hold for a teenage girl having grown up having to take care of a younger sister and a … [Read more...]

I cannot say I am a super fan of real-life murder investigations, but every so often I do listen to a few factual crime podcasts and I have a slight fascination for investigative journalism and for people trying to find a solution to mysteries that can be decades old. So, when I saw the poster at the Vault Festival about a dark comedy, a cold case and a mystery podcast I was intrigued and got myself a ticket. What the Dolls Saw is an all-female dark comedy presented by House of Macabre, … [Read more...]

This show is inspired by the 1939 novella from Austrian writer Joseph Roth and tells the story of a drunken homeless man called Andreas living in London that one day receives a thousand pounds from a City banker trying to make a good gesture and redeem his life. Andreas, an illegal immigrant from Eastern Europe, is reluctant to accept but then he is convinced, and the City banker asks him to repay the money back to St Therese in Westminster Cathedral, whenever he wishes. This starts a chain of … [Read more...]

Simon David is gay, and this is made abundantly clear from the beginning when dressed in sequin suit, fishnet vest and beret, David opens the show with a very catchy and energetic musical number involving a stair and loads of exaggerated dance moves. In less than a minute the audience is laughing and singing with David, having a wonderful time and I am glad for choosing this performance to start my 2020 Vault Festival experience. If like me you are not familiar with David, he is a … [Read more...]

Let’s make an exception and start from the conclusion so that if you read only one paragraph from this review you will get the most important message. Catch of the Day is a superb show, achingly funny, with great traditional Irish songs and a cast of incredibly talented actors/singers/musicians, the like of which I have not experienced in a while. I laughed, I sang, I clapped, and I even learned a thing or two about Irish history and joined the whole audience in a well-deserved standing ovation … [Read more...]