London theatre reviews written by Faye Stockley.

Monica Salvi is touring her re-vamped production of Mad Women in my Attic! This included two intimate nights at London’s premier Cabaret Venue Crazy Coqs, part of Bar Zedel. I was fortunate enough to attend her second date. The show is a musical production exploring the female malady addressing mad women in all their glory. The piece illustrates that madness isn’t just typecast to one form. Salvi instead presents a musical of madness and lunacy through the vehicle of modern-day musical … [Read more...]

For those of you familiar with the Underbelly Festival you’ll know that when it comes to cabaret their programming and curation for the Spiegeltent have been superb. The last few years have boasted world-class variety, drag and burlesque performances and this year is no exception with Yummy: Iconic. This 60-minute show is a tour-de-force of culturally relevant, sparkling and glittertastic cabaret performed by a troupe of artists at the top of their art form: Bendy Ben, Jarred Dewey, … [Read more...]

When I think of Victoria Wood, I smile, I have a very clear memory of her sitting at a piano, wearing a blazer with sleeves rolled up, smiling at the camera, singing, and making me laugh. The song I always remember is the Ballad of Barry and Freda and that iconic line “Beat me on the bottom with the Woman's Weekly let's do it, let's do it tonight!” I’d imagine many Brits have a similar memory due to her prolific TV appearances starting in the late 70s until her death in 2016 - Victoria Wood, As … [Read more...]

The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, produced by Damsel productions, is currently running at The Soho Theatre until 11th June. I went along and was totally blown away! Everything about this production is first class, the writing, staging, lighting, sound design, casting and the performance levels. Damsel Productions have added all the ingredients to make this a 5-star production. The Piece is set around a lesbian choir in Soho. We meet the choir’s seven fully paid-up members and choir … [Read more...]

I was fortunate to catch Emily Davis at Jazz Bar, Toulouse Lautrec Kennington last week where she performed the first Edinburgh preview of her new one-woman show, Blodwen's in Town. At just under an hour in length, Emily's one-woman show is a character piece called Blodwen's in Town: Blodwen, an ebullient Welsh 30-something regals stories from her past; her family, her move to London from a small village in Wales. The piece is a mixture of songs and stories with a few costume … [Read more...]

I was fortunate enough to secure a seat at the final performance of The Dan Daw Show at Battersea Arts Centre this week, and I wasn’t disappointed. For the full run the show has been designed with audience care in mind; meaning the performance is captioned and relaxed. There is also a long list of triggers highlighted to you as you enter the performance space, these include; Kink experience, sexually explicit depictions, the reaching of physical limits, bright and/or flashing lights, blackouts, … [Read more...]

I'm not sure about you, but at this moment in time, I am crying out for light comic relief, and with Stretch Marks and Broken Hearts, currently playing at the Etcetera Theatre, it is exactly that. The piece could be described as a 21st-century take on a kitchen-sink drama - working-class protagonists, living their day to day, nothing extraordinary happening, just life in challenging circumstances, 4 people: 2 couples, living on the bread line, heating costs going through the roof, having to … [Read more...]