Twenty-seven-year-old Bertie is lost, adrift in the chaos that is the modern metropolitan existence. She flees the city and takes refuge in a sleepy seaside resort, house-sitting for her cousin, where she indulges in a depressive spiral, with enough self-awareness to identify the narcissistic indulgence of the privileged millennial, but too little to escape. Until … [Read more...]
Flotsam by Claire Erasmus at Canal Cafe | Review
This is the story of two women with little in common, and the formation of an unlikely bond, as their tales converge and combine. We first meet the damaged Jo (Jennifer Aries), desperate and alone on a beach, haunted by an ancient evil, shuffling a deck of precisely no cards. Aries gives a performance of agonising emptiness, director Barry wringing out the … [Read more...]
Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell at The Olivier Theatre | Review
The set is a multi-layered cacophony of Americana. A seven-piece band casually slip into their places as the house lights dim. Hermes the messenger (Andre De Shields) saunters on stage with reptilian grace and, flaunting a bejewelled waistcoat, greets the audience. The massive room shrinks, becomes intimate, as a congregation forms. Trombone (Nathaniel Cross) strikes … [Read more...]
Say My Name! – The Unauthorised ‘Breaking Bad’ Parody Musical
The 60 plus hours of Breaking Bad sets a new standard for epic drama, and Walter White is the iconic tragic figure of the early 21 st century. He and the damaged, beautiful Jessie Pinkman are the Lear and Cordelia of our age. Reimagined as a musical comedy by Rob Gathercole, one of a talented band of mostly Rose Bruford alumni, the show manages to combine the … [Read more...]
Flotsam a new play by Claire Erasmus at the King’s Head Theatre
Flotsam is a new play by emerging writer Claire Erasmus. It is a gripping exploration of our own mortality explored through the undeniable power of female friendship starring Jennifer Aries of BAFTA award-winning Call the Midwife, The Tunnel and Ripper Street. When an eternal optimist goes for her early morning swim in a quiet seaside town she encounters a messed … [Read more...]
Breathe written and directed by Lucrezia Pollice at Tristan Bates Theatre
Breathe pans across the struggles of four housemates living in London trying to successfully accomplish their dreams. Personal secrets, fears and dreams emerge as their lives intertwine, revealing the importance of friendship in the face of anxiety and depression. Will they choose security or transform their fears into fuel to conquer their dreams? A superb play, … [Read more...]
People Change by Jordan Gray at the Also Festival Warwickshire
One of the best self-written shows, and the most strikingly original voice, that you will see this year. This was an assured and energetic performance from a talented young performer; cartwheeling through the chaos of her life as the poster girl of a new sexual revolution. This is a bold and radical change of direction for the vocalist formerly known as Tall Dark … [Read more...]
Review of Biting Block Theatre’s Catching Up at TheatreN16
Best friends at Uni, the cool and collected Becka nursed the needy and naive Flo through three years of Spanish at Bristol, clearing up her sick, paying off taxi drivers and always ‘being there’ for her vulnerable buddy. But did she really see Flo as a human being; or as an acolyte, a posture to better display her gilded ego? A working-class chum as the perfect … [Read more...]
God the Untold Story written by Jason Fite | Review
Exhausted by the trauma of creation, the being known as God takes on the form of a human female. Immortal and omnipotent, she is subject to the vulnerabilities of her shell. Dismayed by the incompetence of her (mostly male) acolytes, she retreats to Heaven, a golf club and health spa in Surrey. As portrayed by Suzy Bastone, she is an entitled middle-aged woman; … [Read more...]
Review of 0 Days Without Crying at Landor_Space
This is the fourth dramatic work by playwright, published writer and performer Caterina Incisa, and it’s premiere in London following development and performance in Montreal. Funny, poignant and well observed, the quality of writing sets this work apart from the others that use the somewhat hackneyed premise ‘millennial coming to grips with life’ as the basis of … [Read more...]
Review of It’s Not Cute Anymore at Theatre503
A development production billed as a comedy, but more accurately a farce with absurdist overtones, by two alumnae of the Soho Young Writer’s Programme. Best described as a contemporary reboot of ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ written by Lena Dunham. Eddie and Patsy: The early years, reimagined as cliched millennials. Set in the editorial office of a tacky lifestyle magazine, … [Read more...]
Breathe at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre – Review
This is a shrewdly observed dark comedy about coming of age and friendship in the modern age. Twenty-something Maria has taken to adulthood like a duck to a jet turbine. Her flat-mates, Rachel a teacher, and Eddie, a budding entrepreneur, are already off the bottom rungs of the career ladder, leaving Maria, an aspiring writer and reluctant barista, increasingly … [Read more...]