This show is a belter! You will be taken from giggles to goose-bumps and back again and feel all the better for it. Witty, toe-tapping and thoroughly mesmerising, the only time your mind will drift is when you start fantasy-shuffling the original cast recording for your trip home and realise it’s not yet available - dammit! At which point you will then want immediate … [Read more...]
About Mary Beer
Rejoicing At Her Wondrous Vulva The Young Woman Applauded Herself
With its promise of ‘Brain and Clitoris sparring for power’, I really wanted to rave about Bella Heesom’s play. Sadly, I can’t. The production values are high, the performances are solid, the observations witty and knowing. But Rejoicing At Her Wondrous Vulva The Young Woman Applauded Herself is a series of interstitials attacking straw-man platitudes drawn from the … [Read more...]
Review of Sexy Lamp at Clapham Omnibus
The title of Katie Arnstein’s original one-woman show refers to Kelly Sue DeConnick’s ‘Sexy Lamp Test’ which determines if a female character is relevant to the plot of an artistic work or merely decoration. If the role could be replaced by an item of kitsch table-top lighting without changing the story, it has failed the Sexy Lamp Test… a sadly common occurrence in … [Read more...]
Don’t Look Away by Grace Chapman at the Pleasance | Review
Grace Chapman’s new play is a thoughtful and oftentimes charming domestic drama about humanity, purpose and acceptance that makes us re-examine our notions of duty and how it, along with the national myth of ‘British fair-play’, are hollow conceits. Through protagonist Cath (Julia Barrie), Chapman brings us to the moment when a headline turns into a human being and … [Read more...]
Have I None at the Etcetera Theatre | Review
Edward Bond’s Have I None is an ideal choice for London pub theatre and the spring of 2019 is optimal timing for a revival of this haunting 2000 one-act play. Anyone with an interest in the rich tradition of British political theatre (from David Edgar to Caryl Churchill to Lucy Prebble), or in theatre history more generally, needs to spend some time with the works … [Read more...]
Little Death Club at Underbelly Festival Southbank | Review
Bernie Dieter’s ‘punk kabarett’ act headlines the Southbank’s Underbelly Festival with a perfect blend of classical Weimar subversion and modern escapism. For the purist, LITTLE DEATH CLUB has all the essential high-quality cabaret features: torch song, droll drag comedy, circus spectacle and - with added frisson for a British venue - extra-butt-clenchingly … [Read more...]
Mouthpiece by Kieran Hurley at Soho Theatre | Review
You should go see Kieran Hurley’s Mouthpiece at Soho Theatre (running until 4th May) if only to catch a rare glimpse of one of the great Hamlets in the making. Lorn Macdonald’s performance as artistic teenager, Declan, living a chaotic existence of hand-to-mouth poverty in contemporary Edinburgh is breath-taking. This 2015 graduate of The Royal Conservatoire of … [Read more...]
Orestes – Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Charlotte Gwinner’s ambitious undertaking of one of Euripides’ most confounding plays, ORESTES, delivers visually-stunning imagery but struggles to find a fresh dramatic direction for this ancient play. Billed as a ‘radical re-telling’, Gwinner’s ORESTES offers a radical re-staging but, based on Kenneth McLeish’s 1997 translation, does little to modify the … [Read more...]
Class by Alyce Louise-Potter at Tristan Bates Theatre | Review
Alyce Louise-Potter’s verbatim two-hander does the remarkable: it takes subject matter that is literally the essence of Marxism and manages not to preach, but instead rather warmly conspires with the audience. Class employs ‘recorded delivery’, whereby the documentary subjects’ interviews are played in the performers’ ears via headphones as they simultaneously convey … [Read more...]