When you're accosted by a burley Aussie with a great big bushy ginger full-kanga (thats Oz for beard for the uninitiated) who grabs you by the lapel and forces a flyer into your hand and threatens to sing all 8 verses (inc choruses) of Waltzing Matilda you kinda feel obliged to agree to go to his show. “Is it funny?” I ask rather timidly. “Yes, in parts”, he answers … [Read more...]
Raphael Wakefield: Wengerball at Edinburgh Fringe
Cards on the table: I have to declare a non-interest. I’m a Spurs supporter. This is a solo show about Arsenal. The Wenger Years to be precise. So if you support Arsenal you’ll adore this show. Though if you love football, and don’t follow Arsenal, then I believe you’ll still appreciate this show. Even if you love football but support Spurs and are not too keen on … [Read more...]
MUSIK at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival | Review
We first met Billie Trix back in 2001 at the Arts Theatre, London, where as nightclub host / singer/ predator/ libertine she lit up the night like fireworks in Closer To Heaven. Well, you can't get much closer to heaven than witnessing her return to the stage - or this “shitty little circus tent” as she likes to refer to the (wonderful) Bijou venue in George Street - … [Read more...]
Orlando at Pleasance – Cellar (EdFringe) | Review
Wasn’t quite expecting a gentle and affectionate mash-up between Virginia Woolf's Orlando and vegan sausage rolls but, hey, this is the Edinburgh Fringe where, in my experience, anything goes - the good the bad and the unusual. I'm pleased to report that Lucy Roslyn's one-person eulogy falls into the first and third of those categories, an intriguing and entertaining … [Read more...]
Penelope Rawlins Productions Pigeons at Hen & Chickens Theatre
There are a lot of pigeons that come into my garden. I see the sleek, sylph-like dove variety, swooping and pecking and flitting away PDQ. Then there are the big, fat waddlers who gorge themselves on the bread and then attempt to take off like ungainly jumbo jets, only just about getting airborne and retracting their undercarriages as they flirt with the top of the … [Read more...]
Want the Moon present Shadows at the Tristan Bates Theatre
Even the glasses are white. Shadows is set in a bar and the beer kegs, the cupboards, the crates, the cutlery, the wine rack and wine bottles, the limes (yes) and the mop and bucket are all spray-painted white which, in front of a black backdrop, makes for a very nice design feature (no credit on the programme). Ultimately, whether it helps us understand the narrative … [Read more...]
The Censor by Anthony Neilson at the Hope Theatre
Subtlety and nuance. No, not a firm of solicitors, but two essentials, in my view, when the subject, on stage, is erotica. Extreme erotica. The Censor begins promisingly as it, quite cleverly, lays out the parameters for a debate about censorship in film. Ten minutes in though, the play truly jumps the shark as the “female pornographer”, in attempting to persuade a … [Read more...]
Review of Custody at Ovalhouse, London
This is a powerful, invigorating, seismic, and ultimately chillingly disturbing show brought to life through performances by a quartet of on-the-money-actors supported by a high-quality creative team. Conceived by Urban Wolf, who also performs, in collaboration with writer Tom Wainwright, Custody is a tour de force about a tour of the force, the Police Force, that … [Read more...]
Right to Remain Silent at Chapel Playhouse | Review
Interminable, monotonous drumming pre-show, some old, tatty furniture, four women in bright red overalls, an oppressive, heavy-handed, jack-booted style State, over-use of badly balanced narrative sound fx and, you’ve guessed it, a play set in the future: i.e. Right To Remain Silent has all the hallmarks of an average A-Level devised piece which, unfortunately, never … [Read more...]