Two people in a world where communication is a limited resource. Trying to find the right words when you only have so many. How would that affect your life, your voice, your relationships? That’s the world we find ourselves in with Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at Applecart Arts in East London. The theatre is a small space like a gym hall in a school, with a sparse staging of black blocks and a monitor that repeatedly shows countdowns from 140. If you’re a heavy internet user, you’d be … [Read more...]
Review of Ruthless! The Musical at London Arts Theatre
What lengths will people go to for their dreams? In Ruthless! The Musical, as far as it takes. We meet Judy Denmark (Kim Maresca), a housewife in a 50s style house, where she lives with her daughter Tina (Anya Evans), a talented singer and dancer at age eight, who is already popular in the local community. Enter manager with ambition Sylvia St Croix, who becomes a strong influence on Tina, nudging her further down a path she was already on the edge of when the school is to set up a production … [Read more...]
Shrink Theatre’s Northfields – a really interesting experience
Some evenings as a theatre reviewer you have to step into a 1970s mental hospital and experience the events as they unfold, as part of the staff. Upon entering the old church in Canning Town, we were asked to go through the right or left doors, not knowing what that meant. We chose left, were given lanyards and instruction, we were now junior doctors being shown the ropes before the patients were led into the room, a collection that was both casts and fellow audience members. What followed … [Read more...]
Kiki’s Delivery Service at Southwark Playhouse – Review
Kiki’s Delivery Service is most commonly known as a 1989 animated film produced by the acclaimed Studio Ghibli, which was an adaptation of the 1985 novel by Eiko Kadono. The novel has now been adapted again as a play by Jessica Sian at Southwark Playhouse, directed by Kate Hewitt. Having previously seen the Southwark Playhouse’s excellent production of Howl’s Moving Castle, another novel previously given the Studio Ghibli treatment, expectations were high for this production. The plot is … [Read more...]
In Love and Warcraft at Theatre N16 – Review
What’s the most used tropes about people who play video games, and nerds in general? That they are overweight, socially awkward virgins who live in their parents’ basements. As a lifelong female nerd, I got really excited when I saw the poster for In Love and Warcraft, and I got even more excited when I heard it was written by a woman and with a female lead. Awesome! I was hoping for a more nuanced look at gaming and women’s relationship to gaming, and that’s not what I got. Instead, In Love … [Read more...]