Month June 2024

REVIEW: Tell Me How It Ends

Reading Time: 3 minutesTell Me How It Ends is a product of the Young Everyman Playhouse Writers programme and is writer Tasha Dowd’s debut into the world of theatre writing… and what a debut! The two-person, one act performance, directed wonderfully by Gitika Buttoo, follows the story of Aster and Marc as they navigate friendship, mortality, and what it meant to be Queer during the AIDS epidemic in the late 80s and early 90s. References to literature and pop culture were abound – as well as mentions of iconic clubs from a bygone era of Liverpool’s queer scene. It is clear that a lot of research went into this script, and it was masterfully done. You would be forgiven for assuming that Dowd was writing from their own experience.

REVIEW: Brahms Requiem by Candlelight

Reading Time: 2 minutesAttending the recent performance of Brahms Requiem by Candlelight at St. Martin-in-the-Fields was a truly beautiful experience. The historic and elegant architecture of St. Martin-in-the-Fields provided a breathtaking backdrop for the evening. The atmosphere was enhanced by the warm glow of candles. For those not familiar with the concept, candlelight concerts at St. Martin-in-the-Fields are renowned for their intimate ambiance. The soft, golden light from the candles creates ethereal surroundings that perfectly complements the evening's music, making it always an evening to remember.

REVIEW: The Angel Riots, bloody and out of love

Reading Time: 2 minutesAlexander Gallimore’s abstract and spirited play ANAMORPHIA is a grand piece of art which is truly expressionistic. Starring only two actors- Alexander Gallimore and Meeri Aro the use of space and physicality is magnificent. The story follows the two characters' journeys through hardship and ultimately questions the type of homophobia created through religion. 

REVIEW: With Nail and Without Nail

Reading Time: 4 minutesMaria Telnikoff insists you don’t have to have seen the 1987 British film Withnail and I to enjoy her modern, feminist reimagining, but I admit it was this very premise that had me rushing for a chance to review it. The cult classic has captured the imagination of anyone who has dreamed of making it in the harsh reality of the creative industries, ever since Richard E Grant and Paul McGann first staggered about ‘60s Camden in fraying coats to match their fraying relationship, and my friends were no exception. Sitting around in a series of chilly Edinburgh flats as a student, Withnail and Marwood’s irresponsible play-acting as grown ups justified our behaviour; we saw part of ourselves in their ricocheting between moods and dingy pubs, uncertainty about the future quashed with another tinny and the promise we’d always have each other. The romantic notion of the ‘struggling artist’ withers under the lights in Bruce Robinson’s film - both eponymous characters went to ludicrously expensive private schools, and when the day-to-day existential angst exacerbated by an ever-growing mountain of washing up gets too much (‘I think there may be something living in there’, pleads Marwood in a pivotal scene), they can capitalise on their privilege of having a conveniently loaded uncle with a house in the Lake District to escape to.

FEATURE: Fuerza Bruta is back with a euphoric new show, AVEN 

Reading Time: 4 minutesIn 1997, a group of young Argentians calling themselves De La Guarda were touring an exhilarating but almost totally unclassifiable theatre show called Villa Villa throughout North America. Twenty-seven-years later, company co-founder Diqui James recalls that they were in Montreal when they discovered that they were on the front cover of Time Out London. 

REVIEW: Swan Lake in-the-round

© Ian Gavan

Reading Time: 2 minutesSwan Lake in-the-round at the Royal Albert Hall, choreographed by Derek Deane, involves 60 swans and is divided into four acts. Though initially skeptical at quite this many sections to the performance, they each feel the perfect length, with a short pause following act one and intervals after the second and third acts. As each act concludes the audience is left marveling at the beautiful choreography and phenomenal dancers, but every section is more mesmerising than the last, with new costumes and featured dancers bringing exciting perspectives and storytelling. Performing in the round allows the audience to watch each individual dancer whilst also seeing them flawlessly come together to create an ensemble.

REVIEW: Hole

Reading Time: 2 minutesHole was originally written and performed by Hannah Morrish at Jermyn Street Theatre in May 2021. This new production, running at the Old Red Lion Theatre until 22nd June, is performed and produced by Central School of Speech and Drama trained Matsume Kai, and directed by David Fairs and Conor O’Kane (co-founders of critically-acclaimed theatre company Golem!).