REVIEW: The Rest Of Our Lives
Reading Time: 2 minutesJo Fong is a dancer and George Orange is a clown. In The Rest of Our Lives, the two’s performative superpowers converge to create a piece of cathartic joy.
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REVIEW: Joe Carstairs
Reading Time: 2 minutesStoneCrabs Theatre’s Joe Carstairs makes its way to Omnibus Theatre’s 96 Festival this June. The piece tells the story of queer ancestor Joe Carstairs, in all their tricky complexity.
REVIEW: May 35th
Reading Time: 2 minutesCandace Chong Mui Ngam’s lauded play May 35th makes its English-debut at Southwark Playhouse Elephant this May. Having played to repeatedly sold-out crowds in Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan, Amnesty International has assisted to bring this ground-breaking production to a UK audience.
REVIEW: Sunday on the Rocks
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe acclaimed play Sunday on the Rocks by Theresa Rebeck receives a new display at the Bread and Roses Theatre, taking this much-admired piece that had Rebeck regaled as the ‘voice of a generation’ and repositioning it for the intimate space of a pub theatre.
REVIEW: Is There Work on Mars?
Reading Time: 2 minutesWritten and performed by Yafei Zheng, Is There Work on Mars explores the illogical racism of immigration systems.
REVIEW: The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar)
Reading Time: 2 minutesWritten by Nia Akilah Robinson, The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar) is an ambitious play that takes on a heady topic with creative care and great sense of structure. The heart-breaking themes are given brevity with Robinson’s witty humour. The excellent performances by the cast are heightened by Kalungi Ssebandeke’s wise direction. Ssebandeke’s keen use of space cultivated a piece that gave Theatre503’s small theatre the energy of an ever-expansive universe.
REVIEW: The Book of Grace
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe Book of Grace, originally written by Suzan-Lori Parks in 2009 and revised in 2011, receives a new audience at Arcola Theatre this May. The play’s director, Femi Elufowoju jr, breathes new life into this text, honouring its rewrite whilst infusing it with the “boundaries and limitations we set ourselves” as U.K. spectators. Having worked with Suzan-Lori Parks herself, Elufowoju jr takes this companion piece to Park’s canonical Topdog/Underdog and absolutely runs with it. The seething tensions is palpable, the performances breath-taking, and the lighting and set design truly remarkable.
REVIEW: February Face
Reading Time: 2 minutesWritten and starring Keelan Kember as Ed, February Face explores how we negotiate and talk about mental health with a thoughtfully laid out and sentimental narrative. Ed is a young man struggling with anxiety, a panic disorder in particular. Thinking himself to be alone in his battle, he attempts to ignore it, placating his symptoms by boozing at the pub with his friends. He meets Lily (Olivia Mills) with whom he is quickly smitten. As their relationship grows and they learn more about each other, anguish and heartbreak seem bound to follow.
REVIEW: Dave Hill: A Caveman in a Spaceship
Reading Time: 2 minutesSpeeding into Soho Theatre’s Upstairs black box space on a bicycle, clad in a funky helmet and purple unitard/jumpsuit bedecked in various accoutrements, Dave Hill let the audience know exactly what they were in for from the very top of the show. The outrageous entrance, which somehow left no one injured, gave the initially stuffy audience a much-needed shock to get them a little out of their comfort zone and ready for some giggles (and perhaps, even, a guffaw.)
REVIEW: Sappho
Reading Time: 2 minutesSappho, the canonical 6th century Ancient Greek poet, is plucked from history and deposited into the focus of this play, entitled Sappho.