Eliana

REVIEW: That’s Not My Name

Published on April 16, 2024April 16, 2024 by ElianaLeave a comment

An irreverent and unique piece of art, which keeps you laughing while your consciousness opens to different understandings of humanity

Spectacular, borderline, both at the same time. That’s Not My Name is a provoking play engaging the audience’s senses from the beginning. The performance quite smartly plays between the edges of energy on stage, flashy colours and simplistic scenography. In fact, the minimalistic scenery plays along very nicely with the flamboyance of the musical performances in the play. A combination of ambivalences that kept captivating the audience’s attention throughout the play.

The script and the performance offer a very well artistically crafted critiques to the way mental health and dis-orders are understood, or rather institutionally imposed under different labels and categories. It is almost impossible not to appreciate the rawness of the monologues, and the vulnerability of a narrative that manages to touch the audience as it felt quite personal and open. It is easy to question psychiatric categories when put so simple as the play did, and probably not just the categories, but also the entire system of institutionalisation of mental health. Such complex topics were quite easier to digest when combined with a significant amount of laughter throughout the play. The play can make you feel joy, critical, breathless and some references could be uncomfortable for some persons. Thus, few disclaimers or trigger warnings would have been welcomed in terms of aggressive behaviour on display and other mental health references.

All in all, the performance masters the comedy to keep the audience between borders: between the joy of the laughter and the consciousness of the serious topics touched upon. That’s Not My Name is an irreverent and unique piece of art, it will keep your jaw busy laughing while your consciousness open to different understandings of humanity.

REVIEW: Dad is Not My Friend

Published on March 21, 2024 by ElianaLeave a comment

A talented cast brings this interesting story line exploring migrant families to life

Dad Is Not My Friend delves into the dynamics among three youths and their migrant parents. Struggling with the dichotomy of honouring tradition while assimilating into their birth country, they stumble upon a formidable AI with the capacity to profoundly alter their destinies. Echoing the authoritarian grip of their families, fuelled by apprehension and aspirations for fresh starts, the AI’s potential for surveillance and manipulation parallels their familial control mechanisms

Fresh, contemporary, insightful. Dad Is Not My Friend is a very well reflected piece of art. A combination of humour, sing-along, musical, incorporating a very real digital-human interaction, while at the same time, addressing the complex real global technological issues which society is not discussing enough. Adding to this mix of flavour, the play also shows how contemporary digital trends also impact differently current inequalities, social class and race, nowadays.

The play resonated strongly with current technology trends, such as artificial intelligence, highlighting the significant power it holds in our lives now . The way it addressed these themes was very refreshing, but also, highly relevant and thought-provoking. The cast was incredibly talented showing their multiple creative skills throughout the play. Kudos to the musical performances throughout the play, which felt quite open-hearted, and musically neat.

Dad Is Not My Friend was an astonishing performance, leaving a open-ended conclusion for the audience to interpret, and create their own closing scenes.

REVIEW: Gamble

Published on February 27, 2024February 27, 2024 by ElianaLeave a comment

An emotional rollercoaster, while conscious of such a delicate reality we all should learn more about

A bold performance from the beginning to the end. Gamble captures the audience’s attention, entertaining big laughs while addressing important issues about online gamble addiction in the UK. The show is impressively balanced between offering fact-checked information about such a delicate topic, while maximising the glamour of online gambling in a refined fashion. Indeed, you can feel inside of an online game in crucial moments during the show.

The combination of honest storytelling and a well written play is outstanding in Gamble. As audience you will experience the raw moments and emotions of addressing gamble addiction in the context of a romantic relationship, and family settings. The transitions between first-person narrative, to the extravaganza of the flashy colours of gambling telling the story, to the evidence-based information and lived experiences is just mind-blowing. As if this was not enough, the audience involvement during the show, just made the show incredibly powerful.

The actors on stage were absolutely fabulous. It is highly impressive that the cast managed to include the BSL interpreter in the story very strongly, to the point that one could feel her acting on stage, and not only present as a decorative accessibility feature. I could hear out loud the voice of the BSL interpreter in the story, and that says a lot about a real inclusive creative process in mind. Something I have not ever seen before in British theatre. In a nutshell, Gamble is a rollercoaster of emotions, laughter, consciousness and awareness of such a delicate reality we all should get more information about.

More bold voices speaking in first person, from lived experiences, with an raw open heart is definitely what British theatre needs. Gamble is a remarkable example of this.