Reading Time: 2 minutesWritten, directed and performed Ofra Daniel, A Song of Songs rewrites the story from the Hebrew Bible with a feminist perspective (not really), embodying its inherited eroticism but minimalising its religious context.
Reading Time: 2 minutesWritten and performed by Ed Oulton, Barrier to Entry attempts to explore and examine the failures of the UK education system through the story of Connor, a young lad from Liverpool who fails his GCSE math several times.
Reading Time: 2 minutesSince Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet in 1965, no Shakespearean play has even been transcribed into ballet. This is somewhat in conceivable: how can you translate the epitome of Shakespearean language into sole physicality while still retain the substantial qualities of his plays? Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon took this challenge in 2014 together with composer Joby Talbot, successfully transforming The Winter's Tale into another in-house Shakespearean repertoire of the Royal Ballet. Now, a decade later, Wheeldon revisits this masterpiece with some upgraded technologies, but preserves the essence of this tragicomedy.
Reading Time: 2 minutesA Spectacle of Herself is a solo show written and performed by Laura Murphy and directed by Ursula Martinez.
Reading Time: 3 minutesTwo Strangers aims to portray another rom-com that, according to one of its writers, Kit Buchan, happens between real, normal people: "people who don't have any particular talent, burning ambition, remarkable backstories, high-powered jobs, or stacks of excess cash." Therefore in this story, we meet our hero and heroine: Dougal (Sam Tutty), a British boy coming to New York for the first time who has never come to NYC before, and now heading for his estranged father's wedding; and Robin (Dujonna Gift), a New Yorker whose older sister is about to marry Dougal’s father in just one day.
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe 1884 Berlin Conference, also known as the West Africa Conference, marks a pivotal milestone in the history of European colonialism in Africa. It is often neglected in history and in the UK - a country constantly shunning its own colonial history. Rhianna Ilube, together with Coney, a Charity specialist in immersive experiences, decides to retell its underpinning story through an innovative game-theatre experience.
Reading Time: 2 minutesCheeky Little Brown, under the pen of Nkenna Akunna, explores this duality of love through the character of "Lady", a young woman who craves love but struggles with her own ability of loving others.
Reading Time: 2 minutesIt is such a privilege to enjoy a double bill by Pegasus Opera Company with double surprises: two pieces of underrepresented operas by modern composers telling stories of normal people instead of kings, queens, and nobles, performed by musicians from underrepresented racial backgrounds.
Reading Time: 2 minutesFlabbergast Theatre’s production A Midsummer Night's Dream is, in the best sense, a farcical tale of fairy and mismatched love that a Victorian audience would expect.
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe creative team of Dirty Hare, comprised of Lydia Higman, Julia Grogan, and Rachel Lemon, masterfully presents their capability of crafting a non-fictional theatre about historical archives. By mixing up the historian (Lydia Higman) acting as the narrator and a cast of three (Julia Grogan, Hannah Jarrett-Scott, and Norah Lopez Holden) performing around twenty characters including neighbours and juries, this production offers a plethora of delightful surprises to the audiences that I almost feel spoiled.