REVIEW: Playing Latinx
Reading Time: 2 minutesIf you’re down to go to an at times funny, regularly awkward yet surprisingly deep course on the subject, you should stop by the Soho Theatre to see Playing Latinx.
Category Updates
REVIEW: Manon Lescaut
Reading Time: 2 minutesI think I can comfortably assume that the English Touring Opera’s production of Manson Lescaut at the Oxford Playhouse is vastly different from its first performances in Turin, 1893. Director and librettist Jude Christian’s fascinating biography of recent work had me on tenterhooks for the main event, and her revival of this Puccini classic did not fail to excite the senses and turn the classical world on its head.
In Conversation with: Guido García Leuches
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe sat down with Guido García Leuches ahead of his show, Playing Latinx arriving at the Soho Theatre, 10 - 13th April, for the late night slot.
REVIEW: Alright, Alright, Alright
Reading Time: 2 minutesStrategically placed cardboard boxes set up along with desks, are used to not only create the outlines of an office but as usable objects within the characters' space. This flexible set is cleverly worked into character movements and scene changes. Bright coloured lighting and pop cultured music really work well and bring the play to life. The performers are dressed in modern and at times stereotypical clothing but with the cast playing different characters it works. A packed theatre and a real buzz from the audience helped to elevate the play’s comedy.
FEATURE: Scene Change
Reading Time: 6 minutesBallet classics can contain beloved dance and music – but also outdated cultural stereotypes. Can we reimagine them? Phil Chan offers a sound solution to problematic music.
REVIEW: Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle
Reading Time: 2 minutesMind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle at the Apollo Theatre, is inspired by a character originally seen in the Magic Goes Wrong show, curated by Mischief Comedy, forming from a group of LAMDA students who took their shows to Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Their series of performances have taken the West End by storm for just over ten years.
REVIEW: Assembly Hall
Reading Time: 2 minutesCrystal Pite endeavours to ponder upon this query together with her dancing ensemble Kidd Pivot, coming back to UK with her latest Assembly Hall, a story she co-creates with Kidd Pivot's resident playwright Jonathon Young. It elaborates a group of medieval re-enactors who come for their annual meeting in their local community hall, a set ingeniously designed by Jay Gower Taylor, where a shabby basketball racket stands high and lonely, a nostalgic reminder of the old days when people spend plenty of time in communal spaces and being with others. The group faces a pivotal decision: to dissolve or not, decided by their vote. As the narrative unfolds, the awakening of a knight from the past blurs the lines between the real and the medieval re-enactment, rolling the story into turmoil, chaos, and the knight's eventual demise — foreshadowed in the beginning.
REVIEW: Metamorphosis
Reading Time: 2 minutesMetamorphosis at Camden People’s Theatre, devised and curated by Nina Rosaline Brostrøm, invites us into the telling of cyclical life on Earth with transformative eye-catching costumes. Exhibited here, we watch three small stories of transformation and literal metamorphosis through physical theatre, ambient music and movement.
REVIEW: The Lonely Londoners
Reading Time: 3 minutesRoy Williams’ familiar eloquence when writing characterful monologues, and his raw commentary on England are evident in his new adaptation of Sam Selvon’s classic novella ‘The Lonely Londoners’.
FEATURE: Barrowland Ballet’s Chunky Jewellery
Reading Time: 2 minutesLeading contemporary dance company Barrowland Ballet present the world premiere of new production, Chunky Jewellery across International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day.