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High anxiety: Collapse - Riverside Studios

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It’s a brave or maybe slightly provocative production to use Hammersmith Bridge on their artwork for a show called Collapse, which is about how everything collapses—poorly maintained bridges, relationships, and jobs. Nothing works. That’s probably too close to home for Hammersmith residents stuck with a magnificently listed and useless bridge on their front door. It gets even weirder when you realise the piece is staged in what looks like a meeting room with a bar. However, keeping things together in the most unlikely of circumstances is at the heart of Allison Moore's witty and engaging four-hander, which is currently having a limited engagement at Riverside Studios . The piece opens with Hannah (Emma Haines) about to get an injection from her husband (Keenan Heinzelmann). They’re struggling for a baby, and he’s struggling to get out of bed. But he managed to give her a shot of hormones before she started worrying about the rest of the day. She’s unsure she will keep her job with ...

Bar tips 101

Chinese New Year was as good an excuse as any to have a few celebratory drinks this weekend, but:
  • Try not to make too much of a scene when encouraging intoxicated friends to sing key songs from Dreamgirls (although helpful to keep unwanted punters at bay)
  • Don't confuse old blonde woman in bar for Jessica Lange post Glass Menagerie matinée
  • Beware that slightly-familiar yet good looking guy in the bar who is checking you out... He may be the star of a children's programme you avidly watched 15 years ago...

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