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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 ...

Opera: Aida

The Royal Opera continues in its current trend to show flesh with its slightly naughty version of Aida. I caught up with it on opening night last week, and this new production looks great. And with plenty of partial nudity, it can be a little distracting. While it has been a controversial choice in staging, I thought it helped since I really don't care for Aida as an opera - a small story blown out into epic proportions that goes on forever. Still, conductor Nicola Luisotti also gets a great sound out of his orchestra and chorus (if perhaps not his soloists). His thoughts on the opera are captured in the latest podcast from the Royal Opera as well.

Opening night was also a charity fundraiser with HRH in attendance (wheeling in his wife), so the standard of dress was a little bit better than usual at Covent Garden as well... It runs until 16 May and worth catching.

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