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Iron Maidens: Iron Fantasy at Soho Theatre

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Two women chase the elusive six-pack in Iron Fantasy, only to embark on an unexpected journey exploring what it truly means to be strong in today’s world. In a culture that demands visible strength and power, they subject themselves to lifting, protein powder-guzzling, and raw-egg drinking. Interestingly, consuming raw eggs elicited many squeamish reactions from members of the audience. None has obviously been to Cabaret to see Sally Bowles guzzle prairie oysters. But in the search for the attributes that make someone strong, a little more is revealed about being a young woman in the modern world. And that strength comes from a number of ways. It’s currently playing at the Soho Theatre .  It’s part performance, part musical, and part interviews, as writer-performers Shamira Turner and Eugénie Pastor, who make up the theatre performance duo She Goat, don a variety of silly costumes and play a range of musical instruments on their journey researching strength, fighting, and pumping i...

Theatre: Eurydice

Vox Pops Dr 3 F9 480p (16x9) from David Newell on Vimeo.


Eurydice takes greek mythology and gives it a twist focusing on the loss, memory and redemption in this production at the Young Vic. Maybe all this death and loos has been putting people off from seeing it as Saturday night's audience could have been larger. The play itself is not bad at all and full of mildly surreal scenarios with water that can leave a lot to your imagination.

The play opens with Eurydice and Orpheus about to go for a swim and then off to get married. Meanwhile her father is writing letters of advice to her for her wedding to her but she is not getting them. On her wedding night she leaves the party lured away by a man who says he has one of his letters... Soon she is in the underworld and Orpheus is trying to get in touch with her... One of the problems with this play is that there is no sense about how much Eurydice and Orpheus like each other... Sure they are practically naked with swimming goggles at the start, but you get the impression Orpheus is Mr Right Now rather than Mr Right. Eurydice seems ambivalent and Orpheus seems more interested in his music...

Still, the focus of this play seems more about memory and loss and the scenes in the underworld are great, including a young boy on a tricycle and three actors playing stones who manage to speak in unison throughout. And at 80 minutes long (with no interval) this was a whimsical enough diversion for the evening... Go for the meditation on memory... The relationships probably won't entice you as much... It runs until 5 June before touring and discounts are available (including through facebook)

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