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Eyes, hair, mouth: Darkie Armo Girl at Finborough Theatre

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Darkie Armo Girl, Karine Bedrossian’s electrifying one-woman show, commands attention from the moment it begins. First performed in 2022 and revived last year, it now returns for extra performance and it's an event not to miss. The show takes you through the thrills and horrors of a hectic life. She struts, shimmies, and taunts while revealing some horrific truths. She is such an irresistible storyteller that you find yourself hooked. The story is one of fame, glamour, abuse, self-harm, and suicide. If that subject matter doesn't sound like your cup of tea, you haven't seen it delivered with such high energy and provocation. It's currently at the Finborough Theatre . The show's title refers to a slur a popular girl at school once called her. Her ancestry is Armenian, and her parents were from Cyprus, where they fled the civil war and arrived in the UK with nothing. Shortly after she was born in Roehampton. The birth was an emergency C-section that left the baby and ...

Theatre: Backbeat



Backbeat is based upon the film of the same name which is a snapshot of the period when The Beatles were on the edge of stardom. It is also about creativity, artists, relationships and some excellent classic rock and roll music. It is thoughtful and fun, with a talented and good looking cast that can act, sing and play musical instruments and the bar has now been set very high for the jukebox musical.


Set during the period when the Beatles were in Hamburg, the focus of the play is really the triangular relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe, the band's original bass guitarist, German photographer Astrid Kirchherr whom he fell in love with, and his best friend John Lennon. It was through this relationship that the Beatles developed some of their signature looks and where some classic photos from their early days originated and the focus of the story is from Kircherr's point of view.

It follows the film closely but as a theatrical piece it feels much freer in being able to express the flavour and sentiments of the time. Through moving sets, projections and music, the story moves briskly and explores the process of creativity, art and the sacrifices individual makes for a group.

It isn't all contemplative, there are bare buttocks and blow jobs on stage as the boys find out all that Hamburg in the 1960s has to offer. And there also is the excellent rock and roll music that was the backbone of what the Beatles were all about at this point in their career.

While the entire cast are excellent, key to the show is Nick Blood's performance as Stuart Sutcliffe and Ruta Gedmintas as Kirchherr. They ooze cool and believability.

The full story of the Beatles is a tale still to be told, but in the meantime this is an excellent night out. You don't have to like the Beatles to appreciate it. And in case anyone was feeling a tad unsure about the message, there is dancing in the aisles at the end through a Mamma-Mia-like encore. You will be twisting and shouting all the way home, but unlike other shows you will remember the play for longer.

It is playing at the Duke of York's Theatre. Go see it...

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