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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 ...

Christmas Fare: A Christmas Carol @ORLTheatre

A Christmas Carol at the Old Red Lion Theatre is an enjoyable and evocative version of the tale that uses resourceful staging, some fine singing and subtle performances to tell Dickens' tale.

The story of ghosts, greed and goodwill is now a regular Christmas theatrical tradition and works best mixed with carols and some festive cheer.


There is a timeless element to this production. While there are nods to the Victorian period and the piece is faithful to the original story, the ensemble dress in contemporary clothes and use modern props as if to prompt you to ponder about the inequalities that exist today. There may not be workhouses but there still are the working poor.

Alexander McMorran as Scrooge is moody but never over the top. His transformation after being visited by the ghosts of past, present and future also avoids over-sentimentality.

The ensemble play a variety of characters but also provide vocal effects and commentary that add to the atmosphere and inventiveness of the piece. I particularly liked the interjection when Scrooge curses where they apologise for the audience having to see that.

An enjoyable 80 minutes of Christmas fare along with being a little thought-provoking as well. It runs through to January.

Photo credit: Production photo by Anna Söderblom

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