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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 ...

Bump in the night: Botallack O'Clock @ORLTheatre


Botallack O'Clock brings to life the creative struggles of Roger Hilton in a funny and dreamy production. Insomnia has never seemed so inspiring and lonely as the dead of night comes to life.

Towards the end of Hilton's life he turned to producing works using poster paint on paper. He worked mostly throughout the night on these works, along with writing letters to his wife and various other musings. This piece brings together these items to explore his struggles and his demons.






The title of the show comes from a poem by W.S. Graham, "Lines on Roger Hilton's Watch" and refers to the dead of night.

We are introduced to Roger lying on his bed. There is a bottle of whisky nearby and pots of paint, discarded paper and other rubbish is strewn about the floor. Magically the radio suddenly comes to life and is offering Roger the chance to be on Desert Island Discs.

As Roger, Dan Frost cuts a lanky and awkward man fumbling around in the darkness moving from painting to musings about pickles. It is an intriguing performance as he moves about the space that is his tiny room. One moment he is talking about music and the next he is talking about his experiences as a young man in France. And George Haynes as the man on the radio proves an equally entertaining foil.

Written and directed by Eddie Elks, you feel as if you get a real sense of Roger and his struggles as art, women and past experiences collide. Adding to the atmosphere is the evocative lighting by Christopher Nairne and set design by Ken McClymont.

Botallack O'Clock runs at the Old Red Lion Theatre through to 6 February.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Photo credit: Production images by Zanna Wharfe





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