Featured Post

Still here: While They Were Waiting - Upstairs At The Gatehouse

Image
As the song goes, time heals everything. Or as another song says, it's time after time. Yet waiting—for a moment, a minute, or even a while—can feel like a chore. In Gary Wilmot’s slightly absurd and silly While They Were Waiting, the focus is on waiting and wordplay. No opportunity is missed to find more than one meaning in what is said. A debate arises about the difference between a smidge and a whisker. There's a playful riff on how you can be here and over there at the same time, depending on your standpoint. If this piece has a point at all, it depends on what you find funny. The concept of waiting-related language is, in itself, amusing, and there is plenty to laugh about in this show. It’s currently playing at Upstairs at the Gatehouse . The premise is simple: Mulbery (Steve Furst) arrives for an appointment and is kept waiting. What the appointment is for, we are not clear about but he is waiting for a yellow door to open. Nobody answers when he rings. He’s joined by th...

Tender horrors: Firebird @TrafStudios


Drama ripped from the headlines and an intense, emotional performance from Callie Cooke in the lead make Firebird at Trafalgar Studios a must see show.

Leaving the theatre you might feel as if you have seen first hand a traumatic event. And perhaps you have. This piece conveys some of the brutal realities victims of child sexual exploitation experience. It leaves you drained, shocked and angry that this is probably still going on. But that is no doubt its intention.


Cooke plays Tia. She is mouthy and confident teenager with a foster mother who is never around. But when she meets the older and charismatic AJ, he shows her attention that she has never experienced before. And she soon finds out it comes at a price.

Cooke is a recent graduate from Arts Education School and this is her professional stage debut. Here she captures all the contradictions of a self-destructive abandoned teenager. It is a performance that is relentless in its intensity and fury. She ventures into some dark territory here. And it is heartbreaking to watch as she clings to her abuser long after his betrayal of her trust.


As the charismatic AJ and police investigator Simon, Phaldut Sharma delivers two distinct performances. The economy in the casting underscores that all men are the same here. As AJ he is an endearing and seemingly trustworthy character. He is at ease and concerned about Tia, which makes what then unfolds even more uncomfortable.


The piece opens with Tia in a wheelchair with her friend Katie (played by Tahirah Sharif) hanging out, getting drunk and teasing each other. Sharif as Katie is the opposite to Tia. Her wide-eyed optimism and warmth is a welcome relief from the horrors of the rest of the play. But the real purpose of their friendship only becomes clear towards the end. And it serves to emphasise how easy it is for young girls to fall victims to abuse.

This is a slick production directed by Edward Hall. Loud music, and simple effects push the story along. An impressive and topical debut play from Phil Davies. It uses the real life and news stories to recreate the horrific situation vulnerable children face in modern Britain.

Firebird is at Trafalgar Studios until 19 March. During this time Parliament will be debating The Policing and Criminal Justice Bill. This legislation has the potential increase the ability to tackle child sexual exploitation.

Photos: Production photos by Robert Day



Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan...
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial ...
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...