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Extraordinary shenanigans: Extraordinary Women - Jermyn Street Theatre

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Compton Mackenzie’s novel about bed-hopping lesbians on Capri (here fictionalised as Sirene) and their escapades gets a musicalised treatment in this intimate show. It’s all a bit silly, really, and not much happens in the end. However, the musical succeeds in evoking a time, a place, and a mood with its sublime music and stellar cast. It’s currently playing at Jermyn Street Theatre . Set in the aftermath of World War I in 1919, Extraordinary Women explores the lives of unconventional women—chiefly English writer Aurora (Caroline Sheen) and her lover, Rosalba (Amy Ellen Richardson). Aurora has purchased a villa on the island with the hope of encouraging her part-time lover, Rosalba, to settle down with her exclusively. However, Rosalba, who is romantically involved with several women and depends on them for her lifestyle, is hesitant to commit. The story revolves around their on-again, off-again romance, along with the various affairs among the other women on Sirene. Meanwhile, the anc...

Last chance for something completely different: Karagula @wearepigdog


In it’s final week in a disused bar in Tottenham is Philip Ridley’s Karagula.

It’s an amibitious dystopian work that has been baffling audiences for the past month. There are various worlds coliding in the piece. Time and narrative shifts to tell a story of rebellion against totalitarian regimes.



One regime insists the world should be 1950s apple pie and milkshakes. Anyone who challenges this gets shot. Or they just shoot people anyway. Another world dispenses with all sorts of personal traits and wears white suits and talk calmly and malevolently...

There are also tales from primitive societies and what could be the forerunner of a new religion.

Anyway it’s ambitious, mind boggling physical theatre in an unforgiving space... Not Tottenham, but the cavernous empty Styx bar space which serves as the backdrop for this crazy adventure.


I caught an early preview of it and I have avoided milkshakes ever since. But you can catch it and have a Neopolitan-style pizza in the forecourt of the venue before the show. Or spend time there at interval wondering what’s it all about.

A production from emerging company PIGDOG, which aims to use experimental forms of theatre to explore a range of issues, including accessibility, equality and gender politics.

Karagula concludes this week on 9 July. It certainly is something for those that like their theatre to be a little bit different...

Photo credit: production photos by Lara Genovese / Naiad Photography


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