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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 ...

Peace is our profession: The Acedian Pirates @Theatre503


Keeping the peace and stopping depravity is all and good, but in The Acedian Pirates it comes with a few unintended consequences. It is an evocative and testosterone-fuelled piece currently running at Theatre 503.

Watching this piece had me pondering what Donald Rumsfeld said once about unknown unknowns. After all this piece is set in some unknown remote lighthouse in some unknown battleground. The mission is unknown and the outcome also unknown. You’re as confused as the characters about the point of it all, but you get drawn into it anyway. There is never a dull moment with the fights, the explosions and a strange lady upstairs.




What it all means is an unknown. Perhaps it is that war and the best intentions lead down the same path. There is the unit desperate to go home after a long tour of duty. But a new arrival starts asking questions about their mission’s purpose and things start to unravel. Soon even the most peaceful of missions seems awfully violent.

With a claustrophobic set, a strong cast and a brisk pace, things move quickly enough to sustain your interest.

But at times you are never sure whether you should be laughing or taking things seriously. It’s as if panto season has come early and these naughty bored soldiers are out doing outrageous atrocities.

Acedia is a noun, from Greek akēdia, meaning apathetic listlessness or a moral failing. More apathy and listlessness might have helped.

Still the piece, which was shortlisted for the inaugural Theatre 503 Playwrighting Award, is fascinating all the same. Written by Jay Taylor and directed by Bobby Brook, it runs at Theatre 503 until November 14.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Photo credits: Production photos by Savannah Photographic


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