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Prayers and thoughts: The Inseparables @Finboroughtheatre

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The Inseparables brings Simone de Beauvoir’s posthumously published novel to life. It traces a lifelong friendship between Sylve and Andrée, two unconventional girls who grew up in a stifling world where being a woman meant getting married or entering a convent. With a quick pace and engaging performances from the two leads, it is a journey back into the 20th century that captures two unconventional women trapped in a conventional world that will have you reflecting on how much or little things have moved on in the last century. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre .  We’re introduced to Sylve praying for her country, France, to be saved from the war and indoctrinated into the world of faith and obedience. But too smart for all that, her life was full of detached guilt and boredom. But when she meets Andrée, a new arrival at her school, she is struck by how different she is from everyone else. She was burned in a fire and had a passion for life that nobody else she knew...

Cinders and beer: Cinderella: A Wicked Mother of a Night Out #PubCinderella

“Aren’t you worried you’re going to get picked on by the cast since you’re here on your own?” Asked a lady at the bar before catching Not Too Tame’s Cinderella: A Wicked Mother of a Night Out! No fear I thought... It’s all part of my quest to continue to seek out strange and unusual theatre. I wasn’t disappointed.

This is a site specific production set in a pub near you for the Christmas holidays. It’s unique and worth checking out for people looking for something different to do this Christmas.

Just like Hot Gay Time Machine at Trafalgar Studios, it’s best to go in a group. And don’t look too unique, fabulous or like a hipster as the cast are likely to single you out.

Written by Luke Barnes, the show combines karaoke standards with some panto traditions and beer. The end result is a pretty funny and original interpretation of the Cinderella story.

Cinderalla’s dad has died and she’s left working in his pub with her stepmother and two step sisters. A geezer called Prince comes by looking for the girl who took his grandmother’s slippers.

Along the way there’s a man in a dirty dog suit who barks “SEX!”, a bloke in dress and lot of karaoke.

What it lacks in production values it makes up with enthusiasm, originality and humour. And for those interested in that sort of thing, the karaoke continues after the show.

Production Company Not Too Tame aim to create works that target first time theatre goers. But they’ve also come up with a winning formula here for pop-up theatre.

Directed by Jimmy Fairhurst, Cinderella: A Wicked Mother of a Night Out! continues at Yates Reading on 16 December and the Welcome Inn, Ordsall on 18-22 December.

⭐️⭐️⭐️


Photos by Chris Webb

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