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Bit parts: Garry Starr Performs Everything @swkplay

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Garry Starr Performs Everything is a bare-bones (and bare buttocks) tribute to the theatre. Theatre may be in trouble, and audiences are down, but Garry Starr aims to save the theatre and bring back to the masses every style of theatre possible. As long as each style involves wearing a transparent white leotard or a skimpy thong. And tassels. It's part comedy, part physical comedy and part perv at Gary's physical prowess. The sentiment "if you've got it, flaunt it" applies here. So here we are with a show that has been around for some years and is having its first proper London run at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) through Christmas. The premise is that Garry Starr (played by Damien Warren-Smith) has left the Royal Shakespeare Company over artistic differences. He is now on a mission to save the theatre from misrepresentation and worthy interpretations by doing things such as a two-minute Hamlet, recreating scenes from a Pinter play using unsuspecting audience

Girl jobs: A Hundred Words For Snow @trafstudios



There may be A Hundred Words for Snow but no words for grief and loss. Written by Tatty Hennessy, it's a funny and emotional monologue told with panache, humour and enthusiasm by Gemma Barnett. It’s currently playing at Trafalgar Studios.

When Rory’s (Gemma Barnett) dad unexpectedly dies, she discovers his diary with plans for a trip to the Arctic. So she makes a plan to get her father's ashes to the North Pole. After all, spending an eternity in an urn is not going to be much fun. So borrowing her mother's credit card she takes a flight to Norway. But things aren't what she expects. Along the way she meets a boy and finds a friend. But she also discovers how big the world can be when you're fifteen years old.

The show creates a vivid portrait of a teenage girl growing up fast. But she also captures the changing landscape of the world and a woman's place in it. There are facts about famous male explorers and geography. And how global warming is changing the world in unexpected ways.

Barnett brings the material to life with her exuberant performance. Her blank stares and bemused looks often have the audience in stitches. But she also shows the character's sadness and vulnerability which make the piece so compelling to the end.

An exciting piece of new writing by some exceptionally talented people. Directed by Lucy Jane Atkinson, A Hundred Words For Snow is downstairs at Trafalgar Studios until 30 March.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



Photos by Nick Rutter

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