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Showing posts from March, 2020

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Take me to the world: Hide and Seek @parktheatre

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In a small town where everyone knows everyone, if you don't like it, you might feel that the only logical thing to do is to disappear. Especially if you think it will help your social media rankings. The loneliness and isolation of youth meet influencers in the wild in Tobia Rossi's Hide and Seek. And while events take a darker turn, the humour and the intimacy make this piece about youth on the edge (of trending) fascinating and enjoyable. It's currently playing at Park Theatre .  Mirko (Nico Cetrulo) is exploring a cave with his camera when he stumbles on Gio (Louis Scarpa). Gio has been missing for a while, and the town has been looking for him. But Gio is more interested in how much he is trending on TikTok. He also had a crush on Mirko. Soon, they establish a friendship and a bond. In the cave, they explore feelings they would not dare share outside. However, things turn darker when Gio is confident enough to leave the cave, while Mirko doesn't want his double life

Hitting the pause button

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Life in London has taken a pause... As theatres have gone dark and we stay indoors, it makes you appreciate the open and vibrant cultural offer a place like London has. Always connected. Always something new. And going out to do something. But not for now. Now it is the time for going in...  Going out is a trip to the supermarket to buy food for the day. It isn’t so much as stockpiling groceries as the realisation that eating three meals a day at home means you need more food. Heading outside for exercise means a walk around the block or to the nearby park. And keeping two metres away from everyone... Especially the annoying jogger who is coughing incessantly. What lies ahead? We will find out soon.

Mostly harmless caper: Corpse! @parktheatre

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In times of national crisis, there is nothing like a good old fashioned comic murder-mystery to take your mind off social distancing and voluntary isolation. Or perhaps a silly murder-mystery. And even if the story is a bit suspect, Corpse! is mostly harmless fun and staged with a lot of panache and energy by Tom York. It's currently playing at the smaller space of the Park Theatre . Set against the backdrop of another national crisis, Edward VIII's abdication, Gerald Moon's Corpse! (complete with an exclamation point) was first seen in the early eighties. It is about two identical twins who despise each other. The oldest (by a few minutes) Evelyn, is poor and living in a squalid Soho flat. His acting career hasn't progressed much after being accused of poisoning cast members. He gets by shoplifting from Fortnum and Mason and promising favours to his lonely landlady. His younger brother Rupert is incredibly rich after inheriting the family fortune. Evelyn has dec

Not quite change: Not Quite Jerusalem @finborough

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Has anything changed in England in the forty years since Paul Keebler’s Not Quite Jerusalem premiered at the Royal Court? A play about a country full of crap towns, no opportunities and a class divide could have been written today. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre and unexpectedly has new resonance about the opportunities afforded to people in this country. Set in 1979, the play centres around Mike, Carrie, Pete and Dave who travel to Israel to volunteer working on a kibbutz. In the pre-EasyJet revolution, that was a thing. They were expecting the trip to be full of sun, sex and beer. But they find themselves instead mucking out cow sheds and working in the sweltering heat. But Mike, a lost Cambridge dropout, fed up trying to fit in understands why he ran away from England. When he takes a liking to the straight-talking Gila who is completing her final year military service on the kibbutz, it leads to an unlikely meeting of minds across cultures. Things come t

Lock ‘em up, get ‘em out: The Special Relationship @sohotheatre

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You usually expect to see the phrase “special relationship” as part of an undemanding British news article about the imaginary special connection between Britain and the United States. But the focus of this piece by Hassan Adbulrazzak is the plight of foreign nationals being deported from America after serving prison sentences. It is a misleading title. And my initial thought was, why would anyone choose to live in America? The food is terrible, healthcare expensive and you only get two weeks holiday a year. But often the people in this piece had no choice. They were born there or moved there with their parents and started a life there. And what makes this interesting is how, through verbatim interviews, the complexity and messiness of life emerges. It’s currently running at Soho Theatre . An ensemble cast has been assembled to tell the stories of (mostly) British nationals who lived most of their lives in the United States. And how most of them through circumstances were convicte

Spring Awakenings: Love Loss and Chianti @Riverside London

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Death and desertion are on the menu in Love Loss and Chianti. A dramatisation of the poems A Scattering and The Song of Lunch by Christopher Reid. Grief and fantasy are explored at first for drama and then for comedy. It’s not always successful in the translation from poetry to stage. But watchable for the performances and staging at the Riverside Studios . The first half, A Scattering, was Reid’s response to the death of his wife, Lucinda. Told in four parts, with the first part written while she was still alive, the poems won the Cost Book Prize in 2010. But on stage, it feels cold and unengaging. Perhaps there are too many distractions with events as the stages of dying, death and loss are explored. It might have been more engrossing if he just sat on a chair and told to the audience. Fortunately, things pick up in the Song of Lunch in the second half, which is centred around a man’s attempt to connect with an old flame over lunch. Memories conspire to build a fantasy tha

Sinewy encounters: Meat @theatre503

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Meat is an engaging exploration of relationships power and consent by writer Gillian Greer. Characters are cut and dissected like the animal carcasses hanging in the background of this production. With emotionally engaging performances, it's a gripping take on modern relationships and reconciliation with the past. It's currently playing at Theatre 503 . It is set in a concept restaurant where meat is the only thing on the menu (vegetarians and vegans can go fuck off). There are simple table settings and fine wine. And some animal carcasses in the background. It's a hot spot to go to in Dublin (well butcher restaurants are fashionable in London anyway ). Max (India Mullen), a blogger and writer is there to meet the owner and ex-boyfriend Ronan (Sean Fox). She's there to tell him that she's put in her forthcoming book an account of the night she was sexually assaulted by him. But she's also there wanting answers. From the start, the expectations are misali