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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 ...

Thanks for all the fish: An Evening Without Kate Bush @sohotheatre

Sarah-Louise Young in full flight 

A Kate Bush tribute for someone who isn't a Kate Bush fan might seem a daunting night at the theatre. Will the in-jokes fly over the head? Yes. Will the fear of being in a confined space of Kate Bush fans be overwhelming? Well, not if you brush up on a playlist beforehand. But An Evening Without Kate Bush is an initiation into the world of fandom and her music. Kate Bush, the phenomenon is equally revered and lovingly teased in this hour-long celebration of her music and cultural impact. It's currently playing downstairs at the Soho Theatre. 

Presented by Sarah-Louise Young, you don't have to be a Kate Bush fan to appreciate her work. And you'll be soon joining in to howling along to the Hounds of Love and partaking in all sorts of participatory theatre (in as much as socially distant theatre allows). And along with the songs and trivia, you learn what it is to be a Kate Bush fan (or fish as they are known). 

Publicity shot for Sarah-Louise young

Young is an expert teacher in the crazy world of Kate Bush fandom and tribute acts. With a mix of impeccable comic timing, eighties nostalgia and strong vocals, she takes us along a brisk journey of the life and music of Kate Bush so far.

With an array of comic costume changes, she interprets a range of songs from Kate Bush and how her fans see them. Including a correctly pronounced Babooshka song, at the suggestion of a Russian fan, changing the emphasis of the words and putting the rhythm out. But hilarious all the same. 

Young also recounts the impact of Kate Bush on her younger self through a school presentation of a Kate Bush song, complete with dance movement and a borrowed leotard that falls flat. But failure only serves to strengthen the passion for the music. 

I suspect the assumption is that you will too become a convert after an hour of the music. But that need not be the case. Music is a personal choice. But what is clear is how Kate Bush moves and motivates her fans and inspires them in all sorts of ways. 

Co-written by Sarah-Louise Young and directed by Russell Lucas, An Evening Without Kate Bush plays downstairs at the Soho Theatre through 26 February.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Photos by Clive Holland (live) and Steve Ullathorne


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