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Showing posts from June, 2024

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He had it coming: Burnt Up Love @finborough

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Out of the darkness and shadows, three characters emerge. Lit only with candlelight or flashlights, a gripping tale by writer and performer Ché Walker about crime, punishment, love, and loss emerges. The fast pace conveys a sense of urgency to make up for lost time, lost opportunities, and what might have been. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre .  We first meet Mac (Ché Walker) in prison, serving time for a crime he committed. With only a photo of his young daughter, Scratch, to keep him company, he looks for her upon release. But Scratch (Joanne Marie Mason) isn’t the teacher, lawyer or dancer Mac imagined while incarcerated over the years she might be. Instead, Scratch is in and out of trouble, on the edge, angry and violent. A chance encounter one night with JayJayJay (Alice Walker) forms a loving bond and gives her a moment of stability. But Scratch’s demons and restlessness mean trouble does not seem far away. Scratch's random act of thoughtless violence against

Kafka-ish: Kafka @Finborough

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In offering proof that Kafka is everything to everyone - writer-performer Jack Klaff plays various roles, including the man himself in what is a part tour, part immersion and part legend of Franz Kafka. He is a writer who achieved fame after his life was cut short due to succumbing to tuberculosis at the age of forty. He is probably better known for his reputation and the Kafkaesque style attributed to his writing than his life. But after this piece, you’re left curious to learn more about the man and his works. And that has to be the best theatrical tribute you could give a writer, even for a writer who stipulated that his works be destroyed upon his death. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre . Franz Kafka was born in Prague in 1883. In 1901, he was admitted to a university and began studying law. While studying, he met Max Brod, who would become his best friend and eventual literary executor. Brod would posthumously publish many of his works and writings. Kafka’s life co

Theatre of Blood: The Bleeding Tree @Swkplay

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Domestic violence in Australia is never far away from the news. Some statistics suggest it is more prevalent down under than other similar countries . There are podcasts about women who mysteriously disappear only to find that the suspect, the male partner, was never charged with a crime.  The Bleeding Tree is an evocative tale of revenge against a backdrop of domestic violence and cruelty. And what happens when the women take back control? With painstaking and, at times, gruesome descriptions of the despair and their support for each other, it’s a harrowing yet rewarding tale of resilience and survival. It’s currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse, Borough .  Set in a remote homestead in the Australian outback, a mother (mum played by Maria Gale) and her two daughters, Ida (Elizabeth Dulau) and Ada (Alexandra Jensen), come to terms with the decision they take to kill a man who was a source of cruelty and abuse. While a cover story that he went to visit his sister “up north” moves