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The moron premium live: The last days of Liz Truss @WhiteBearTheatr

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Watching a play about Liz Truss, Britain's shortest-serving Prime Minister, might seem as appealing as dental surgery. After all, you may be dealing with the repercussions of her fifty-day leadership, such as higher mortgage rates. You might also be familiar with the term "moron risk premium," coined by an economist to describe the impact of having Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in charge. Consequently, revisiting this time in 2022 may not seem like an enticing subject for a theatrical production. However, writer Greg Wilkinson’s unique portrayal of select aspects of Truss’s life, alongside a standout performance by Emma Wilkinson Wright, makes this a compelling work. While Wright doesn’t physically resemble Truss, she delivers a performance that captures her mannerisms, awkwardness, and platitudes. The play is currently at the White Bear Theatre . Presented as a monologue, Wright performs at a desk, on it, or even in a chair while singing karaoke—one of Truss's ...

Hammams of convenience: Mozart's Die Entführung @PopupOperaUK

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There is something appealingly convenient about the format of Pop Up Opera’s productions. They take witty (and often seldom performed) pieces and stage them in unusual locations, with a modern twist. The convenient part comes in the fact these locations are either close to your place of work, your home et cetera. So by the time Die Entführung came to south east London, I was ready to go. Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) is about a hero, Belmonte and his servant, Pedrillo, and their attempts to rescue their lovers, Konstanze and Blonde from an Ottoman harem. Given the popup opera treatment, the harem is now a big brother-like bath house come beauty boot camp where no men are allowed. And no women are allowed to leave (at least until the treatments are complete). In this production most of the spoken dialogue is removed and in place are some rather witty title cards. The role of the figurehead-dictator Pasha Selim is now an omniprese...