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Showing posts with the label Giles Terera

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False alarms: Diagnosis @finborough

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Nobody likes Cassandra, and like the Trojan princess who was given the gift of being able to see the future but cursed so that nobody would believe her, the woman at the centre of this piece could see into the not-too-distant future. She can see that disaster is about to strike. But she’s dismissed as a vulnerable, crazy lady who maybe had a bit too much to drink. This is the premise of “Diagnosis,” currently playing at the Finborough Theatre , written and performed by Athena Stevens.  You enter the Finborough under surveillance. The camera is pointed at the audience, and it soon becomes clear that we are somewhere in the not-too-distant future in London. A city where surveillance already abounds so we can capture all sorts of crimes taking place (albeit not in ultra-high definition).  In the future, every police station will record interviews with an audience with “vulnerable persons” involved. This is to ensure no police misconduct occurs. A police officer (Ché Walker) is in...
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Stream of conscious: Black Matter

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With theatre's closed over the past year and creatives out of work, it's not surprising to see that with everything going on, there's plenty to write about. Or put into a song cycle. Actor Giles Terera presents his new song cycle Black Matter inspired by the events he saw on London's streets in a streamed concert event this month.  Living in London's Soho over the past summer of lockdown, Black Lives Matter, Eat Out To Help Out provided plenty of inspiration for observations about being a black man in Britain today. He notes that "I saw Soho shift from deserted tranquillity, where the only sounds were birds and church bells to the noise and heat of demands for social justice and civil unrest. I saw couples and families sneaking bike rides, and I saw violence – protests and peacemakers, homelessness and empty properties. People helping each other and people hurting each other. I saw confusion and hope and strength." The topics vary from deportations and th...
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Inspired compilations: Pure Imagination @St_JamesTheatre @pureonstage

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As the lights go down suddenly the familiar tune from the film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory floats down from around the St James Theatre . And thus begins the journey into the world of the songs of Leslie Bricusse with the revue Pure Imagination. It could easily be called a journey through the last fifty years or so of music, as it does feel like it is a showcase of some of the most popular songs from stage and film. Part of the fun is realising so many of them were written or co-written by one man.
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