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Ruthless People: Ruthless - Arches Lane Theatre

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What is it about the Madoff’s that writers can’t resist writing about? Sure, it may have been the largest Ponzi scheme to collapse (so far), but there isn’t much more to explore. Or is there? In Ruthless by writer Roger Steinmann, Ruth Madoff is imagined as a wronged, gun-toting woman anchored in the past while trying to move on with her life. It’s not entirely successful but a fascinating look at life and wig choices, It’s currently playing at the theatre now known as the Arches Lane Theatre in Battersea. Ruth Madoff, played by Emily Swain, is here wearing a wig. I thought it was an odd look until I reviewed how closely it matched the photo of her interview in  The New York Times .  Typically, it’s the sort of wig you might see worn by Ladies on a night out in central London, not someone who once had over $80m in assets. With Bernie in Jail and both her sons now dead - one by suicide and one due to cancer, she is setting a table for the men who have left her. And ordering p...
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Bad girl: Boy Parts @sohotheatre

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In these angry times, an angry anti-heroine is a cathartic release, even if you’re not quite sure what the anger is about. This stylish adaptation of Eliza Clark's Boy Parts with a charismatic performance by Aimée Kelly makes it engaging. And while we don't see the gore, with each scene, there's a slight dread as to what gruesome turn of events s is going to happen next in this piece, which takes Fleabag and adds a touch of American Psycho nonchalance. It's currently playing at the Soho Theatre .  I was unfamiliar with the book's runaway success and the TikTok phenomenon, where people #booktok reviews of the piece under flattering lighting and a series of jump cuts. However, a quick cursory glance at the material shows the play has captured all the best bits in vivid detail, particularly in its descriptions of men. There's Ryan, the bar manager, with his "big thick neck and tiny pea head, thinning hair." But people may have mistaken some of these for c...
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The final word: Dust @TrafStudios

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Death is the final word in Dust, a one-woman show written and performed by Milly Thomas that hits you with humour and grief in equal measure. Inspired by Thomas’s own struggles with depression its raw and provocative. It’s currently at the Trafalgar Studios following its sell out runs in Edinburgh in 2017 and the Soho Theatre earlier this year. Life for Alice was unbearable and so she decides to kill herself. And now she has to describe the aftermath of her actions and family and friends cope and move on.  We’re introduced to Alice in what looks like a morgue. There’s a stainless steel table and harsh lighting. Thomas is in a skin coloured body suit and describes how strangers are undressing her. They’re getting her ready. At first it seems like it’s getting her ready for the start of a wonderful new chapter. She’s been dead for a few days and she describes as family and friends gather to grieve. She’s the focus of their lives. Fragments of her short life emerge. The boyfriend wh...
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