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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...

Songs and dancing: Three / 8:38 / Seven @WiltonMusicHall

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It was meant to be ballet with songs. But instead after the cancelling of the original programming of Seven Deadly Sins, it became songs and a little bit of choreography. But with its beautiful singing and a chance to see a new dance piece choreographed by Javier De Frutos, Three / 8:38 / Seven shows that simple (although unplanned) premises can make a for a great evening of entertainment. It’s currently at Wiltons Music Hall . The programme opens with “Three”, representing songs from Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera. Beginning with the overture, it sets the mood for the period of Weimar Berlin. It might help to understand the time and context of the piece, but by the time we’re into the Pimp’s Ballad and Mack The Knife (arguably Weil’s biggest hit) it probably doesn’t matter. Next up is the dance piece, 8:38 performed by Viviana Durante and Mbulelo Ndabeni, set to music by Bach and Weil, ending with Lotte Lenya’s version of September Song. As the two dance in s...