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Brief awakenings: White Rose The Musical @MaryleboneTHLDN

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A fascinating and daring act of defiance in Nazi Germany by a group of university students in Munich is given a slightly perplexing rock musical treatment in White Rose, the musical. Something seems amiss in this earnest and occasionally tuneful show. It lags more than it inspires, which is surprising given the tragic and compelling history of the real-life characters the show depicts. Given that young people are increasingly likely to vote for far-right parties across Europe, it’s an opportunity to look at a time when they had a different perspective on the future. Perhaps something has been lost in the translation or the larger space of the Marylebone Theatre where it plays.  The White Rose were a group of university students in Munich who sought to undermine the Third Reich through publication of a series of pamphlets urging passive resistance to the Nazi regime. Over a brief period between June 1942 and February 1943, they distributed their pamphlets across campus using ...

Space travel’s a drag: Escape From Planet Trash @ThePleasance

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The Pleasance Theatre is transformed into a dump with Sink The Pink’s Escape From Planet Trash. A high-concept, camp yet environmentally friendly take on the traditional pantomime. It’s environmentally friendly as jokes were either recycled or used sparingly. But it’s hard not to like a show that puts drag queens in space in search of trash. Set a few decades into the future, a queer space exploration team go in search of some discarded materials on Planet Trash that they believe will help their mission. At least I think that’s what was the point. The plot wasn’t always easy to follow due to poor sound quality. But while on Plant Trash they stumble upon Ginger Johnson and her son (Davina Cumming), the last remaining humans on the doomed planet. And the doomed world turns out to be the former planet Earth which is now floating about in an interplanetary graveyard. Meanwhile, there is some sort of evil force lurking around as it turns out the Christmas is coming. While ...