Paul in London

  A Kate Bush tribute for someone who isn't a Kate Bush fan might seem a daunting night at the theatre. Will the in-jokes fly over the head? Yes. Will the fear of being in a confined space of Kate Bush fans be overwhelming? Well, not if you brush up on a playlist beforehand. But An Evening Without Kate Bush is an initiation into the world of fandom and her music. Kate Bush, the phenomenon is equally revered and lovingly teased in this hour-long celebration of her music and cultural impact. It's currently playing downstairs at the Soho Theatre .  Presented by Sarah-Louise Young, you don't have to be a Kate Bush fan to appreciate her work. And you'll be soon joining in to howling along to the Hounds of Love and partaking in all sorts of participatory theatre (in as much as socially distant theatre allows). And along with the songs and trivia, you learn what it is to be a Kate Bush fan (or fish as they are known).  Young is an expert teacher in the crazy world of Kate Bush...

Charles Court Opera are back with their boutique panto season at the Kings Head Theatre . This time they are taking a story of epic proportions with Beowulf. It helps to know the epic poem. It helps to know various pop cultural references and songs thrown into the mix. Alternatively, you can let much of it sail over your head and enjoy the inspired silliness of it all. And indeed, that’s more than anyone could want out of a pantomime? It’s currently playing at the Kings Head Theatre.  In this version of Beowulf, the hero (Matthew Kellet) has a bit of an image problem. And not just because of his 80’s inspired hair. He expects to be the hero to save the day, but Princess Hrothmund (Julia Mariko Smith) can take the monster Grendel on her terms. Grendel doesn’t seem to be much of a monster either. Played by Philip Lee, he wants to make friends. His mother is another matter. There’s some inspired messing about with both the tale of Beowulf and the conventions of pantomime. The principa...

I've often wondered if when someone dies after undertaking some impossible feat for a charity (like running the London Marathon), the charity exclaims, "Yes! We're going to make payroll!" Well, going by Charity Case, Jeff Page's look at the sector, they might do. Nobody dies in this brief look at the charity sector, but it's a hard graft constantly looking for money to survive while providing an essential service outsourced by the government. It's currently playing at Drayton Arms Theatre for this week.  The focus here is on a fictitious charity called Number 93. Funds are down, and expenses are up. The race is on to find some emergency funding. But is it an expensive overhead with high paying charity executives draining the money, or is it impossible demands by the government to deliver essential services for vulnerable children and adults?  Ahead of a deadline to confirm funds as a going concern, there are meetings with ministers, rock stars, cold-calli...

Watching The Sugar House at the Finborough Theatre reminded me of the comment made by journalist  Evan Whitton that Sydney was the most corrupt city in the world. Except, of course, after Newark, New Jersey and Brisbane Queensland. But corrupt cops and underworld figures of the Sydney scene are only part of this epic family story that spans three generations of a working-class Sydney family. It's currently playing at the Finborough  Theatre. The story opens with Narelle (Jessica Zerlina Leafe) looking over a new conversion property on the former site of a sugar refinery in Sydney. It was near where she grew up. She's a lawyer now and could afford to buy one of these bland modern conversions. But all she can see are memories of the place where she grew up with her mother and grandparents.  What unfolds next focuses on the harsher side of the lucky country. Where jobs were precarious and poverty, poor health and crime were not too far away. The police were a force to be f...

Going to the theatre is just one of the things we can do to pass the time by as we slowly die, so here you can make an evening of it. Two short works by Samuel Beckett make a haunting and reflective double bill at the Jermyn Street Theatre and give you enough time to have dinner after. Alone with your thoughts (and surrounded by mostly masked theatregoers), mortality, regrets and endless pondering may not be everyone’s idea of a night out at the theatre. But it’s certainly provocative.  Theatre doesn’t have to be three hours long to linger with you. The themes about age, the passing of time, and death seem apt after the last two years. The pieces stir up memories of those who have left us or who remained close to those that did. First up is Footfalls. A woman paces up and down a small stage. Her footsteps are audible at every step on the wooden platform, which is like a platform. There’s a bell that tolls too as she walks and reacts to her mother’s voice. Motherhood, religious iso...

.  Shahid Iqbal Kahn's 10 Nights, currently playing at the studio space of the Bush Theatre , is about what happens when a young, carefree British Muslim man spends the last ten nights of Ramadan in a mosque. But it isn't a story about religion or radicalisation. It is a more straightforward journey. Yasser (Zaqi Ismail) gets around in a tracksuit and sandals. He likes a drink, and he loves chips. A reluctant participant in the i'tikaf, he did it for his father and to honour his friend who died in a car accident. The reasons for the accident become more evident as the story progresses. Left alone for long periods between prayers and fasting, it becomes the inner monologue of Yasser. And as the days progress with only his thoughts and a few smug fellow worshippers to keep him company, he realises he has to face up to a few things. What it may lack in drama is made up in the detailed characterisations by Ismail of his father and friends at the mosque. There are also enough ex...

Upbringing, identity and family are at the heart of  Foxes , by Dexter Flanders, currently at Theatre 503. It’s a powerful and often funny piece, sensitively portrayed by the ensemble cast with a lively soundtrack. Daniel (Michael Fatogun) is a young black man trying to keep up with a life that is quickly racing away from him. He’s got study to do, he’s got his girlfriend, Meera (July Namir), pregnant, and he has a best friend, Leon (Anyebe Godwin), who wants to play more than just black ops with him. The foxes in Dexter Flander’s play aren’t the ones running about tearing apart rubbish bags on the street. They’re the men hiding in the shadows, fearing rejection and fearing ridicule. There’s too much at stake for them to be who they are, and so they hide behind alpha male stereotypes, family and religion to pretend to be something they are not.  I What makes this work so well is how it quickly immerses you into the world of the lives of this black B ritish family, creating a d...

What happens when two childhood sweethearts escape from each other's orbit? Well, no prizes for guessing it doesn't end well, but James Lewis's Lately tries to piece together the fragments of two young lives from the roads taken and not taken. But it may not be everyone's cup of tea, and the theatre offers up resources for those troubled by how it ends. Still, it's a delicate exploration of conflicting stories, priorities and young people navigating a confusing and messy world.  Callum and Alison seemed like they would be together forever. They had a lot in common. Most of it was crap. They both have a crap family life and live in a crap part of England. The only things that aren't crap are the endless waves from the nearby sea, the occasional trip to the fairgrounds. And a few fireworks that go off when it's Alison's birthday. It's a monotonous and grim life. But while Alison wanted to escape, Callum remained firmly planted where he was.  When Aliso...