Reviews & features: Theatre, Issue 638
I'll Be Bert
27 Aug 2009
Funny and touching one man show
Hero worship and unwavering loyalty are faithfully remembered in this funny and touching one man show by Bill Cronshaw. Charting his lifelong devotion to Manchester City FC, this piece recalls life in 50s Manchester by focusing on Cronshaw’s childhood…
Crave
27 Aug 2009
Raw and powerful from the very beginning
Royal Holloway Theatre’s restaging of Sarah Kane’s penultimate play explores four characters disillusioned with life due to excess, abuse and loneliness. Raw and powerful from the very beginning, Kane’s fluid, poetic script dominates a piece that makes…
Words with AL Kennedy
25 Aug 2009
Meanders delightfully
AL Kennedy proves herself a consummate storyteller in this sharp meditation on the power of words. A largely autobiographical look at her love affair with language, Kennedy meanders delightfully from paranoia about her recent Costa award win through her…
Sea Spray and Cuckoo Spit
24 Aug 2009
Some very good performances
Decent production about a grief-shattered fishing family struggling to cope with the loss of a son to the sea that still sustains them. The story is nothing new, but some very good performances (particularly by bright-eyed Alex Marieka Hanly as the…
Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea
21 Aug 2009
Strong political drama
Justin Butcher and Ahmed Masoud’s production is a bleak reminder of the human consequences of the Zionist aggression in Gaza, particularly focusing on the recent bloodbath enacted in the last days of the Bush government. Its story focuses on a young…
Faust
20 Aug 2009
Dark, thrilling and unsettling adaptation of Goethe’s classic
Surely one of the Edinburgh International Festival’s most ambitious projects, Silviu Purcarete’s grand adaptation of Faust takes over, and fills, the huge warehouse space at Ingleston’s Royal Highland Centre. Based on Goethe’s treatment of the German…
Controlled Falling Project
20 Aug 2009
Australian act wows with an elegant mix of physical theatre and acrobatics
The muted colour scheme of the 1930s laboratory instruments cluttering the stage make a charming backdrop for the agile performers in Controlled Falling Project, a theatrical display of acrobatics from Australia’s This Side Up. Speaking few words, the…
Stuck in a rut
17 Sep 2009
Utter nonsense
For many of those students graduating in the centre of recession, the prospect of unemployment and mountains of debt to repay is a very real and current problem. This show is very loosely based on the dire situation much of the class of '09 are facing…
Russell Kane: ‘Fakespeare: The Tragicall Saveings of King Nigel’
27 Aug 2009
More bard theory than he's letting on?
Russell Kane’s second ‘Fakespeare’ play tells the story of Nigel, a vile Essex banker torn between his fat orange wife – ‘the Gorgon’ – and his ‘semi-chav’ secretary, Donna. Nigel also has to choose between suicide and the nefarious investment in Sudan…
Moscow State Circus
27 Aug 2009
Backbends aplenty; smiles and spontaneity in short supply
The Moscow State Circus is full of extremely talented performers. High above the audience, Alexander Doktorov stands on his head, his hands and legs spread wide into the open air. Lots of people can do headstands, but I haven’t seen many executed on a…
The Bone House
27 Aug 2009
No sleep tonight
The cult celebrity of serial killers and the average person’s ability to become one is the subject of this new horror play by Marty Chan that questions our fascination with the macabre. Beginning as an informal lecture by self professed ‘Mind Hunter…
Micaela Leon: Kabarett Berlin
26 Aug 2009
An underwhelming tribute to eight 'Weimar Girls'
As Micaela Leon takes you through her top eight ‘Weimar Girls’, you get a real feel for her respect for these women – it’s just unfortunate that her tribute is an underwhelming substitute for the real thing, and her telling of their stories comes across…
A Promised Land
26 Aug 2009
Weighty dramatisation of post-Holocaust Europe
Thought provoking by virtue of its subject matter (post-Holocaust Europe, the early days of the Israel-Palestine conflict), this play is weighty and worthy. Despite much originality and skilful performances from Corinne Harris as two very different…
Sweeney Todd: His Life, Times and Execution!
26 Aug 2009
Enjoyable, atmospheric adaptation
Lashings of fake blood, ample busts and bawdy thrusts characterise this enjoyable and suitably grotesque adaptation. The twist here is that the killings are largely accidental, the killer a meek, clumsy and rather sweet boy. The puppetry is perhaps an…
Up
26 Aug 2009
Crisp and elliptical with a killer closing line
Edgy production about a young gay teacher who’s in hospital recovering (or perhaps not) from a mental collapse. There he recalls a haunting incident from his youth, involving a student and a pair of sharpened pencils. Debut playwright James Ley’s script…
The Tale of Lady Stardust
26 Aug 2009
Meditation on religious extremism
Convinced that David Bowie is a prophet, Ziggy and Gary are eagerly awaiting the Rapture in their grotty flat when their bubble is pierced by the appearance of a drugged-up clubber. As a meditation on religious extremism, it has little new to say but…
The Play About Charlotte
26 Aug 2009
Emotional story of mental illness told from different perscpectives
A successful young playwright struggles with a lack of inspiration in her life and marriage until her work suffers and mental illness blurs the boundaries of reality. A plot which twists back on itself to revisit scenes from a different perspective…
Tap and Chat with Lionel Blair
26 Aug 2009
Does exactly what it says on the tin
This show does exactly what it says on the tin. Lionel does a little tap dancing, which given his antiquity is impressive, then goes into a series of showbiz recollections of days gone by about everyone from Brucie to Liza, adding songs and bits of film…
The One and the Many
26 Aug 2009
Cliched and repetitive philosophical rom-com
An ill-advised trip to a massage parlour leads to the discovery of the mysterious ‘virgin whore of Prague’ in this philosophical rom-com. The concept of a successful virgin prostitute is just one of several twists in a show that attempts to question…
RE
26 Aug 2009
Strong performances and an over-ambitious script
Frustrating piece about three people trapped with each other and the ghosts of their pasts. Confusion arises from a script trying to do too much in such a limited time frame, but the show is saved by beautiful staging and strong performances, which keep…
Weepie
25 Aug 2009
Remarkably assured piece of theatre
For a hard-hitting portrayal of emotional violence and its shocking physical manifestations, this play is awfully funny. For an exploration of how we seek transcendence through love, religion, or acts of murder, it is rooted surprisingly firmly in the…
Third Breast
25 Aug 2009
Hampered by ham-fisted direction
Hampered by ham-fisted direction where outbursts of ‘dramatic’ music punctuate any significant utterance, any poetry in the lines is garbled by actors who don’t understand either their characters or the meaning of the words. This magical realist…
A Year’s Hard Labour
25 Aug 2009
Sound performances make this an engaging free show
Goldsmiths Drama Society showcases a diverse array of talents in this marathon-paced play. As six jurors discuss an immigration case, their daydreams meld into reality, though slick staging ensures the audience is never confused. And, despite the…
The Works of Fate
25 Aug 2009
Makes up for its rough edges with major gusto
This bawdy and at times comical take on De Sade follows the awaited return of a prodigal son, turning, by an outrageous contrivance, into a meta-theatrical re-enactment of the sordid life of his stepmother, with much emphasis on its violence and sexual…
Forever Young
25 Aug 2009
WWI through letters, diaries, poems and song
Remembering WWI through letters, diaries, poems and song there are some wonderful performances here from the Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre’s young cast. While the ‘war is hell’ message may be clichéd, in these troubled times it’s truer than ever, while…
