Best theatre to see at ZOO Southside and Playground
The List are media partners with Pleasance, Summerhall and ZOO.
16 July 2019
STYX
Featuring a woman battling with an answering machine, Dance Dance Revolution and a dystopian Unicorn Fascist State Britain
The diversity of Zoo's theatre programme at this year's Fringe reflects not only its international perspective and stylistic range, but also its exploratory themes of gender, connection and conflict – to name just a few. So make your way down south to the ZOO venues and relish in the celebratory colour of their theatre offerings.
The Sensemaker Woman's Move Hilarious yet uncomfortable, The Sensemaker shows a woman battling with an answering machine. Critical of new technologies and of bureaucracy, it mixes theatre, dance and even lip-syncing, and addresses, with irony, the fears and frustrations of our interconnected world. The Sensemaker, ZOO Playground, Mon 5–Mon 26 Aug (not 7, 14, 21), 3.15pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10). Previews Fri 2–Sun 4 Aug, £7.
Nights at the Circus Spare Tyre In a circus after the lights have been turned off, four characters emerge in the darkness slowly revealing their desires, hunger and inner conflicts. Part mythical, part real, they define their own sense of sexuality and identity. Nights at the Circus is a provocative performance created by award-winning learning disabled and non-disabled artists. Nights at the Circus, ZOO Playground, Tue 13–Sat 24 Aug (not 18), 3,15pm, £10.
Progress Trip Hazards As far back as they can remember, Jasmine and Nikhil have been in a room with a dance mat, trying to win the iconic arcade game Dance Dance Revolution. It hasn't been going as well as they had hoped. Recently named one of the Guardian's Best Emerging Theatre Companies, Trip Hazards presents a playful and painful exploration of how friendship survives when we win and when we lose. Progress, ZOO Playground, Mon 5–Sat 17 Aug, 4.30pm, £10 (£8). Previews Fri 3–Sun 4 Aug, £7.
Landscape (1989)
Landscape (1989) Emergency Chorus As of 2018, the Doomsday Clock is the closest it's ever been to midnight. Combining text, choreography and music, Landscape (1989) is a slow zoom in on an Oregon National Park and the people passing through. Emergency Chorus present a meditation on forgotten histories and lost futures, asking what we do when there's nowhere left to go. Landscape (1989), ZOO Playground, Fri 2–Sun 25 Aug (not 6, 13, 20), 12.45pm, £10 (£9).
How to Use a Washing Machine SLAM Theatre This original musical, featuring a live string quartet, follows Cass and James – siblings called back to their childhood home to pack up for one last time. As they box up their old lives, tensions rise and they must confront themselves and each other about who they've become, the decisions that led them there and what it means to be grown up. How to Use a Washing Machine, ZOO Southside, Mon 5–Mon 26 Aug (not 14, 21), 12pm, £10 (£8). Previews Fri 2–Sun 4 Aug, £6.
Unicorn Party Nick Field Unicorns, have you noticed they're everywhere right now? As is the far right. This hilarious, rollicking, razor-sharp show asks what the simultaneous rise of these phenomenons tells us. Hunting the omnipresent one-horned icon across civilisations to explore how ideologies spread and our imaginations become capitalised, Nick Field envisions a dystopian Unicorn Fascist State Britain. Unicorn Party, ZOO Playground, Sun 11–Mon 26 Aug (not 18), 6.50pm, £10 (£9).
Unicorn Party
Black Holes Seke Chimutengwende and Alexandrina Hemsley An Afrofuturist history of the universe from the Big Bang to dreamshout death. Propelling lived experiences onto a cosmic scale, Chimutengwende and Hemsley shapeshift through poetic text and movement. Step into an alternative speculation on how to orbit bodies which carry histories of marginalisation and anti-blackness. Black Holes, ZOO Southside, Mon 19–Sun 25 Aug, 2.20pm, £14 (£12).
Are we not drawn onward to new erA Ontroerend Goed, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Vooruit, Richard Jordan Productions, BiB with ZOO Like its title, this performance is a palindrome; you can see it forwards and backwards. Some people believe humanity is moving forward, while others believe the opposite. Some say the world's coming to an end, others call them doomsayers. No matter who's right, our quest for progress has dramatically changed the world we live in. Are our actions irreversible or can we undo them? Are we not drawn onward to new erA, ZOO Southside, Tue 6–Sun 25 Aug (not 5, 12, 19), 11am, £14 (£12). Previews Fri 2–Sun 4 Aug, £10.
SHINE Hippana Theatre in association with From Start to Finnish Hippana Theatre invites you to the distant recesses of the mind to meet the stranger inside you. How much do we know about ourselves? Are we not one person, but many? SHINE is an immersive psychological thriller that blurs the senses and tricks the mind into feeling what might not be there. SHINE, ZOO Southside, Mon 5–Mon 26 Aug (not 6, 13, 20), 7.45pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10). Previews Fri 2–Sun 4 Aug, £7.
SHINE
Honey Tove Appelgren, ACE-Production in association with From Start to Finnish Honey, a freelance journalist and single mother of four (and a half) seeks control, agency, confirmation and solvency from her rebellious daughter, disappointed mother, skeptical friends and imperfect men. A comedic one-woman show from Finland featuring Scottish actress Sarah McCardie embodying eleven triumphantly dysfunctional characters in one hour, precisely. Honey, ZOO Southside, Fri 2–Sun 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 4.30pm, £10 (£8).
STYX Second Body An award-winning theatre-concert performed by an international supergroup of musicians. An exploration of what it is to lose the memories that make us who we are and the stories that connect them. Original songs, live sound-processing and personal recordings bring light to the experience of living and dying with dementia and the imprints that outlast us. STYX, ZOO Southside, Fri 2–Sat 17 Aug, 3.05pm, £14 (£12).
I Swallowed a Moon Made of Iron Music Picnic (Toronto) / Point View Art (Macau) A requiem for our digital age from Toronto/Macau composer Njo Kong Kie. This concert experience sets the poetry of Chinese poet and factory worker Xu Lizhi to song. Powerful, haunting and gut-wrenching, these poems give voice to millions of migrant workers worldwide whose existence is often forgotten. I Swallowed a Moon Made of Iron, ZOO Southside, Tue 6–Sun 25 Aug (not 13, 20), 10pm, £10 (£9).
Theatre Royal Plymouth, Vooruit, Richard Jordan Productions, BiB with ZOO
Ontroerend Goed, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Vooruit, Richard Jordan Productions, BiB with ZOO. Like its title, this performance is a palindrome. You can see it forwards and backwards. Because some believe humanity is moving forward, while others…
Seke Chimutengwende and Alexandrina Hemsley
An Afrofuturist history of the universe from the Big Bang to dreamshout death. Propelling lived experiences onto a cosmic scale, Chimutengwende and Hemsley shapeshift through poetic text and movement. Step into an alternative speculation on how to orbit bodies which carry…
Tove Appelgren, ACE-Production in association with From Start to Finnish
Honey, a freelance journalist and single mother of four (and a half) seeks control, agency, confirmation and solvency from her rebellious daughter, disappointed mother, skeptical friends and imperfect men. Three (or four) therapists have so far…
SLAM Theatre
Growing up is hard. Learning to use a washing machine is harder. This original musical, featuring a live string quartet, follows Cass and James – siblings called back to their childhood home to pack up for one last time. As they box up their old lives, tensions rise and they must confront themselves and…
Music Picnic (Toronto) / Point View Art (Macau)
A requiem for our digital age from Toronto/Macau composer Njo Kong Kie (winner, 2018 Toronto Theatre Critics Award, Best New Musical). This concert experience sets the poetry of Chinese poet and factory worker Xu Lizhi to song. Powerful, haunting and gut-wrenching, these…
Emergency Chorus
As of 2018, the Doomsday Clock is the closest it's ever been to midnight. In an age of climate change and nuclear anxiety, we like to tell stories about apocalypse, disaster and endings. This isn't quite one of those stories. Combining text, choreography and music, Landscape (1989) is a slow zoom in on…
Spare Tyre
In a circus after the lights have been turned off, four characters emerge in the darkness slowly revealing their desires, hunger and inner conflicts. Part mythical, part real, they define their own sense of sexuality and identity. Tension builds as the characters exist in their own separate worlds until a…
Woman's Move
Hilarious yet uncomfortable, The Sensemaker shows a woman battling with an answering machine. Smartly dressed, standing behind a phone, she tries to meet the impossible expectations of an artificial voice. Critical of new technologies and of bureaucracy, The Sensemaker mixes theatre, dance and even…
Hippana Theatre in association with From Start to Finnish
Your daughter is missing. You are the only one who has not given up the search. You hear voices. They guide you. They also haunt you. Will you surrender to them? Or will you shine? Hippana Theatre invites you to the distant recesses of the mind to meet the…
Nick Field
Unicorns, have you noticed they’re everywhere right now? As is the far right. This hilarious, rollicking, razor-sharp show asks what the simultaneous rise of these phenomenons tells us. Hunting the omnipresent one-horned icon across civilisations to explore how ideologies spread and our imaginations become…
An award-winning theatre-concert about family, myth and memory loss performed by an international supergroup of musicians. An extraordinary exploration of what it is to lose the memories that make us who we are and the stories that connect them. From ancient mythology to family legacy, what remains each time we turn to…
(18 Aug 2019)
(13 Aug 2019)
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