by guest critic Tom Brocklehurst
Wrecked is an immersive show set in the aftermath of a car crash. We join our protagonist, Sam, in her (real) smashed-up Vauxhall as she comes to with some short-term memory loss and tries to piece together what has happened in the lead-up to the accident.
by Laura Kressly
Playwright Terry Johnson is a quiet, unassuming sort of gent. He’s the kind of person that prefers watching people get up to no good rather than joining in himself.
But when he briefly worked as an actor in the 70s and met legendary theatrical anarchist Ken Campbell, Johnson didn’t have any other choice but to embrace the chaos of Campell’s working methods. Though Johnson’s acting career was soon tucked away in favour of work at a desk, Campbell changed his life. Ken is his tender, hilarious homage to this lion of of a man, though at times it waxes too sentimental in the face of Campbell’s absurdity.
by Laura Kressly
Laura is 38 years old. She’s just bought a new flat in Crouch End, and is the successful managing director of a company. She’s an unapologetic feminist. She’s desperately lonely and wants a child, but has hatched a plan to get herself knocked up.
Danny is 42, lives with his mum in Essex and works in middle management. He’s divorced and has a child he never sees. He’s a lad’s lad. He’s also desperately lonely, and drifting through life with little direction.
by guest critic Zahid Fayyaz
From a successful run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Mat Ewins bring his well-received show to London’s VAULT festival. This is a series of daft but funny jokes, using faked videos and audience participation supported by a spine of an Indiana Jones-style adventure. The quest is to obtain a magical amulet to prevent the closure of his museum.
by guest critic Zahid Fayyaz
This is a solo monologue from Kryptonite Theatre Company, a new-ish company putting forward stories from different communities and perspectives not normally put on stage. This particularly story is that of Shez, a working class teenager who loves Starburst and is in the process of getting over her parent’s breakdown. After some harsh words from her mother about her weight, she embarks on a strict exercise and diet regime.
by guest critic Lauren Gauge
At it’s best The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha is a one of the most ridiculously fun, liberating examples of interactive, ensemble storytelling. Though the narrative is intrinsic and the episodic adventures of Don Quixote are told with great clarity and comedy, the novel the production is based on is not the main attraction, nor is it important that one knows the original material.
by Laura Kressly
I’m a big fan of Golem!’s approach to theatrical storytelling, and they’re a big fan of my review of their last production – so much so that their primary pull quote is one I wrote. It tops their programme, their press release and their festival listing. So it saddens me to say that Tomorrow Creeps pales in comparison to their I Know You of Old on which I lavish heaps of praise.
by guest critic Amy Toledano
A stage dressed with cardboard cut outs of Donald Trump, three members of One Direction and a children’s play house are just some of the elements that make up this monologue of a recovering children’s entertainer. Joseph Cullen, or put more plainly Joe, who enters the space in a complete Princess Leia outfit, introduces himself to us as exactly this, and then continues to surprise us from that moment on.
by guest critic Amy Toledano
Trashed is a high energy, thrilling and heartbreaking show that has the audience hooked from beginning to end. David William Byran plays Keith – a rubbish collector from a working class community in the UK. Throughout, Keith is engaging with the audience, asking questions and offering some of his beer, which he drinks continuously throughout the piece.
by guest critic Gregory Forrest
A serial murderer is killing [victim trope] and the police won’t listen. Now, a hero must find justice in his own way [he’s usually male], unaware that by digging up secrets he will soon become the killer’s next target. It is the worn-out plot of a thousand films. And it is the same tired story which is is given a jolt of electricity by Tumulus at Vault Festival.
The Play's The Thing UK 