by guest critic Amy Toledano
What would you do if you knew it was your last day on earth? Yeah, neither does Cat. So she walks home. Not to the place she is living. But the place she is from. Continue reading
music
Providence, VAULT Festival
by guest critic Tom Brocklehurst
We discover H P Lovecraft, cult horror writer from Providence, Rhode Island, standing on the banks of the Providence River in 1910 threatening to drown himself. In an It’s A Wonderful Life-style intervention, the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe (Dominic Allen) arrives to try to talk him around. We then flash forwards through the rest of Lovecraft’s life in this biographical comedy, with Poe helping him along the way.
It sounds like a strange idea for a play, but it’s a suitably bonkers device for a show about a weird man who wrote very weird tales.
Dietrich: Natural Duty, VAULT Festival
by guest critic Tom Brocklehurst
A one wo(man) show by Peter Groom, Natural Duty focuses on Marlena Dietrich’s involvement with the US war effort during World War II. During the war, she spent several years at the front line in France, Belgium and Germany, improving troops’ morale by performing shows and meeting soldiers.
Tomorrow Creeps, VAULT Festival
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.
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Wilton’s Music Hall
by Laura Kressly
On the phone with his agent, an old man’s mind wanders to his youth. The shadows of WWI stretched across Europe and Russia, but it’s in these dark times that the now-aged painter met a beautiful writer. Falling in love with her was like flying.
Hamilton, Victoria Palace Theatre
Let’s get this out of the way first – does Hamilton live up to the hype? Yes. It’s very good. Though the revolution in the plot doesn’t influence the dramaturgy, that doesn’t mean it’s not a fantastic show that musically updates the genre and skillfully triggers a spectrum of emotions. It’s simultaneously epic and intimate, staged surprisingly simply with striking, sculptural choreography and utterly engaging throughout.
But this pro-immigration, hip-hop reinvention of the all-American musical about a country gaining independence from a distant, tyrannical overlord resonates rather differently in Brexit Britain than it does in America. Forget the NHS bus – could Hamilton be the new symbol of the Leave campaign?
The Lost Boy Peter Pan, Pleasance Theatre
Think of your favourite stories as a young child. What did they have in common? Adventure. Youth. Fantasy. Foreign lands. Probably at least one good fight. Stories like Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island and Peter Pan are still popular, and for good reason. They’re compelling, well told stories.
But as a proud killjoy feminist, returning to these childhood favourites as an adult has proved troublesome. Action to the Word’s fairly solid reinvention of Peter Pan for seven actor-musicians is a fun, inventive adventure story that stays close to the original.
Snow White and Rose Red, Battersea Arts Centre
Battersea Arts Centre’s family Christmas show for people aged 5 and up is far from the Disney version of Snow White. The children’s show by RashDash, creators of naked, feminist, Edinburgh hit Two Man Show, is also far from conventional kids’ theatre. Combining their woman-led, political ethos with the use of live music, the company reclaims femininity and appropriates the traditionally patriarchal adventure of fairytales in this spirited show for all ages.
Maiden Speech, TheatreN16
In world of Harvey Weinsteins, Bill Cosbys, MRAs and other own-brand misogynists in and out of the arts, A mini-festival of feminist theatre should be a soothing balm to the wounds wrought by male privilege. It is, in part. Though it’s great that feminist work is getting much-needed exposure, Maiden Speech varies in quality and lacks true intersectionality.
Beowulf, Unicorn Theatre
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Two walls of Marshall amps sit either side of gleaming trusses. A DJ booth manned by a black-clad figure sports a banner for a place called Heorot. Smoke seeps through vents in the floor and a woman in goth metal dress prowls the stage.
The Play's The Thing UK 