POC

Red Pitch, Bush Theatre

by Laura Kressly

The centre of the world is somewhere in south London within walking distance of the Camberwell Morley’s. It might be up Walworth Road towards Elephant, or in the direction of the Oval on Camberwell New Road. It could also be between there and Peckham, or somewhere down near King’s College Hospital. With all of these areas at the mercy of predatory property developers and skint local governments who are tearing down council blocks and throwing up ‘affordable’ (spoiler: only affordable to rich people) housing, it’s hard to tell exactly where red pitch is. It’s there though, tucked amidst small, shabby shopfronts and concrete estates. To 16-year-olds Bilal, Joey and Omz, the red-fenced football field is everything.

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Feature | Bringing Characters to Life

https://images.cm.archant.co.uk/resource/responsive-image/8290230/article-lead-image/lg/4/image5.jpg

by Laura Kressly

Passion Fruit is very much Dior Clarke’s story, but it’s not a solo performance. Though the first rehearsal I observed consisted of the director Melina Namdar solely working with Clarke, the second included actor Hayden Mampasi, who takes on a varied collection of supporting characters. In this rehearsal, director Melina Namdar uses a range of exercises to develop Mampasi’s characterisations and ensure the people he plays are distinct from each other. It’s an intense day full of work on the details that bring characters to life on stage, showcases Namdar’s expansive director toolkit, and the techniques that actors use to bring characters to life.

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Feature | Making Passion Fruit

PASSION FRUIT Tickets, Multiple Dates - London | OutSavvy

by Laura Kressly

Despite the best of intentions, working with friends doesn’t always turn out well. It can lead to crossed boundaries, arguments, and environments that make others uncomfortable. Work can be sidelined by inside jokes and messing about. Additionally, being mates doesn’t mean you have the same creative vision. However, none of this is the case with actor/writer Dior Clarke and director Melina Namdar. The close friends and creative associates are working together on the premiere of Clarke’s autobiographical, coming-of-age story Passion Fruit, about growing up in north London as a Black, gay man.

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Lava, Bush Theatre

Lava – Bush Theatre

by Laura Kressly

Renewing a passport is usually a straightforward – if annoying – bit of life paperwork so Benedict is surprised when a letter arrives from the Home Office indicating otherwise. However, this admin obstacle is the start of her explorations a historic maze of familial border crossings, cultural differences, and complex identities. Of course, it’s still far bigger than than that because a family does not exist in a vacuum. In this instance, colonial and racial violence have shaped entire nations and Benedict’s family is a part of that, and she is here to ensure we hear her story, and those of many others who are marginalised and oppressed by imperialism.

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Through the Mist, Clean Break Studios

Review: Through This Mist, Clean Break, London

by Laura Kressly

As part of Clean Break’s 40th anniversary celebrations, this outdoor, in-person production showcases some of the work the company created over the past year. The collection of short monologues created by Clean Break members and associate artists all share stories of loss, isolation and loneliness, which are further contextualised by lived experiences of incarceration. The character-driven pieces are remarkable examples of human resilience in the face of systemic oppression and a criminal justice system that is punitive and cruel.

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…cake, Theatre Peckham

By Diana Miranda

Theatre Peckham’s Artistic Director Suzann McLean hits the target as she notes that …cake is a bold new play which honours intersectionality. Written by babirye bukilwa and directed by malakaï sargeant, this two-hander drama pulls away from the myth of neatly defined tropes regarding gender identities, roots, class and relationships, and sets out to explore the complexities of stepping out of a familial cocoon that shifts from warm to flaming.

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Shedding a Skin, Soho Theatre

photo by Helen Murray

by Laura Kressly

Whilst feeling uncertain and lost may well be something everyone goes through at least at one point in their life, thats no consolation in the moment. Everyone else seems to have purpose, direction and a place, and the sense of not having that can be debilitating. That’s certainly the case for Myah.

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seven methods of killing kylie jenner, The Royal Court

Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner at the Royal Court Theatre | Theatre review – The Upcoming

by Laura Kressly

Cleo has finally had enough of Kylie Jenner’s celebrity and with nowhere else to safely vent her frustrations, she takes to her anonymous Twitter account. After her first couple of tweets critiquing Kylie’s appropriation of Black culture, Cleo’s best friend Kara busts in when her concerned Whatsapps are ignored. Their ensuing discussion – that often descends into argument – also covers queerness, friendship, teenage offenses and indiscretions, and the long history of violence Black people have suffered at the hands of whites.

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The Sun, The Moon and The Stars, Theatre Royal Stratford East

The Sun, The Moon and The Stars: Kibong Tanji gives an unmissable performance

by Laura Kressly

Women’s anger is often expected to be suppressed or contained rather than be unleashed on the world. Otherwise, we risk being labelled ‘crazy’ or ‘a bitch’, no matter what injustice we experience. But Femi can’t hold it in anymore. The night before the group of white men who killed her killed her brother Seun on Margate’s beach face charges of manslaughter, his ghost visits her to share the truth of his death. Initially baffled by her dead brother’s appearance, she is transformed into an embodied fury that cannot and will not stop until she gets revenge.

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Book Review | Hamilton and Me

Olivier Winner Giles Terera to Publish Hamilton and Me: An Actor's Journal in 2021 | Playbill

by Michaela Clement-Hayes

Audience members don’t always appreciate the time and effort that goes into making a West End or Broadway performance. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of hard work. The months spent learning lines, choreography and music, lengthy rehearsals, techs and previews are only a small part of it.

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