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All Falls Down, VAULT Festival

by Laura Kressly

Storytelling – the simple kind where a small group of people sit in the dark and simply share wild and wonderful tales – is an inherent part of being human. In this instance, combining this instinct with improvisation, and audience interaction results in a story following a group of friends trying to find their way out of a plane crash. The audience is the group of friends, and Joe Strickland quietly narrates the set-up. Soon, Strickland introduces a chose-your-own-adventure type of moment that leads to many more. The concept is fun and the audience enthusiastically engages, but the execution raises questions about audience autonomy and the limits of improv.

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Feature | A Year in Queers

Transgender Awareness Week - "Since U Been Gone" Screening Q&A with Playwright & Performer Tabby Lamb | Wolfson

by guest writer Tabby Lamb

It’s now been one whole year since I’ve been regularly running Theatre Queers, a meet-up for queer people who work in theatre. With it being the new year, it was a good time to reflect on what I’ve learnt from these meet-ups.

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A Pattern of Bad Behaviour, VAULT Festival

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by Zahid Fayyaz

This is a new two-hander from Clown Funeral, a West Midlands based company who are also associates artists of the New Diorama Theatre, a hotbed for new work. It tells a slightly twisted tale of two strangers who meet, fight, and then form a friendship. This companionship is one based on a connection which neither quite seems to be able to express into words, but rather by attacking each other.

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Jollof Wars, VAULT Festival

Image result for jollof wars, vault festival

by Amber Pathak

The play opens with three, young lads playing games. As it reaches dinner time they begin to debate whose country’s food is better: Jamaica, Cameroon or Ghana? This is the basis of Jollof Wars – an argument between two families that will see relationships broken and mended. Focusing on the engagement of a Ghanaian man to a Nigerian woman, Jollof Wars gives a witty yet poignant insight into how culture influences our choices, and in turn impacts the rest of our lives.

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Body Talk, VAULT Festival

Body Talk

by Grace Bouchard

CW: eating disorders, body dismorphia

Within the first few lines we are promised “fully clothed catharsis”, and for Cameron, Carl, and Phil, this can’t come soon enough. The topics of masculinity and body image within the gay community are rife with misconception and misunderstanding, not least because for decades no one has talked openly about them. Now, in the age of Grindr and Instagram, where men are bombarded with images of washboard abs and profile bios loudly declaring “no fats, no femmes, no Asians”, it’s understandable that gay men are struggling under the weight of the pressure they put on each other and themselves. Cameron, Carl, and Phil want that to change.

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Scream Phone, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Image result for scream phone, swipe right theatreby Meredith Jones Russell

If you weren’t lucky enough to have spent your formative years playing the ‘90s Hasbro wonder that was DreamPhone, it might be worth having a quick Google before you see the show. There’s still more than enough to enjoy if you don’t, but there are some wickedly funny references that make this musical horror spoof even better for the initiated.

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Wrath of Achilles, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

by Laura Kressly

The epic journeys, high tragedy, gods and monsters in Greek myths provide theatremakers with a wealth of source material for new works. In this new play with music, Jack Fairey scales down The Iliad to an intimate three characters and gives it a gay spin. As Achilles and his best friend Patroclus wait at their army’s camp with their Trojan prisoner Briseis, they consider the ethics of how women are treated in war, and Achilles and Patroclus realise they are more than just mates.

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Hotter, Soho Theatre

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by Christina Bulford

How well do you know your inner critic? When you look in the mirror, what does she or he whisper in your ear, or shout loudly in your face? “Too fat! Too skinny! Too jiggly! Not hot enough!” Ell Porter and Mary Higgins have not only listened to these voices, they’ve let them out of their heads and, unabashed, onto the stage – from fat to fitness, men to menopause, dildos to doctor’s surgeries, periods to poo and all the body bits in between. As former lovers they claim to know each other extremely well, inside and out, and go to great lengths to get to the bottom of all this body-business. Pun absolutely intended.

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