Natalie Palamides: WEER, Soho Theatre Walthamstow

by Zahid Fayyaz

After several years of development and subsequent building works, the Soho has opened its north London outpost in Walthamstow, in the beautiful former Granada Cinema that’s also a Grade 2 listed building. A lovely, glitzy venue, and with a capacity of just under 1000, this space debuts with Natalie Palamide’s award nominated Edinburgh fringe show, Weer.

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Salty Brine: These Are The Contents Of My Head (The Annie Lennox Show), Soho Theatre

by Zahid Fayyaz

The New York cabaret star returns to London after the previous success of their Smiths/Frankenstein tribute show, with this personal and sensitive show focusing on Annie Lennox, Judy Garland, as well as Kate Chopin’s groundbreaking feminist novel The Awakening. As part of his Living Record Collection project, all these elements are mixed up with autobiographical elements of his own life, in a stunning 90-minute long cabaret show of real power and sensitivity.

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Playfight, Soho Theatre

by Zahid Fayyaz

A massive hit at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, this new play by Julia Grogan has now come to London for a three-week engagement. It is a three-hander, following the lives of three school friends, Lucy, Zainab and Keira, over a 10 year period during their adolescence and young adulthood. Beginning from just before their GCSEs, the last scene takes place post-university. The story is staged around a striking pink ladder in the middle of the stage that signifies an ancient tree the characters climb and gather around.

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Shafeeq Shajahan: The Bollywood Guide To Revenge, Soho Theatre

by Zahid Fayyaz

Cabaret star Shafeeq Shajahan has returned with a retooled and expanded version of his show from last year at the same venue. Heavily referencing and influenced by the 1970’s Bollywood film Satyam Shivam Sundaram, he works together with collaborator and composer Vasilis Konstantinides who is also a wonderful cellist. The show is a look at Shajahan’s background growing up as a queer man, the difficulties his faith and religious community presented, and its role in adding to his scars.

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Plied and Prejudice, The Vaults

by Zahid Fayyaz

A hit in Australia, this rowdy and ‘immersive’ adaptation of Pride and Prejudice has now made its way to London, playing in the atmospheric tunnels under Waterloo station. Performed by five actors doing all the parts, this is a fun romp through Jane Austen’s iconic book. There is heavy encouragement from the performers to buy drinks throughout the show to keep the mood up but it’s still plenty of fun.

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A Good House, Bristol Old Vic

by Joanna Trainor

“I am always performing.”

A tin shack has appeared on an empty patch of land in the exclusive neighbourhood of Stillwater in Cape Town. The only black couple on the cul-de-sac have been elected by the other “concerned residents” to serve an eviction notice.

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Sheepish, The Hope Theatre

by Diana Miranda

What do you get when you put a sheep with existential angst in a black box theatre and add a spoonful of clowning? The answer is Sheepish, a goofy and delightful show that makes you laugh, reflect, and occasionally go, “Wait, what?” Written and directed by Lauren Talitha Ziebart, Sheepish is one of those theatre delights that refuse to take themselves too seriously.  

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Death and the Cat, Drayton Arms Theatre

by Diana Miranda

Death and The Cat, directed by Penny Gkritzapi, explores life’s ultimate and inevitable outcome – death – wrapped with absurdist humour and a surprising amount of heart. Robert Emlyn Slater’s debut play gives life (ironically) to Death. What starts as a comedy full of quirky characters slowly reveals itself as a deeper reflection on questions about what infinity means, and how the power of connection may ground our search for meaning within the immeasurable.

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Josephine Lacey: Autism Mama, Soho Theatre

by Zahid Fayyaz

The straight-talking Josephine Lacey’s debut stand-up hour is fresh from this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. The new grandmother from London, focuses on the subject of her raising her son, with him having Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder. Though this is not a natural subject for comedy, Lacey manages to put together an entertaining show from such a serious topic.

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Anirban Dasgupta: Polite Provocation, Soho Theatre

by Zahid Fayyaz

Over the last few years, the Soho Theatre has been making a concerted effort to bring over and showcase comedians from India’s burgeoning stand-up scene. Coming back to the UK for the third time, Mumbai based Anirban Dasgupta, one of the continent’s brightest comedy hopefuls, is selling out rooms here in Britain.

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