Afterparty, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

It's the humanity which counts': AFTERPARTY – Edinburgh Fringe | My Theatre  Mates

by Diana Miranda

A group of friends gets ready for the party of a lifetime once their exams are over. The occasion calls for the opportunity to dress up, drink up, and get carried away by summer plans as the stepping stone for the future. The party scales up, and they end up breaking into their school. Blackout. Not the theatre kind. The drunk kind.

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Mediæval Bæbes: 25th Anniversary Concert, The Actor’s Church

The Mediaeval Baebes are away with the fairies for Cardiff show - Wales  Online

by Michaela Clement-Hayes

Established in a Saxon burial ground near Hampstead during a thunderstorm, Mediæval Bæbes have been – suitably – taking crowds by storm for 25 years. For their anniversary performance they have come to the beautiful Actor’s Church in Covent Garden.

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Pigeons on L’edge, VAULT Festival

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By Evangeline Cullingworth

Humans stuck in the horrors of a customer-facing job can rest safe in the knowledge that they are being protected by a fleet of pigeons. What did you think they were doing perched out there on the windowsill all day? They are obviously keeping watch over us.  In their time, these pigeons have seen a lot. And what an honour it is to spend an evening with Prue and Priscilla, two talented nest-mates, as they dramatized the thrills of their espionage.

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Alice, VAULT Festival

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by Amber Pathak

Smoke fills the room, we’re all sitting upright in stiff wooden pews, and in the distance a steady drip echoes off the walls. Is this part of the show or is there a leak in the roof? I wonder. Either way it’s very atmospheric.

A spotlight pierces the darkness, illuminating her. As she goes on, it feels more like a sermon. There is a holiness about the whole effect that is totally compelling.

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Anansi the Spider, Unicorn Theatre

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by Laura Kressly

They say that a long time ago animals could talk, just like people do now. Anansi the spider was the smartest of all these ancient creatures, and used his intelligence for all sorts of nefarious aims. His legacy of scheming lives on as a collection of stories from West Africa to the Caribbean. This new production presents three of them where the mythical trickster isn’t always the nicest, but directed by Artistic Director Justin Audibert for 4-7 year-olds, they are engaging morality tales with music, interaction and excellent performances.

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Chiaroscuro, Bush Theatre

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by Laura Kressly

Beth, Opal, Aisha and Yomi are working-class women of colour. They’re busy with dates, dinner parties, and games of pool at their local, over which they bond, confide and fight. Their stories are punctuated by soulful songs providing further insight into their fears, insecurities and loves. These women could easily be young Londoners today – but Jackie Kay’s gig-theatre show was written in 1986. This relevant, moving production addressing issues of sexuality and identity, and centered on characters that are often left out of theatrical narratives, is a vital and vibrant contribution to contemporary theatre.

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She Sells Sea Shells, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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by Laura Kressly

Mary Anning was a working class fossil hunter from Lyme Regis. She and her dad would sell their finds to the posh, Victorian collectors who wanted to horde artefacts without digging them out of the cliffs themselves. She became known as one of the best fossil hunters in the country, but her discoveries of new dinosaur species and their impact on science were, of course, attributed to wealthy men.  Now, about 200 years later, Mary’s tired of being ignored – so she hijacks a lecture about her work.

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Have I Told You I’m Writing a Play About My Vagina?, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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by Laura Kressly

Bea wants to get drunk and get laid, as often as possible and with no strings attached, but she has a problem. Whenever anything tries to enter her vagina, it hurts. A lot. It’s like her vagina closes up and throws a tantrum about the probing finger, penis or sex toy, and it’s ruining Bea’s life. In Ella Langley’s tentative but hopeful new play on living with and overcoming Vaginismus, Bea’s vagina is suitably personified and Bea must get Vag to trust her again.

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Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Royal Court

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by Romy Foster

Kylie Jenner has just been announced as the world’s first ‘self-made billionaire’ and Cleo is VEX. Feeling this is undeserved, she has launched a tirade of tweets from her anonymous Twitter account @Incognegro about how to kill a social media entrepreneur or, as Cleo thinks of her, a ‘con artist-cum-provocateur’. She is now shut in her bedroom receiving persistent whatsapps from best friend Kara, who is worried about Cleo’s online rant.

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Exceptional Promise, Bush Theatre

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by Laura Kressly

1. What is ‘Exceptional Promise’?
a. Another name for a UK Tier 1 visa
b. An interactive game show-slash-performance piece
c. A critique of the cesspit that is London’s housing market
d. All of the above

If you answered ‘D’, then you win! You’re one step closer to getting the keys to your dream house. But first – you need to survive the rest of the rounds and beat your other two opponents, otherwise you’re doomed to dodgy landlords and housemates forever.

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