by Diana Miranda
It’s often said that the stomach is the body’s second brain. Supposedly, that pulling energy inside our gut – the thing we call intuition – is no woo-woo concept. This is certainly true in Ariana Xeno’s debut show, Stomach, which unravels the intertwined narratives of three women navigating environments that threaten their mental and physical health.
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by Diana Miranda
Forrest Gump’s mama said it best: “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” Featuring ten short pieces that delve into the tapestry of human experiences, LIFE: The Beginning, the End, and Everything in Between reflects precisely that variety. Produced by Northern Spirit, this eclectic evening of new writing at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre has the creative energy of a poetry slam and a scratch night put together.
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by Diana Miranda
Written by Angelika May, The Unicorn in Captivity is a powerful tragedy that explores the ways patriarchal systems —from the NHS to art institutions — diminish and fetishise the experience of women grappling with chronic illness.
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by Zahid Fayyaz
Following on from his success run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023, Jason Byrne brings his one-man play to London for a few dates. On a stage set up to look like his dad’s ‘man cave’, with a Perry Como record and red lemonade prominently displayed, it certainly looks the part for what follows.
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by Euan Vincent
Unseen Unheard, a show seeking to improve the representation of Black women with breast cancer, is a co-production between Black Women Rising and Peckham Theatre. The production emerged from the real stories of black women’s struggles after a cancer diagnosis and the myriad problems that the system affords them, based on their race. From the belief that black women don’t feel pain – “they see us as superhuman and subhuman at the same time” – to the absence of prosthetics of an appropriate skin tone, point to health inequities that the statistics sadly bear out. Black women are 28% more likely to die from a triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis than white women with the same diagnosis.
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by Laura Kressly
Marnie promised herself she would never go for a poo in the school toilets, but her bowels have had other ideas lately. As she’s dealing with this embarrassment and worrying about her health, we get insight into her innards, where white blood cells are waging war on her colon. This is conveyed by an audio narration focusing on a brand-new cell getting to grips with their job, guiding listeners through the human anatomy and what happens when the body attacks itself.
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by Romy Foster
The NHS estimates that postpartum psychosis affects around 1 in 500 mothers shortly after giving birth. Zena Forster’s explosive new dark comedy after birth looks at this, whilst being a real crowd-pleaser. Brutally honest and equally tender and tough, mother-of-two Ann (played by Sally Tatum) and her new-born are trapped in a mother and baby unit after Ann was sectioned for displaying postpartum psychosis symptoms shortly after giving birth.
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By Zahid Fayyaz
First put on in 2015, this is a welcome return for Incognito Theatre’s adaptation of the novel and film of the life and trials of five German friends on the front during World War One. Fitting it all into an hour-long show is a tough task, but the five talented actors do extremely well to succeed in doing so. With minimal props and using the power of dialogue, they move from initial recruitment to punishing an overly arrogant corporal, to fighting on the front and being forced to reside in a military hospital.
by Emma Lamond
This is a fun and eccentric poetry show which celebrates the best, the worst, and the otherwise un-noteworthy in us all.
by Laura Kressly
Rosa’s been bloated and uncomfortable for about week, but she’s sure it’s nothing. She just needs to find some clothes that hide it, and are also suitable for a first date. A week after that, convinced the pain is something she’s eaten or trapped wind, she’s diagnosed with cancer. It’s 1 April 2018. She’s only 23 years old. Despite her hopes for it to be the year she sorts her life out, the reality is much more stark and scary.
The Play's The Thing UK 