love

The Mutant Man, Space Arts Centre

315_The Mutant Man @ The Space. Photo by Greg Goodale

By guest reviewer Maeve Campbell

Contemporary pop culture is awash with true crime stories: NPR’s Serial, HBO’s The Jinx and Netflix’s Making of a Murder are just a few titles that have recently gripped public imagination. It is therefore not surprising that two plays about the life of Harry Crawford, born Eugenia Falleni in 1875, have been dramatised in the last few years. The Trouble with Harry by Lachlan Philpot played in Melbourne in 2014 and now Christopher Bryant’s The Mutant Man comes to the Space Arts Centre.
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Chinglish, Park Theatre

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Since the Print Room came under fire for whitewashing a Howard Barker play set in China earlier this year, three notable productions featuring East Asian actors graced UK stages. At different venues and produced by different companies, they were too close in time to the Print Room’s racism and to each other to be a deliberate, unified challenge. Instead, they optimistically indicate a sea change in on-stage visibility of East Asian actors. Perhaps they will no longer be relegated to silent maids, martial artists and geeky mathematicians; instead they will take on leading roles that showcase the diverse talent of British theatre.

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a profoundly affectionate, passionate devotion to someone (-noun), Royal Court

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There are loads of jokes and stereotypes about life within a heterosexual relationship – women talk too much, men don’t understand the difficulties of pregnancy, LTRs feel like a burden, and so forth. Of course each relationship has its unique aspects, but there are common elements that often make generalisations about love ring true. Writer/director debbie tucker green discards many of the trappings of character specificity to expose universal truths about love and relationships in a powerful, moving script with elemental staging that taps into common experience.

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One Last Thing (For Now), Old Red Lion

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Families separated by war and conflict have kept in touch one way or another for time immemorial. Recently giving way to skype, texts and emails, letter writing is now largely neglected – but surviving relics betray heartache, fear and longing. International theatre company Althea Theatre draw on choral physical theatre and the intimate communications between family members from a range of global conflicts to create a moving tribute to love and patriotism.

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Siren, VAULT Festival

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By guest critic Michael Davis

As the Welsh part of Celtic Trilogy at the VAULT Festival, Over The Limit Theatre with Siren has arguably saved the best to last. Directed by Rosa Crompton, and written by Sasha Wilson  and Joseph Cullen, Siren is a delightfully dark comedy about murder and the reasons one could justify this most extreme of actions.

Eleanor (Wilson) and Stuart (Cullen) travel to a remote hotel in Wales to meet up. Except this isn’t a clandestine romantic break, though it does at first appear that way. They’re on the lam and need to lay low for a while.

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My World Has Exploded a Little Bit, VAULT Festival

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by guest critic Michael Davis

My World Has Exploded a Little Bit is not your average show at the Vaults (or anywhere else for that matter). Developed in collaboration with director/dramaturg Donnacadh O’Briain, My World Has Exploded a Little Bit is Bella Heesom’s response to her parents’ deaths occurring within a few years of each other. That’s devastating at the best of times. For it to happen during your 20s will have a profound effect on one’s relationships and worldview.

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Save + Quit, VAULT Festival

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Joe and Steph are two lonely Londoners, and Cara and Dylan are dealing with grief in Dublin. The four young people, in two pairs of intertwined stories, disclose their anxieties and struggles in narrative monologues that are strong examples of moving storytelling. But they are only loosely linked thematically, and there is little that conveys a wider reason for placing these characters within the same work. The stories command attention as do the performances, but the question of why they are presented together never disappears.

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This Must Be the Place, VAULT Festival

by guest critic Nastazja Somers

“Home, is where I want to be / Pick me up and turn around / I feel numb, born with a week heart/ I guess I must be having fun”

David Byrne’s lyrics to ‘This Must Be the Place’, one of the biggest hits from Talking Heads, can be easily seen as the inspiration for the production of This Must Be the Place which, after playing at the Latitude Festival, is now at VAULT Festival. Acclaimed playwrights Brad Birch and Kenneth Emson target the themes of loneliness and belonging in a moving and captivating way. However, whilst the piece is also beautifully acted and directed, it lacks a certain precision in conveying its message.

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The HIV Monologues, Ace Hotel

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By guest critic Jo Trainor

Diagnosis, dread, death, devotion, Patrick Cash has written five interlocking, thoughtful monologues that explore HIV from the most human perspective.

Alex isn’t wearing his power bottom singlet, but his James Dean swagger and Nick’s beautiful eyes are the making of a dream Tinder date. Until Nick reveals he’s HIV positive. Alex legs it, but his audition for Barney the next day forces him to re-evaluate his behaviour.

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A Hundred Different Words for Love, VAULT Festival

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by guest critic Michael Davis

“The Sun is just a star…”

Language. Love. Since time immemorial, human beings have been trying to capture in words the essence of this most nuanced of emotions. Fresh from his success with Team Viking at last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, James Rowland premieres his latest show, A Hundred Different Words For Love at The Vaults. Set within the same universe as Team Viking, Rowland, through anecdotes and music, offers a personal take on the oldest of stories.

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