by Anne-Charlotte Gerbaud
In Saria Callas, Seemia Theatre and Sara Amini deliver a powerful solo show that explores identity, memory, and freedom. This multimedia production traces the journey of Saria, who fled Iran to escape a life of restriction, only to realise that her decision may also have paved the way for her child to live freely in ways she couldn’t have imagined.
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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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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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by Zahid Fayyaz
Taking over from The Devil Wears Prada at the Dominion Theatre is this special, one-off show in London about The Dubliners, one of Ireland’s biggest and most well-known bands. The story unfolds on a stage done up like the renowned Dublin bar O’Donoghue’s, where the band began their journey in 1962 and contributed to the revival of traditional Irish music. A five-piece band shared the history of the music group, from their early beginnings to almost 50 years later on The Late Late Show in 2008.
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by Zahid Fayyaz
Based on the 1963 album by Charles Mingus, this production transferred from Shoreditch Town Hall after a run last year. The dance/theatre production set entirely on the Barbican stage – the audience join both the Clod Ensemble and the Nu Civilisation Orchestra on stage for the show. With the space done up as a jazz club, the audience sits and stands around the dancers and the musicians during their performance.
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by Zahid Fayyaz
Viral hit Jazz Emu (real name – Archie Henderson) has launched his new show and forthcoming tour after garnering millions of views of his music videos on social media platforms. Down in the theatre’s lively cabaret space, the conceit of the show is that the character Jazz Emu is warming up just before he gets on stage at the Royal Albert Hall for the Royal Variety Performance. However, Jazz has a secondary objective: he wants to be the one knighted by the King that evening, as apparently that’s how all Royal Variety performances end. The only person in his way is his arch nemesis, Kelly Clarkson, as well as his own failure to comply with various laws and financial guidelines.
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by Zahid Fayyaz
Immersive theatre specialists Punchdrunk have opened their second show in what is their own, custom-built space in Woolwich Arsenal, following on from The Burnt City. Based on a 1901 gothic short story, The Moon Slave, written by Daisy Johnson and with narration by Helen Bonham Carter, this is a relatively starry shift from the company. They have also moved away from their previous productions by putting together a linear narrative, rather than allowing the audience free reign over the space and story.
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by Archie Whyld
What do German theatre directors eat in the morning? Why, Brechtfast, of course. Early on in Polly (The Heartbreak Opera), a similar, and admittedly better, Brechtfast joke was subtly slipped in, in a moment of metatheatrical gorgeousness, and so, being a lover of all things Brecht, I thought – this is for me.
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by Stewart Robson
For five performances only (sadly this not a full run), Dragonboy Productions have produced this adventurous adaption of five Chekov short stories: The Lady with the Little Dog, The Chemist’s Wife, At a Summer Villa, An Avenger and The Bear. Eliot Giuralarocca has skilfully adapted and directed these five stories. A brilliant cast of five, including Giuralarocca himself, give the stories a dynamic, farcical structure which plays brilliantly in the large space at Southwark Playhouse.
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by Zahid Fayyaz
This is a brand new venue in the West End that recently opened in Covent Garden, currently hosting a revue of Stephen Sondheim songs as its opening production. The performance space is upstairs at the Prince of Wales pub. It is a cozy venue with a supper club vibe to it, and the audience is up close and personal to the stage and its performers.
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