by Diana Miranda
Both Barrels Theatre’s revival of Peter Gill’s 1976 Small Changes looks back to postwar Cardiff through the eyes of two Catholic, working-class families. Gill’s narrative provides a layer of evocative lyricism scattered throughout the memories of two men, giving a poetic undertone to a realistic play.
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by Diana Miranda
How do you earn the spotlight for a musical thriller about spy kids facing deathly traps at an indoor trampoline park? Producers, take note of the title: Jump into death: the bounce back. It might be too specific a niche, but worry not, the solution is simple. Call Watch This Improv Troupe.
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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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by Diana Miranda
Written and directed by Joshua Thomas, For All the Love You Lost is a sincerely moving piece coloured by passages of spoken word poetry and physical theatre. Despite focusing on contemporary dating, it succeeds in portraying the emotional value in connections beyond romantic love.
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by Diana Miranda
Satire Sky Theatre brings back 1902, an immersive theatre piece by Nathan Scott-Dunn, for the fourth consecutive year. 1902 flashes across the tumult of the fringe in Edinburgh’s Old Town to strike a goal at Leith Arches, a venue with more local atmosphere. The action takes place at the Dog and Duck pub in 2016, where four football enthusiasts (Scott-Dunn, Alexander Arran-Cowan, Josh Brock, and Cameron Docker) gather around a large table to prepare for the Scottish Cup Final. The audience steps into the pub turned into an in-the-round stage, under a brick archway with the bar to one side and an industrial staircase that might as well be a stadium’s grandstand.
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by Diana Miranda
This piece of new writing follows a young woman (Emma Tadmor) who explores what loving someone means as she tries to make sense of her relationship’s crumbling. The story unravels through metatheatrical transitions spread throughout the show that allow her to navigate the issue as herself and as the character she plays. She is joined by her partner (Julian Chesshire) during a show’s rehearsals that depict a couple who recently moved into a new flat. It’s a bit difficult to tell the difference between when they’re in character and out, and it takes a while to understand the relationship’s subplot when they’re off stage. However, the main essence is clear in both scenarios: the failure to communicate their feelings and the bitterness and frustration that entails.
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by Diana Miranda
New Celts Productions and Oddly Ordinary Theatre Company presents their take on pool (no water), a show that delves into the drive that a group of artists find in envy and ambition after an incident with one of their friends, the successful one. Written by Mark Ravenhill, the script has no assigned parts for any specific character. This leaves freedom for each production to explore and devise the motivations behind the text, as if the lines themselves were abstract protagonists that take human shape when a show sets them in motion.
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by Laura Kressly
Leigh’s doing her GCSEs but all she and the girls at school can talk about is the upcoming May Day event, where Leigh’s playing the May queen. She can’t wait to wear the dress she was allowed to choose herself, and wave from the float whilst the entire city of Coventry comes out to watch. What she doesn’t realise is that at 16 years old, Leigh’s had enough of boys and men consuming her body.
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by Diana Miranda
What does dating mean for someone who grew up when cassettes were a thing and fell in love before the era of dating apps? Rachel has just separated from her husband and is back at her mum’s, surrounded by boxes containing memorabilia from the nineties. Among those treasures, she re-discovers Sugar magazine, the ultimate guide to tackling dating. However, being single some twenty years later – when Bumble replaces phone calls – poses a few challenges.
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by Diana Miranda
Welcome to the madhouse, a place of chaos and confusion, typical of student house-sharing. A group of six friends gives a bittersweet glimpse of early adulthood, a path as messy as the kitchen table around which they party, study, and share their stories.
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