by Christina Bulford
Grief is something that we must all experience at some point in our lives, but that fact alone does not in any way prepare us for it.
review
Frankenstein, Battersea Arts Centre
by Gregory Forest
Frankenstein is a tour de force.
A choral, beatboxing, rap-infused version of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, Battersea Arts Centre’s ‘live concept album’ manages to entertain and analyse our world in equal measure.
Richard III, Alexandra Palace
by Louis Train
There’s an annoying trend among artists to draw explicit parallels between historical texts and the present day, tossing around words like ‘prescient’ and ‘timely’, and finding hints of Brexit in Arthur Miller plays like religious fanatics spotting the face of Jesus on toast. That’s not to say, however, that we can’t find broad reflections of our world in old stories: people are still people, just as interesting, lovely, and ugly as they ever have been.
10, Vault Festival
by Laura Kressly
It’s no secret that history has been written by rich white men, and anyone not a rich white man is sidelined in textbooks and scholarship. Though institutions are starting to decolonise and de-centre the narrative that is widely taken as fact, women still aren’t getting the attention they deserve and change is slow. In 10, playwright Lizzie Milton wants to redress the balance. The potted stories of 10 women who have been largely forgotten in the passage of time unfold in choral celebration, serving to both educate and enlighten audiences.
The Trick, Bush Theatre
by Amy Toledano
What does someone do when the person they have spent their entire life with disappears? When does the decline of a life begin? Is it with the first grey hairs, or when you first starting receiving your pension?
Pain(t), New Wimbledon Theatre
by Tom Brocklehurst
The New Wimbledon Theatre is hosting a series of Richard Foreman’s early avant-garde works from the 1960s and 70s. Based on that sentence alone, you will already know whether you’re interested in coming along.
3 Billion Seconds, Vault Festival
by Laura Kressly
The average baby born in Britain today will live for three billion seconds. They will be responsible for contributing approximately 58.6 tonnes of carbon to the environment. As such, climate scientists widely agree that not having children at all or having one less child than originally planned will have a significant effect on pollution levels. Climate change activists Daisy and Michael know this, and advocate for reducing the population in their environmentalism talks they give around the country – but what happens when they fall pregnant?
Wood, Vault Festival
By Romy Foster
It’s 1983. We are introduced to the ‘It’ man of the moment in the Hollywood porn scene, John Rolando (George Fletcher). The stage is set up like a studio – lights, camera, action – and we eagerly await the reveal of the man of the hour.
SIX, Arts Theatre
by Hailey Bachrach
SIX knows exactly what it’s doing wrong, which is what makes it so aggravating. After an hour of catty jostling between the six ex-wives of King Henry VIII, who are competing in song to see who had the worst time of it, the show turns around and tries to scold itself for pitting the women against each other. It’s the ultimate in cheap, have-your-cake-and-eat-it moments: get the laughs, then admit they were lazy ones.
Work Bitch, VAULT Festival
by Joanna Trainor
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
Jessica Siân opens Work Bitch with an utterly manic laugh. The awful kind of laugh you develop when you have to laugh or you’ll cry. This is a proper tragicomedy at its core. The intelligent writing makes you laugh at these larger than life characters, all played by Siân, and then hits you with the added details – like the expression of the cook, who works every shift he can, when he thinks no one’s watching.
The Play's The Thing UK 