by guest critic Joanna Trainor
“Think Columbine, think Virgina Tech, think Sandy Hook.”
Teenage Ben repeats this again and again in order to calm his nerves when he’s being mercilessly mocked by the football team. Less than two months after the Parkland shootings these words don’t sit right. In Ben’s mouth they sound blasé, and they’re not.
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by guest critic Joanna Trainor
“Why have you stopped eating?” Viv asks Tom at the nursing home. “Why have you developed an entirely different accent in your old age?” Tom could reasonably respond.
This is a slightly harsh opener; Old Fools is one of those productions that has a few things to pick at but is redeemed by its ending. From their first meeting to a cold garden in a nursing room, this is the story of Tim and Viv and Alzheimer’s.
by an anonymous guest critic
Nastazja Somers’ remarkable and brave one woman show delivers inspiration by the mouthful.
It’s not very often you get to watch someone eat a whole grapefruit on stage, but Somers does just that. As you watch her slowly devouring the fruit, it’s hard to break your gaze as she courageously stands in a defiant red dress that screams Siren.
by guest critic Lara Alier
Imagination and simplicity are very effective storytelling devices. Ok Bye feels like a small step forward in the evolution of theatre. Ok, I’m getting carried away, but when I see people pushing theatre forward I get excited. There are verbatim sections, choreography, lighting devices, live music, three actors and one musician.
by guest critic Lara Alier
Willow is a 35-year-old chemist who works at Boots and is writing a scientific journal. Liz is an older woman who takes care of her sick husband and spends half of her time walking in the woods. They both become curious about the other, and eventually care for each other. The non-judgmental writing creates really round characters with many different layers.
by guest critic Meredith Jones Russell
As you enter Follow Suit, four people dressed in variously ill-fitting suits stare back at you. When you leave 45 minutes later, you realise you’ve barely glanced away from them. And their gazes have hardly left yours either.
by guest critic Gregory Forrest
Assessing new writing nights is a tricky business. A critical line must be drawn early on between the evening’s overall creative gesture and the quality of individual submissions. Better to do this than parrot the worn-out phrase: “a mixed bag”.
by an anonymous guest critic
Nest is a beautiful two-hander by Katy Warner, which was understandably shortlisted for Theatre503’s playwriting award. Travelling through an unconventional, council-estate couple’s journey, the play invites the audience into snippets of their relationship, through a series of non-chronological scenes.
by guest critic Maeve Campbell
Scouring Broadway forums and Twitter feeds after seeing Pippin at the Southwark Playhouse did not illuminate meaning or clarify an overwhelmingly strange plot. I did, however, find a large cult following for the 1972 American musical, all positing and debating different plot theories. It made me wonder whether Stephen Schwartz’s Pippin is the theatrical equivalent of David Lynch’s Mullholland Drive, and whether this assessment makes it cooler? I’m not so sure.
by guest critic Joanna Trainor
There’s political theatre, and then there’s Stardust.
Arguably the most visually stunning piece to come to the VAULT Festival this year, Blackboard Theatre combine movement, out-of-this-world animations and the power of words to expose the dark world of the Columbian cocaine industry.
The Play's The Thing UK 