by Bryony Rae Taylor
In a manic pre-show ‘welcome’, Nathaniel Hall greets the audience with recently sniffed white powder falling down his face, dressing gown on, and in a bedroom strewn with the detritus from a recently concluded party. He’s overslept and he’s addressing his post-party headache with a heck of a lot of cocaine. It’s alarming.
‘We’re not in the Vauxhall Tavern anymore are we, Toto?’
by Isabel Becker
What starts off as a razzle-dazzle cabaret musical, full of mockery of his ever-so-gay charm, darling, and name-in-lights showbiz dreams, Simon David’s play soon becomes a deeply personal meditation on life, death and art, often jutting between extremes before we even know it.
By Matthew McGregor-Morales
“We’re going to go with intuition”, Ruby Wednesday tells a lady from Chiswick, as ambience-maestros Yoshi peel out the start of a haunting, rhythmic dive into minor keys and mayhem. Returning to VAULT Festival after a break-out 2019 run, The Feathers of Daedalus have taken Tarot up a notch, blending their signature circus and dance performances with audience readings and a soul funk soundtrack with climaxes a-plenty.
By Tayo Olowo-okere
Santi and Naz are best friends living in a small Indian village just before the partition of India takes place. The story follows their relationship, and how the country’s political situation affects them both.
by Laura Kressly
In 1831, Mary Prince’s autobiography was the first book published in the UK about a Black woman. Her straightforward, emotive prose shares her lived experience of being an enslaved woman in the West Indies and England in great detail, including numerous accounts of abuse. This two-woman show embraces it all, packing this story of family separation, numerous masters, and a quest for freedom into an hour. Dance, music and ritual are embedded into the dramaturgy, too – this is a dense show, but one telling an important story that’s exquisitely performed.
by Laura Kressly
Determining a Top 10 has become increasingly troublesome what with the amount of work reviewed by guest critics and the even larger amount that we get invited to but aren’t able to see. So, rather than a more traditional ‘best-of’ list, here’s a totally subjective list of a few of my favourite things – in no particular order – from theatre and performance in 2019.
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.
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.
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?
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.
The Play's The Thing UK 