The title of this winner of Theatre 503’s 2023 International Playwriting Award by Roxy Cook may seem like the set-up to a joke, but the narrative that unspools is instead an affectionate, gently barbed and at base quite sobering portrait of three ordinary souls (and one restless feline) adrift in modern Moscow. There is much … More A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK – REVIEW – THEATRE503
What appears at first as two latecomers arriving, taking seats at the front row as the house lights dim is the first of many sly twists in this gently metaphysical comedy from writer/director Maggie Marie Casto. Oddly, the young couple (Bailey & Clay) appear from the side of the stage not accessible by the public, … More WEIRD PLACE – REVIEW – UNION THEATRE
The stage is suitably spooky with the heavy haze of dry ice and rumbling soundtrack, swallowed up into the shadowy rafters of the erstwhile St Mary’s Church space, now the Colchester Arts Centre, the host venue of writer/director Noah Alfred Pantano’s 2023 Fringe entry. The air is thick with disquiet and threat of menace even … More STANDING ON A NAIL: A QUEER HORROR STORY – REVIEW – COLCHESTER FRINGE
The party’s in full-swing at Ben’s flat, fuelled & sustained by a potent cocktail mix of chemical friends G (gamma-hydroxybutyrate), T(crystal meth) & MKat. The bed is central and the sex is unmitigated, a roundelay of partners & positions. The mandate is to prolong the blowout indefinitely, gratification paramount. PrEP (as a protectant against HIV) … More JOCK NIGHT – REVIEW – SEVEN DIALS PLAYHOUSE
The kids are not all right. In what appears a campsite, a young man goes about his practical tasks. A rifle prominently propped up adjacent to him suggests he is engaged in hunting. His clothes disheveled and worn, his movements almost feral, the audience questions just what the situation is here, whether his presence in … More FELL – REVIEW – BARONS COURT THEATRE
Happy to coast along on its plentiful surface charms, Seb Kainth’s sparkling script for Freaky Geese Productions provides its cast with endless verbal and situational opportunity, a farcical spirit coiling underneath an oh-so-fraught comedy of barely-managed civility. It quickly assumes the dimensions of an expert comic grotesque. Couple Kevin and Lisa, whose marriage has devolved … More TABLE MANNERS – REVIEW – DRAYTON ARMS THEATRE
All starts well in this Camden Fringe entry from writer Eamonn Dolan. With macabre irreverence, a young man (Alec Taylor’s Finn) climbs atop a table and inserts his neck into a noose. There’s a dark comic punch as he is continually distracted from stepping off the edge by the sound of an ice cream truck … More SIREN SONG – REVIEW – CAMDEN FRINGE
This one-hour memory piece by writer/performer Jed McLoughlin doesn’t give up its mysteries easily. Recounting the love affair between characters named One and Two, the action centres around a would-be romantic weekend in Paris that signalled the dissolution of the relationship. One struggles with Two, to great and increasing consternation, whose memory of their time … More REMEMBER THE BEFORE – REVIEW – CAMDEN FRINGE
The inherent likability of the two lead performers (Lauren Stones-also the writer-and Alex Smith) goes a long way towards making the material about two spiralling addicts, Emerson and Jerry, palatable and relatable over the course of an hour’s running time. In less amiable hands, the behaviour could easily have shifted to the brittle and the … More PINK ELEPHANTS – REVIEW – CAMDEN FRINGE
With a reluctant demeanour, writer/performer Martyn Hodge enters the stage through a side door. Wary, wild-eyed, and defensively primed for a fight, he takes a seat on an otherwise barren floor space, exposed and vulnerable to an interlocutor’s questions. Immediately, he launches into a laddish tale meant to deflect consequential engagement. What sort of consultation … More CHIPS AND ICE CREAM – REVIEW – CAMDEN FRINGE
The brief prologue in this notable entry in Omnibus Theatre’s first AI Festival gives a good sense of this production’s verve and irreverence. A swift, energetic lesson on the big bang theory and subsequent evolution and eventual destruction of the earth and the human race is illustrated by the use of a glitter ball, refracting … More FISHEYE – REVIEW – OMNIBUS THEATRE
Kyle is a soldier straight through to the core of his soul. At moments onstage, he will fall into a fugue state, reciting military creed and song, every fibre of his being incandescently engaged. So it is a particularly precipitous calamity when an IED rips apart his body, shattering his ability to serve (and destroying … More PAPER CUT – REVIEW – PARK THEATRE
TW: the show contains discussion of sexual assault In the aftermath of a night of what would appear to be a vigorously passionate encounter, Reed swans around in an oblivious post-coital bliss, engaged in a frivolous one-sided conversation about natural soap and mouthwash as he cleans up before departure. In the unmade bed, Angie sits … More C’MON ANGIE – REVIEW – WHITE BEAR THEATRE
To the blistering strains of Brian Eno’s “Baby’s On Fire”, the audience witnesses a red-lit tableaux of central character Violet engaged in violent acts towards a laptop, a frenzy of smashing & hammering. What has brought her to this stage comprises the 45-minute length of this terrifically accomplished work by Lola Shaw (shortlisted-and rightly so-for … More NED – REVIEW – PECKHAM FRINGE
A steady, rhythmic spill of rain is noticeably heard as the audience takes its seats. Onstage, a weathered suitcase is emphasised in a dusty saucer of light. A turbulence is presaged. And writer/performer Jan Noble unequivocally brings the storm with him as he roars on stage in a thunderous bellow and wail of soul-deep anguish … More BODY 115 – REVIEW – HOPE THEATRE
Structured as a series of five vignettes revolving around criminal scenarios, an inspiringly askew script by writer/director Charles Edward Pipe and a more-than-game cast sells the material for all it’s worth. Jack Gray, Flinn Andreae, and Jaz Tizzard blast through the scenes (and multiple characters) with a winning, determined abandon. The audience encounters would-be American … More FIVE SHORT PLAYS LOOSELY LINKED BY THE THEME OF CRIME – REVIEW – DRAYTON ARMS
Couple Katie and Dan await-with great trepidation- Nick’s arrival in this queasy three-hander from writer/performer Laura Mead. Clinically depressed Dan, bored and fidgety for new experiences after suffering the extreme, limiting effects of pandemic lockdowns, has canvassed for a partner to join him and Katie in a threesome. This is not, he is quick to … More VANILLA – REVIEW – VAULT FESTIVAL
If the Vault Festival had a midnight strand, surely this cracked and crazed production from Scram & Scrum would be foremost in its programme. Deliriously demented, the work cheerfully follows its own brazen logic to the extreme. The three protagonists-Beaver, Frog and Peregrine Falcon (he bristles at the insult of being referred to casually as … More HUTCHY THE HARE – REVIEW – VAULT FESTIVAL
Riotously silly and gloriously goofy, this lark from Incognito Theatre is a sure contender for the most purely entertaining feature at the 2023 Vault Festival. Full of madcap energy and momentous motion, graced with a quintet who excel in delivering knockout physical comedy, this provides a profoundly fun lift to the spirits. In its most … More THE NET KILL – REVIEW – VAULT FESTIVAL
Shuffling on stage, lightsaber in hand, dressing gown reminiscent of a Jedi robe, Superman t-shirt underneath and generally dishevelled, writer/performer Joe Sellman-Leava certainly looks the part. In the first of his many skilful impressions throughout the hour, the avuncular tones of Sir David Attenborough comically introduce the habits of this peculiar species known as The Fanboy, studying … More FANBOY – REVIEW – VAULT FESTIVAL
