Charlie Wilks - Page 11

It's the worst case of bad luck: at a hospital two newborns are accidentally swapped, resulting in them each being given to parents who aren't biologically theirs. Hanna has raised Ellie for three years, loving her unconditionally. Being a mum is the only thing she is brilliant at, but when a DNA test reveals the startling news that Ellie isn't hers, she is forced to confront what being a parent actually means. Papatango premiere this new play at the Arcola Theatre.

The first production I'm seeing this year isn't necessarily a cheery one, but it feels important nonetheless. It's a thrilling exploration of one individual's curiosity, placing particular focus on the psychological damage that can be inflicted when you dig too deep.

The Jungle is the debut play from Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, founders of humanitarian theatre company Good Chance. Alongside a team of volunteers, they built their first theatre in the refugee and migrant camp in Calais, in 2015. They conceived it as a place for people to enter and express themselves; to escape or confront the situations they were in.

As Canada celebrates 150 years since its confederation, stories of the countries untold natural history are starting to come to light, and White Fang is an example of this. Taking the themes of Jack London's popular novel, Jethro Compton has staged a production that is visually exciting, but performatively struggles to get on its feet.

Chloe Lamford and Sam Pritchard have collaborated on a piece that perplexes and entices. This was my first visit to The Site, (the exterior space located across from the stage door), and I was amazed by its capability to totally transport you from the streets of Sloane Square, into the world of an unnamed American city, where strange things are occurring.

One day Kat gets out of bed, says goodbye to her sleeping family and gets on the train to London, to commit an act that will change her world forever. This decision will also alter the lives of the people surrounding her more so than anyone realises.

Fascinated by war's absurdity, playwright and documentary filmmaker Liwaa Yazji started journaling into her notebook all that she saw around her. Armed combat, civil war and terror it's these painful details that form a part of everyday life for people in Syria.

Riding high from its huge success at Edinburgh, Good Girl returns to the Old Red Lion, before transferring to the VAULT Festival in 2018. Examining the comparative nature of body image, Naomi Sheldon takes the audience on an exploration of womanhood. There's talk of ABBA, masturbation and Henry VIII.

Inua Ellams' dynamic new play debuted last June, to critical acclaim. Following its successful run at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Barber Shop Chronicles returns to the National with a bang. The story takes its audience to barber shops in Peckham, Johannesburg, Lagos, Accra, Harare and Kampala.

Three women place their naked bums on a table and speak through them into a microphone. Literally talking out of their arses, they enter into a prolonged rant detailing how terrible the show is meant to be, using text from critics who have seen it previously. And any resemblance to these critics, living or dead, is purely intentional - or is it?

A journalist ventures to the front line in search of a story. Underage girls wait to be a soldier's playthings. A medic mourns the loss of her lover. In the bleakest areas of Ukraine, a war rages on.

Remaining true to the traditions of Aeschylus's time, The Suppliant Women company consists of three professional actors, a professional musician and a recruitment of locals - who have trained and rehearsed in a choral-like manner, to create a 50-piece ensemble that roars on the Young Vic stage.

Recent figures show that more and more people are visiting their GP with anxiety, stress and other mental health concerns. With so many facilities running at full capacity, options become limited for those in need. And, despite the rising number of people accessing mental health services, there are still large proportions that are not. It is thought that only 65% of people living with psychotic disorders receive treatment.

Every day a woman lays an egg, and then faces a decision: does she raise it or eat it? Natalie Palamides is a name I had never heard of before, but after this, there is no way I'm ever going to forget her. An LA based comedian, Palamides explores the troubles of motherhood through the surreal in Laid, a ridiculously raucous physical comedy.

Set in a city where the gap between the rich and poor widens every day, Coriolanus opens the RSC's Rome season in London. He is as much a myth as he is a man, and if he did live, he would have been around at the start of the 5th Century BCE - when Rome was building itself into a republic.

A laborious meditation at the start sets this play up to be something it's not. We expect a lesson in the Buddhist way, but what we get is the Londoners' interpretation. Scattering spoons on the floor, Tony arrives to disrupt Luke's stillness. What unfolds thereafter is a debauched 90-minute clash of cultures.

In a chance of fate, two young lovers sit and get to know one another. They drink, play-fight, cuddle and forget the fact that their countries are at war. Planes fly overhead, looking for places to drop bombs, but in this countryside house there's a different sort of spark happening. This Beautiful Future is a compassionate take on a bleak situation.

They don't speak English, and the others don't speak Spanish. But despite this, they understand one another. Through their shared experience, six Falkland/Malvinas veterans discuss the different effects the war had on both sides. They used to encounter one another on the battlefield, but now they come face to face on the stage.

Suzy Storck is stuck in a routine. Her life is anything but mundane, yet her regular behavioural patterns result in an exhausting struggle through each day. Right from the off we are hit with a domestic tragedy, but at that moment it is unexplained. We see Suzy alone, drinking wine, listening to the radio as an overwhelming amount of children's toys are littered around her.

'The busy world is hushed. The fever of life is over and our work here is done.' Keith Bunin's play is an attempt to make sense of God's place in our lives, in the hope that from that discovery, one can learn how to love one other more beneficially.