Cindy Marcolina - Page 13

In a landscape dominated by a dearth of lesbian stories, it’s refreshing to find one that doesn’t deal with sexuality at all, but focuses on the negotiations of parenthood and the complications of personal connections.

Although the script is generally articulate and well-written, there are a few passages that might need some TLC as they come off as rushed and remain unexplained. Running at just over an hour, a longer show would certainly patch up any kind of doubts we have at this point. Compositor E has the potential of becoming an exceptional piece about who actually makes history.

Nothing’s what it seems in Olivia Foan’s new play, but a sluggish build-up and even weaker ending don’t make The Tinker as exciting as it could be.

A fully formed, mature play about the intricacies of navigating young love and mental health.

Ultimately, Powell is asking who helps the people whose job is to help others. He correlates the ideas of protective isolation and arbitrary family connections, blame and regret, death and survival. The play is thought-provoking in all the right spots, but somehow the text has an unfinished feel to it. Powell has proved himself an accomplished writer. We wonder what happened this time.

Just like with Romeo and Juliet, there are a few ways to stage the Scottish Play. By leaning into the different themes, it can become a political drama or a kitchen sink tragedy. Then, there’s whatever Mark Leipacher’s version is trying to do. Performed by two actors, Shakespeare’s tale of ambition and blood-thirst becomes a starved, skeletal shadow of what the piece is.

In historian Orlando Figes’ debut play, Flaubert’s friends Ivan Turgenev, Émile Zola, and George Sand urge him to either strip down his writing to please the masses or get a temporary job to fend off his creditors. The Oyster Problem debuts at Jermyn Street Theatre directed by Philip Wilson in a stiff and stuffy production. 

The production makes a farce of geopolitical tensions and falls short in satire. It over-delivers its cheap gags and over-engages in silly audience interaction.

Is Britain a functioning meritocracy? Many try to argue that it is, but research states otherwise. Upstart Theatre urge the audience to take matters into their own hands by playing The Learning Lottery, a “fast-paced, high-stakes game show” that determines the future of three children.

The importance and beauty of some productions extend beyond what the audience see on stage. Residue was born after two years of creative workshops for victims of domestic and sexual abuse. It’s about the women who shared their experiences, but so much more too. Verity Richards and Izzy Kabban deliver a piece that’s as heart-wrenching in its origin as it is heartwarming in its spirit. 

A masturbatory look at an infuriating lack of communication. 

The one created by Leeza Jessie, Xavier De Santos, Samuel De La Torre, Alice Barton, Sofia Velez, and composer John Baggott is an astonishingly strange show, which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t so… well, meaninglessly weird.

'Hi, would you do me the honour of spitting in this cup for me?' asks the gorgeous person in lingerie as you step through the door.

A frustratingly capricious script shaped into a disturbingly sexy, impressive production.

The singularity of souls, how coincidence and circumstances change the course of a life, the idiosyncratic relationship we create with specific people, they all come together with refined technique and deft use of language. It’s a gem of a play. 

It’s a heavy topic, and the company bear the weight of it throughout. MOLKA is commendable for its avant-garde approach to the subject, which has the vice of a Tate Modern performance art piece more than a straight play. While it gets slightly lost in its stylistic choices and fails to provide a map for the audience to navigate its symbolism, it’s a diamond in the rough.

It’s meant to be a satirical look at our obsession with our online personas versus the reality behind the screen, but - like everyone’s day-to-day life - it’s just a little too mundane. Bickel-Barlow succeeds in showing the fickleness, fakeness, and absolute inconsequence of social media, but has a lukewarm reaction. It’s an interesting experiment, but it unfortunately doesn’t really work.

Part TED Talk, part memorial to the lives lost due to racially motivated brutality, and part plea for change, Tajah’s piece is as educational as historically relevant. While it might not be perfect, it should be mandatory viewing, especially in schools. Like his character says: “Education is our best hope”.

Danishman highlights the complex relationship between identity and the necessity of a certain political affiliation. It's not a cheerful show, but it's a rewarding one. 

Quadruple (at a minimum) threat Sam Hooper and composer Robert Tripolino write a scrumptiously macabre play that defies genres and styles. It’s a bleak and uniquely intoxicating cocktail of provocation and allure topped with a cheeky splash of sacrilege. A playful, sophisticated sadism permeates the production until - believe it or not - the narrative turns even more Stygian.