BWW Review: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, Abney Park CemeterySeptember 25, 2019Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington becomes the Devonshire moor in 09 Lives' production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Lil Warren directs the promenade show in the creepy setting, with only minimal lighting accompanying Holmes (Giorgio Galassi) and Watson (Gary Cain) as they try to solve perhaps their most notorious of cases. Arthur Conan Doyle himself (Angus Chisolm) is the evening's emcee, pitching in with background information, backstories, and leading the audience onto the next scene through the tombstones aided by facilitators with flashlights.
An Abundance of Positivity at the Industry Minds AwardsSeptember 23, 2019A year ago to the week Scarlett Maltman and Cathy Read, tired of the lack of active conversations on mental health, sat down and launched the Industry Minds podcast to tackle the subject and tear down the barriers that come with it.
BWW Review: FOR SERVICES RENDERED, Jermyn Street TheatreSeptember 7, 2019Somerset Maugham's For Services Rendered opens Jermyn Street Theatre's new season, which celebrates the establishment's 25th anniversary since its opening and is aptly called the Memories Season. The First World War has left behind an England scarred by its own hegemony; a place where its own heroes aren't cared for and who are dying among debts and anguish.
BWW Review: ANAHERA, Finborough TheatreSeptember 6, 2019Harry Hunter is missing. Hi parents are being supported by the newly graduated Maori social worker Anahera, who's been left there by herself for the first time. When some unusual parenting practices resurface, she decides to take a stand. Emma Kinane's play comes to Finborough Theatre directed by Alice Kornitzer after receiving outstanding reviews and accolades in New Zealand, where it premiered in 2017.
BWW Review: ROOM SERVICE, Bread And Roses TheatreSeptember 5, 2019In a nondescript but not-too-distant future, hotels are starting to use anthropomorphic robots to enhance the stay of their guests. Each one of them has a predictive software that tracks their patron from their booking onward, creating a digital model to cater to all their needs - even those they're unaware of.
BWW Interview: Jeannette Bayardelle Talks SHIDA at The VaultsSeptember 10, 2019After a critically acclaimed run in New York, writer and performer Jeannette Bayardelle is bringing her show Shida to London. The musical is based on the true story of an African-American girl who dreams of becoming a writer and is set to a score infused with gospel, R&B, jazz, and rock to deliver a universal tale of redemption, hope, and friendship.
BWW Review: THE SON, Duke Of York's TheatreSeptember 3, 2019After an astonishing success at the Kiln Theatre earlier in the year, Florian Zeller's The Son (in a translation by Christopher Hampton) transfers to the West End. Director Michael Longhurst has the entire cast reprising their roles, with John Light and Amanda Abbington playing the parents of Laurie Kynaston's Nicolas once again. The jarring exploration of teenage depression is tighter and even more poignant in this second incarnation, having filled in those small gaps that kept the ending too anchored to the ground the first time. They are assured in their gut-wrenching pace, with Light delivering what could be the performance of a lifetime.
BWW Review: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, Cadogan HallSeptember 2, 2019Boris Pasternak's 1957 novel Doctor Zhivago won its author a Nobel Prize for Literature and later spawned a lengthy (and fairly sluggish) film directed by David Lean in 1965. It took 41 years for the original material to be turned into a musical. Written by Lucy Simon (score), Michael Weller (book), Michael Korie and Amy Powers (lyrics), it then debuted on Broadway in 2015 in a massive production led by Tam Mutu and Kelli Barrett, receiving a rather cold shoulders from critics.
BWW Review: WORLD'S END, King's Head TheatreAugust 30, 2019It's the late 1990s and Ben (Tom Milligan) and his mother's Viv (Patricia Potter) have just moved to the World's End Estate in Chelsea from Norfolk. Their neighbours are Ylli (Nikolaos Brahimllari) and his son Besnik (Mirlind Bega), who have escaped the Kosovo War years before. When the two teenagers find out that they both love video games, they begin to get closer and strive to break free from the (extremely different) conventions set by their parents.
BWW Review: MY ONE TRUE SELF, Tristan Bates TheatreAugust 28, 2019Lady L's 60th birthday is approaching and her children Gordon and Oonagh (Theo Bamber and Lucy Lowe) join her for the celebration. It becomes immediate that they're not there out love, but to claim what is theirs. Meanwhile, Kapenie, the help, makes it clear to his grandson George: his loyalty stands with his employer, even at the expense of his own family. Alexander Matthews's My One True Friend is an underwhelming and overly pretentious account of racism and privilege in 1978 Rhodesia.
BWW Review: UNLOVABLE, Etcetera TheatreAugust 26, 2019At 30 years old, Judith is has never been in a relationship but now she's getting ready to entertain her date. Filled to the brim with tunes from the 1950s, Unlovable is a howler of an act. Carly Jurman lands her one-woman clown show to Camden Fringe in spectacular fashion.
BWW Review: TRUTH AFTER MURDER, Etcetera TheatreAugust 26, 2019Psychiatrist Orestes Carter (Riccardo Carollo) is presenting his new thriller. In the novel, he details how he went back to his childhood home to help his sister Electra (Mariana Elicetche). The events that unfolded after, he says, are pure fiction. The core of Arif Alfaraz's play is anchored to Greek mythology but, unfortunately. it's not a solid transposition.
BWW Review: DEATH SUITS YOU, Theatro TechnisAugust 25, 2019Death feels unappreciated. Nobody mentions him during funerals and his work goes unnoticed as a?oefreak accidentsa?? and such. So, he takes the stage to tell his own story.
BWW Review: PUTTANA, Hen And Chickens TheatreAugust 25, 2019Oskar is 32 years old. Or perhaps he is 26, depending on the man he's sleeping with that night. Oskar Hartman recounts his escapades and details the spicy sex life he's lead during the run-up to his 30s.
BWW Review: OPHELIA REWOUND, Camden People's TheatreAugust 24, 2019Performer Antigoni Spanou wades through her depression and eating disorders exploring the character of Ophelia and puts her own lived experiences next to the character's in her interactive piece Ophelia Rewound. Sharp and decisive lighting opens the highly personal journey and sets the tone for what's set to be an extremely visual and instinctive experiment.
BWW Review: MUSE, Camden People's TheatreAugust 24, 2019Dora Maar was Pablo Picasso's muse for about nine years across the mid-1930s and 1940s before she was discarded like his other women. She was dragged into the Cubist's radical life, made to fight physically for his attention with his partner and mother to his daughter Marie, and went on to inspire many of his most notable works. Aslant Theatre Company explore what it means to act as inspiration and the sacrifice required by artistic creation in their new play Muse, written and directed by Antonia Georgieva.