Franco Milazzo - Page 3

Meshing together live artwork, puppetry and music, Stereoptik’s latest work Antechamber is a theatrical experiment that largely delivers on its intriguing premise.

Flipping the script on the notion that puppet shows are for children, Blind Summit's latest show The Sex Lives Of Puppets is a thought-provoking portrayal of modern lust, love and everything in between.

A show about puppets and sex? There are some obvious gags here, not least are their relationships based on “no strings”? Thankfully, Blind Summit artistic director Mark Down and his co-director and co-writer Ben Keaton eschew the corny and porny in this series of emotive vignettes.

Thanks to some nifty “mixed reality” technology from Tin Drum, Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is brought back to some semblance of life in Kagami.

What a year! I pulled out my notebook over a hundred times and came away, more often not, with a happy heart. Below is a condensed list of the very best - and worst - that I saw.

Any new show from Les Enfants Terribles arrives with high expectations. Their hugely imaginative approach to theatre has seen them take wellknown children's tales and turn them into immersive promenade adventures like the deliciously gruesome (and gruesomely delicious) Dinner With The Twits and 2015’s twisted fantasy Alice Underground which is being revived next year.

When I first saw The Nutcracker around a quarter of a century ago, I became sure of one thing: either I was on drugs, the cast were on drugs or we both were. A far cry from the average ballets, this dream-like work still has the power to enthral the young and old.

With an opening that couldn’t be more over the top if it was broadcast from the International Space Station, the never knowingly underdressed Reuben Kaye sweeps the entire room into his particular brand of cabaret. Coming on like a one-man Moulin Rouge floorshow, he spits out caustic one liners like a rapping Henny Youngman.

In 2023, immersive theatre has taken off like a rocket and for those who like to try something a little different while having a themed meal prepared for them, we have laid out some of our top recommendations for this festive season.

During its original run, real life happenings threatened to overshadow the fictional: Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett - whose presence and music is felt throughout Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll - sadly died in Cambridge where he was born and where this epochal play of cultural and political revolution is set over several decades. 

The latest season of this immersive experience gives us the chance to jump aboard Operation Frostbite, drink some seasonal cocktails and find out about the jolly rotund fellow walking around who is definitely not being mysterious. And just what does this all have to do with the evil Dr Winter’s attempts to bring down Father Platmas?

From two associate directors of Punchdrunk, One Night, Long Ago is an evocative walk through a mind palace which reveals more and more as the journey continues. With an audience of only 15 for each show in the venue used for Swamp Motel’s immersive show Saint Jude earlier this year, it’s a setting which builds in intimacy right from the off.

Thirty years after American conductor Marin Alsop created a radical interpretation of the Handel masterwork in her homeland, she brings her Gospel Messiah to the Royal Albert Hall for its European debut.

The VR-enabled Within Touching Distance is a profound work which digs deep into the psychology behind the most underrated sense. A word of warning: this show isn’t for the self-centred or the hard of feeling; those with the emotional awareness of an Ikea wardrobe will find little of value here. 

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it. Let’s do it, let’s partake in Binaural Dinner Date, a highly personal experience which uses audio technology and biting wit to lay bare our own fundamental thoughts about love, connection and partnership.

Batsu: it’s not subtle, it’s not for the sober and definitely isn’t suitable for children. The ballsy, boozy gameshow from across the pond invades London for some late-night improv comedy shenanigans at the new venue Underbelly Soho.

An immense theatre production that leans as much on the Shakespearean tradition of rehashing history for modern audiences as it does on delivering spectacular staging, The Mongol Khan invades the West End’s biggest theatre with a show sure to set tongues wagging.

With a machine affixed to her head, the scarcely-clad Tara Boom looks out across the audience before throwing popcorn cartons and - after having the contraption connected up to the mains - a flurry of actual popcorn. Welcome to the crazy world of La Clique.

​​​​​​​Celebrated performance artist Marina Abramović is very much in town: as well as a huge exhibition of her works at the Royal Academy, this “opera project” in London’s largest West End theatre sees her explore the life, works and final moments of the diva’s diva Maria Callas through music, song and conceptual videos.

Welcome to Zona Franca, a show created by Brazilian choreographer Alice Ripoll and dance company Cia Suave that does its level best to defy being pigeonholed. Can this even be called a dance production if only about a third of the time is spent on hip-shaking and booty-waving?