Franco Milazzo - Page 8

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? 

Bang-bang-bang. Tap-tap-tap. Stomp-stomp-stomp. Crackity-crack-crack. Matías Jaime’s Argentinian hit Malevo sounds like the world’s loudest hailstorm while serving up a feast of blistering choreography.

Cabaret veteran Bernie Dieter returned this month to London with her latest outing Club Kabarett. The first show at Soho's newly opened Underbelly Boulevard, it showcases a brilliant cast of international performers all backed by music from Dieter and her house band. We caught up with the Australian-German host during her current run to hear all about it.

Cowbois might sound like a reboot of Sister Act but there is far more going under the satin bonnets. Gunslinger Jack Cannon (Vinnie Heaven) arrives in a small Wild West-era outpost, handsome by appearance, fearsome by reputation and with a bounty of 200 dollars on their head. The town is populated only by women and a drunken sheriff (Paul Hunter), their menfolk having been gone for over a year and presumed dead after a mine blast. 

London company Gothic Opera returns to Hoxton Hall for their fifth outing and their take on French composer Robert Planquette's Rip Van Winkle.