Sometimes puppets say the strangest things. With jaunty little numbers such as ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’, ‘The Internet is for Porn’  and ‘If You Were Gay, That’d be Okay’, Avenue Q has proven to audiences for years that an adorable, wide-eyed puppet on a hand excuses a show of voicing some of our most uncomfortable, most silenced thoughts. Much as a therapist may encourage their patient to vent emotion through puppetry, so writers Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx have used their fluffy inventions to embolden their audience, whose gasps and shrieks of laughter at The New Wimbledon Theatre last night proved that Avenue Q has lost neither its hilarity nor its shock value since it first opened in 2003. Avenue Q remains, undoubtedly, the most loved, most X-rated puppet show in town.

Continue reading

Despite the range of talent at the Fringe, it’s not often that a production is comparable to, or better than, a professional London run. However, Chef excels all other pieces of theatre I’ve seen at the Fringe in the last three years. The script is compelling, Jade Anouka’s performance completely perfect, and the entire experience will be with you for weeks afterwards.

Continue reading

List all the Shakespeare plays you know. The first few will roll of the tongue, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, the endless Henry series and maybe even A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Then, depending on schooling, will probably be the likes of Julius Ceasar, Taming Of The Shrew, The Tempest etc… The point being, there are many Shakespeare plays most of us think of before we name Troilus and Cressida and Coriolanus which happen to make up the Lazarus Theatre Company‘s double bill.

Continue reading

The lady in front of me in the queue for Beckett’s trilogy, Not I, Footfalls and Rockaby, told me how “brave” I was to “tackle a Beckett”, which took me by surprise. In the dark about why this should be, I prepared to be enlightened. The darkness soon becomes literal and total.

Continue reading

For a play which takes on Orpheus and The Trial as its inspiration, The Orpheus Project is a confused play which really doesn’t know what it wants to be. The dystopian tone of the piece is thrown off constantly by some misplaced ironic comedy and never quite reaches its potential. Despite the multi-media nature of the performance, incorporating physical theatre and dance, it still falls flat.

Continue reading

The Edinburgh Fringe attracts shows from across the globe, but rarely do international displays make the audience feel really transported. Japanese group Ship of the Ryukyu however provide an excellent window to traditional dance and song with Bottle Mail from Okinawa. The premise, a letter in a bottle from a ten year old boy in Okinawa, easily includes the audience within the spectacle.

Continue reading

“No, you can’t give in and you can’t play dumb, when you get thick skin, then you’re quick to numb, If you let them win, then a dog’s what you become….at the dogfight’. Dogfight, the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award winner for Outstanding Musical, is the tender love story of Rose Fenney, a naive and unworldly waitress who dreams of a better, more peaceful world, and Eddie Birdlace, an inexperienced and uncertain young Marine, who struggles with the balance of new found love and saving face to his peers.

Continue reading

It’s the end of the school day and all you want to do is go home and relax. You walk through the door where you are instantly greeted by your parent or guardian asking you how your day has been. Social Media appears to be the only thing on your mind, and so you rush straight to your room. This is the perfect chance to catch up on the latest gossip with your friends online, however, what  happens when you receive vicious messages aimed at dwindling your confidence and self esteem? Ahead of her performance in Crystal Springs, I was able to speak to actress Suzan Sylvester about her role, her thoughts on the internet and her varied acting career!

You’ll be starring in Kathy Rucker’s play, Crystal Springs from Tuesday 5th August, could you describe what the play is about?

Two different mothers whose daughters are best friends and how a small unkindness snowballs into a terrible outcome.

Continue reading

On entering the Puppet Barge, it felt as though you were crossing the threshold into an entirely different world. This feeling was sustained throughout the entire performance. The air of enchantment and excitement that surrounded the performance made it a great piece of theatre to be enjoyed by people of all ages.

Continue reading

This delightful two man show is a heart warming story filled with wonderful poetry, jokes and stories. The play opens with Richard, played by Richard Marsh, talking about his mother who is dying of cancer. At her death bed he is reunited with his father Len, played by Jerome Wright, who he has not seen for nearly 20 years and whom he hates with a passion. What follows is many unlikely and awkward situations whilst Len tries to make amends with his son by being his Wingman in life. At the same time, Richard tries desperately to not make his fathers mistakes and to be better then he was. Even though some of the situations do seem rather unlikely the play is so well-written that it is all very believable.

Continue reading