To quote Oscar Wilde, ‘Man can believe the impossible, but can never believe the improbable’. An apt quote for describing the ever perplexing yet entertaining art form of magic. We’re continually taught to believe what has been proven, to believe only in logic and statistics, however wouldn’t it be fun to just forget all of this and to just believe that the impossible can indeed be made possible?
As part of the Mimetic Festival, Smoking Apples present the lovely work in progress show In Our Hands. It tells the story of Alf, a trawler fisherman, who is facing many problems in both his work and personal life. Held in The Vaults under Waterloo station (with the light sound of the trains overhead) it is like being transported back to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the show itself could certainly be a hit Fringe production!
Kiki Lovechild is an amazing clown. That might be a strange compliment, but I dare you to watch his hour long exploration of the after life and not feel better about being alive. In fact, if the afterlife is as much fun as Kiki‘s show, I am giving up any fear of death here and now.
With tablets, laptops, mobile phones and social media, we now take all of these for granted and accept that they are apart of our every day lives. A decade ago, could you have even predicted that this could have even been a possibility? Let alone written about any of it in a science fiction novel? In the case of E.M. Forster, author of A Machine Stops, he explored these themes in his prophetic novel written in the early 1900s. As social media now dominates the 21st century, does this spell the end for human communication?
How a Man Crumbled, throws the audience into the absurd world of Russian surrealist poet Daniil Kharms. Three bouffonesque characters attempt to tell the story of ‘The Old Woman,’ about a writer who kills an old lady and attempts, with great (and comic) difficulty to dispose of the body. Part of Mimetic Festival, held in The Vaults under the Waterloo Station, the trains rumbling overhead aren’t the only things taking you out of the story, as the narrative is frequently distracted by the trio’s series of comic vignettes, abstract ponderings or to just hit each other over the head with vegetables.
Wrapping up day four of The Currency festival, bringing the best experimental plays from across Europe to Central London’s The Place, the final day has a premise of discord. Germany’s Julie Christ and Agata Maszkiewicz of Poland are tasked with concluding the event; and it seems they both want to make their audience feel as uncomfortable as possible.
Fancy wading your way through a wild and treacherous expanse of grass? Swimming your way through ice cold and torrential currents? Creeping your way through dark and mysterious forests and battling your way through perilous sub zero blizzards? Well if that sounds like the perfect holiday for you, then look no further as the much loved classic, We’re going on a Bear Hunt tours this Autumn!
It takes cheek to start a show half an hour late after you ask the audience to arrive at least an hour early to pick up tickets. It takes self-awareness from the host to realise that the best response to Jonathan Ross not arriving on stage after introductions is just getting of it rather then trying to engage a hot, frustrated audience. It takes the former Guvornator of California to have the chaos of the pre-show forgotten within minutes.
Move over Coco and Krusty, there’s a new clown in town and he goes by the name of Puddles! A clown with a 21st century twist, Puddles fronts Puddles Pity Party, a band renowned for their theatrical yet soulful renditions of well known classics. Puddles currently stars in the international hit cabaret show, La Soirée, which makes a welcome return to the UK! Ahead of the show, I was able to speak to Puddles about being one of the new acts on the show, touring with Tenacious D and being a Youtube sensation!
Sometimes after a traumatic experience the brain is forced to shut down, if the trauma is so great that that’s what it takes for the person to carry on as normal. This is one of lead character Dr Alex Hendrik’s numerous insights into the workings of the human brain and its links to the human condition that punctuate The Piano Man. The lectures specifically analyse Andreas Grassl, the enigmatic figure who, in true-life events, washed up on a beach on the Isle of Sheppey, in Kent, 2005. Soaking wet, traumatised and unable to speak, he was hospitalised, where he communicated solely through the keys of a piano.
