For some, birthdays are a time of celebration, for others, not so much! Our youth obsessed culture one that tends to ignore the value of wisdom accumulated amongst the years. Drawing on this societal norm in a one woman show Degenerate, this is not a test and Maria Teresa Creasey present the work in progress as part of this year’s Vault Festival.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Palestinian Riham Isaac presents an enchanting hour of performance art on the subject of love through song, dance, interviews and video montage.The one-woman show is mostly visual with high interaction with a precisely curated set. The audio elements are celebratory and mostly in Arabic, which feels like a political statement in itself. Ritualised sequences accompany a feeling of catharsis as we watch Isaac grapple with her discourse. The pace of the show gives the audience ample opportunity to reflect for ourselves our own experiences with love.
Following its triumphant return for the first time since the pandemic, VAULT Festival, the UK’s leading festival of live performance, has been advised by its venue-landlord, The Vaults, that it must find a new home for future festivals.
The Offies celebrate the best of independent, alternative and fringe theatre – across Greater London and at selected fringe festivals around the UK. Their 2023 ceremony, on the afternoon of Sunday, 12 February, gave out over 50 awards across an exciting range of categories and to a hugely diverse range of recipients. Over 700 people attended to participate in the first live Offies ceremony since March 2020.
Being tasked with the running of a nation is no mean feat, taking on the responsibility of a premiership, one not be taken lightly! I’m sure we all have ideas as to how to run society in ways beneficial to the many, agendas that’ll move the world forward for the better. Picture, however, waking up and assuming your day will be yet another typical one, only to find out that the premiership has been bestowed onto you, and that you’ve now become your nation’s lead. Taking on this year’s Vault Festival at the Cage venue, Thick ‘N’ Fast present General Secretary.
15 years on from the 2008 financial crash, and the globe still recovers. An event that spelled the end of financial firm Lehman Brothers Inc., 161 years post founding brothers – Henry, Emanuel and Mayer’s emigration from Bavaria to the US, the trio’s impact remains. An exploration of their complex legacy, Sam Mendes returns with critically acclaimed The Lehman Trilogy – a historical lesson on the ever evolving nature of entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Southbank Centre today announces it is the first UK venue to be awarded Attitude is Everything’s highest possible accolade in its efforts to improve access and inclusion to live events. The Attitude is Everything Platinum Award, given by the disability-led charity, recognises the art centre’s commitment to providing the best possible experience for audiences and understanding the potential access requirements of Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and people with health conditions.
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest international prize awarded to women+ playwrights.
Omar Ibrahim plays it safe with a nice mix of one-liners, anecdotes and metatheatrical riffing. Armed with a gown (“If you’ve seen me wear this before I was high or going down on you”) and a notebook and pen we enter a space where we can refreshingly laugh at the absurdism of racism. Omar’s Pakistani via Ugandan heritage is played up as the VAULT Festival categorises the stand up as “Asian Voices.” Marketed as “an idiot’s attempt to further the cultural conversation… offering a unifying tonic for polarised times.”
Marta Dziurosz and editors Željka Marošević and Sophie Missing take the 2022 prize for a translation of Marcin Wicha’s Things I Didn’t Throw Out. This year’s Scott Moncrieff Prize winner is one of four shortlisted texts ‘concerned with the changing fortunes of African countries’.
