Iva Toguri – not a name you are familiar with perhaps – but certainly a woman whose story is worth telling. A proud American of Japanese descent caught in the cross fire after the Second World War; she was accused of treason for radio broadcasting Japanese propaganda to Allied Forces. Burnt Lemon Theatre have brought to life this astonishing slice of history in their new musical Tokyo Rose, and it is a whirlwind.
Burnt Lemon Theatre
Having identified a need for a theatre venue supporting new writing and working class artists, Olivier award-winning theatre producer Jamie Eastlake and filmmaker Stephen Robertson have established Laurels Theatre, located above Laurels Whitley Bay tapas bar based in Tyne and Wear. Currently into their first ever season of work, co-founder Jamie tells us more about what it means to be able to provide this integral platform for creatives and what his hopes are for the venue.
Founded in 1997 by British Nigerian actor Femi Elifowuju Jr, tiata fahodzi, meaning ‘theatre of the emancipated’, has been a leading force in regards to producing works placing the British African experience centre stage. Nearly 25 years on, their initiatives expanding on this crucial mission. Previous Artistic Director alumni including critically acclaimed actor Lucian Msamati, and current Artistic Director and CEO of the Northern Stage Theatre Natalie Ibu. Leading tiata fahodzi into their next chapter, critically acclaimed theatre and screenwriter Chinonyerem Odimba has recently announced a new Executive Director and Board of Trustees. Chinonyerem Tells us more about the appointment and what her hopes are for the theatre company moving forward.
Exploring her own personal experiences of being misunderstood for her learning disability, writer and performer Charlene Salter, in collaboration with Access All Areas present The Interrogation, a bespoke interactive audio experience also drawing on real life cases of learning disabled people unfairly criminalised. Having already toured Greenwich + Docklands International Festival, The Marlowe, The Lowry, Tobacco Factory Theatres, the experience will also show at Battersea Arts Centre and Rich Mix. Charlene tells us more about exploring this important topic via audio technology.
The third text in a trilogy of Theban plays written by Sophocles, Antigone proceeds from the aftermath of the Thebes’ civil war, a war that would consequentially witness the deaths of brothers Eteocles and Polynices – two powerful forces leading opposite sides of combat. Eteocles honoured, Polynices shamed by the newly crowned king of Thebes, Creon. Exploring the Ancient Greek text further in a newly adapted production by Merlynn Tong, with direction by Dawn Walton OBE, performer Wendy Kweh talks about taking on the role of Creon, a role traditionally played by a male. Ahead of the production at the Mercury Theatre, Wendy tells us more about what to expect.
The human body is an incredible, powerful entity, capable of many things. Examining the potential of what the human body can do when pushed, Company SIGA present Double Bill: Zero|Equilibrium, two pieces of mesmerising dance performed as part of A Festival of Korean Dance 2021.
The memories we hold make us who we are, significant life events stored and recalled upon dependent on circumstance. Reviving Peter Gill’s Small Change, last performed in 2008, George Richmond-Scott revisits the memory play, a show examining teenage-hood, motherhood and the rebuilding of a community in post war Britain.
Courtesy of Ami Robertson.
Power forms a significant part of our lives on both an individual and collective level, a fascinating entity shaping our daily interactions with one another. Born in 2016, after reading a piece in which the topic of power appeared to form the full stop of a larger conversation, cultural thinker and researcher Suzanne Alleyne was inspired to draw on this phenomenon further. Her ongoing research project The Neurology of Power, focusing on the neuroscience behind power. Feeding into this research project, Suzanne, alongside the Barbican Theatre present talk series Can we talk about Power?, a series comprising of various discussions with a distinguished panel of neuroscientists and creatives. Ahead of the event, Suzanne tells us more about what to expect.
A celebration of our individualism, contrasted with the need to be a part of something far greater, Sum Im Her‘s W.A.Y (Rework), brought back to The Place Theatre after it’s original outing in 2019 explores these facets of humanity further.
Artistic Director Barbara Mundel started her first season at the Kammerspiele a year ago, right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, when all theatres were closed. Productions were postponed or, if possible, streamed online. But finally, Mundel was able to present her first premiere to a live audience, a play based on Gabriele Tergit’s novel Effingers, in an adaptation by director Jan Bosse and dramaturge Viola Hasselberg. First published in 1951, the novel was not a success, but it was reissued this year and has been well received by literary critics.
Courtesy of Armin Smailovic.
