Within the arts, as well as on a larger scale, we’re beginning to witness conversations on representation and race take centre stage – addressing the fact that for far too long, many stories reflective of our day to day lives have been marginalised and even prevented from making it onto our main stages. An advocate of East Asian stories taking centre stage, playwright Daniel York Loh presents Invisible Harmony, a part spoken word/part dance piece/part film dismantling the many myths we’ve built up here in the West about the East  brining untold stories to the fore.

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Santi & Naz

Under the rumble of the Waterloo train tracks we meet Santi & Naz, two young girls living in India during pre-partition. These best friends are none the wiser to their political situation and with Santi being Sikh and Naz being Muslim, the threat of separation is approaching.  When Naz is introduced to her soon to be much older husband, Santi is concerned for her safety and tries to warn her of the dangers of not just this man but of the violence that is happening all around them. In their childhood fashion they create a plan to escape the marriage which ends in disaster.

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An inevitable part of existence, death determines the end of our life cycle; a dark part of our reality that we only tend to discuss in the West post someone’s passing, if we’re comfortable enough in opening up about it. Jaco Van Dormael and Michèle Anne De Mey’s daring exploration of moments leading up to seven character’s demise brings light to the normality and mundanity of life, as well as it’s unpredictability as we have no idea of knowing when our time will come to an end.

Courtesy of Julien Lambert.

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The story of migration in some way or other affects us all, whether we’ve directly migrated ourselves or our relatives centuries, decades or years prior have had to make the move from one part of the world to another. A universal theme, migration is a facet of humanity that will continue to impact on many and shape their lives. Exploring this facet of humanity in his latest work for the Royal Opera House, Kibwe Tavares presents Aisha and Abaya – a tale of two sisters seeking refuge away from their war torn homeland.

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As the show opens, we are introduced to Jack Morris, an actor. We watch him learn his lines surrounded by photos of his glory days, however, it is not long before we see his frailty.

Courtesy of Ellie Kurttz.

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What we’re beginning to witness more of on our stages is the importance of presenting a wide range of stories from various perspectives, and this needs to continue to further enrich the theatre experience. Damilola DK Fashola’s Fragments of a Complicated Mind places the complexity of a black woman’s thoughts centre stage, a culmination of storytelling, direct address, dance and poetry bringing the thoughts and feelings of our protagonist to the fore. Ahead of the show, we spoke to Damilola about how she approached creating the show, responses towards the show’s debut last year at the Omnibus Theatre and Theatre503, and what she’d like for audiences to take away from the show!

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The script has moments of brilliance, the performances are nuanced and layered, the soundscapes are brilliant and yet I sit wondering if this is actually any good. It should be, there isn’t a disastrous artistic decision I should slate, but there is a lack of cohesion that leaves the play feeling incomplete, or that’s deliberate?

Courtesy of Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.

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The Canary and the Crow at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney is a very impressive piece of ‘gig theatre’; a term I was previously unfamiliar with. On this evidence, Middle Child (a ground-breaking company from Hull), have created a potent hybrid of drama, direct address, chamber music, hip-hop and grime. It’s also dynamic, didactic, arresting and fresh and, without realising it, I’ve waited to see a theatrical development like this for a quite a while.

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Drawing parallels with our current societal landscape where we’ve witnessed youth violence on the rise, writer and performer Kalungi Ssebandeke travels back in time to Georgian England to give voice to little known boxing superstar Bill Richmond. Created as part of his drama school training, Kalungi presents Black Terror at this year’s Vault Festival from 28th January until 2nd February. Ahead of the run, Kalungi tells us more about exploring Bill Richmond’s narrative, what audiences can expect and what his plans are for the show post Vault Festival!

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There’s a monkey in the kitchen, it’s drunk and is pleasuring itself with a hoover, yet I feel an overwhelming sadness throughout this masterfully performed story. Despite not always feeling entirely justified, Chimpanzee is clever and well thought out, and the mime work is very good.

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