Ashita No Kaze (Winds of Change) Vol 2 Japanese Contemporary Plays and Playwrights Festival is a month long initiative celebrating Japan’s brightest playwriting talent. A collaboration between Yellow Earth, StoneCrabs and OneTwoWorks, the festival’s ethos to start up conversations with both the playwright and translator gives the festival a uniqueness. We talk to Yellow Earth Co-Founder and Artistic Director Kumiko Mendl about this year’s festival!
Alan Bennett’s amusing yet hard hitting play of love and loss takes audiences into the rehearsal room of a piece which explores the joys and tribulations of art as we know it. Educational in parts, Bennett is clearly trying to send a clear and concentrated message to the audience, one which he does with upbeat charm and subtle intent.
The mythical Phoenix, rising from the ashes is emblematic in everyday culture of something that is destroyed and then reborn. It was after a massive fire engulfed and reduced Battersea Art Centre’s historic Grand Hall in 2015 that a Phoenix rose in the form of a hashtag, #bacphoenix, which inspired thousands on Twitter in an outpouring of generosity and support.
Dance Nation showcases the distinctive, refreshing voice of writer Clare Barron with highly engaging performances from its eminently likeable, predominantly female cast, most of them playing pre-teens, all of them adults.
In this adaptation of Albert Camus’ La Peste, entitled The Plague, Neil Bartlett creates a contemporary version of the existential novel that is chilling. While the adaptation is very loyal to Camus’ novel, there are two noticeable elements missing from Bartlettt’s version: exact date and location.
Pioneered in the 1970s, the genre of hip hop has gone onto dominate pop culture. A musical style originating from the Bronx, the form was built on the foundations of 5 particular elements which are MCing, DJing, Grafitti, Knowledge and lastly breakdance. Amazing audiences in the US for 25 years, Cedric Walker‘s UniverSoul Circus celebrates hip hop culture with their latest line up of circus acts originating from Africa and the Caribbean.
In 2018, we find ourselves shaped by our political past. Significant events historically changing the course of how our lives are governed. Nichola McAuliffe‘s Revenants comments on this as she weaves narratives set in between the 25 year aftermath of the Romanov family in 1918 – the ruling royal family of Russia and 25 years prior to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr in the US – prolific for his leadership within the Civil Rights Movement.
Mermaids have captured the imaginations of many for centuries, half human, half sea creature, the mythical creation continues to be surrounded by intrigue. Cornish folktale, Mermaid of Zennor taps into this mysticism. A tale recorded by folklorist William Bottrell, the tale speaks of an enchanting woman who would every so often attend the local church service. After falling in love with a village local named Mathey Trewella, the two are never to be seen again, the general concencus being that they have both disappeared at sea and the woman in actual fact turning out to be a mermaid…
London thrives with a multitude of stories, its ability to draw individuals from all over the world makes it one of the world’s most exciting cities. Cultures collide as the city hustles and bustles – Cecilia Gragnani‘s one woman show, Diary of an Expat humorously delves into her own experiences of migrating from Italy to the UK.
Eugene Ionesco, arguably one of Theatre of the Absurd’s greats, is receiving his first National Theatre staging in Exit the King, adapted and directed by Patrick Marber.
Courtesy of Simon Annand.
