The hit musical 42nd Street is back in town returning to the West End’s biggest stage – the Theatre Royal Drury Lane where the original West End production opened on August 8, 1984 and incidentally launched the career of Catherine Zeta-Jones. A chorus girl when the show opened, Zeta-Jones took over the role of Peggy Sawyer when both the actor portraying the lead and her understudy became ill during the run – there is life imitating a Broadway show.
Courtesy of the Really Useful Group.
Created by Terri Paddock (StageFave and WhatsOnStage founder) and Mark Shenton (The Stage) by theatre network My Theatre Mates 3 years ago, the Also Recognised Awards is a response to various aspects of theatre that usually do not get acknowledged.
We now live in an era where we ourselves are the reporters/camera operators/documentarians. We simply take out our phone, record a video clip, share it on video sharing sites and social media and in a matter of seconds that slice of history goes viral. It’s this tech advancement that has really awakened individuals into the injustices happening by the police on innocent civilians; in particular police brutality and stop and search. These issues effecting black males have been happening for decades, however it’s only now that it is becoming a talking point. Artist and performer Urbain Hayo knows all to well about the repercussions of these injustices and has instilled this into his debut show Custody. Read on to find out more about the topical show here.
Discord and disconnect run deep in the veins of Boundless Theatre’s comprehensive and sharp Natives at the Southwark Playhouse. Director Rob Drummer stages the piece wonderfully on a traverse stage that comes alive with Cate Blanchard’s humorous and often chilling video projections.
Boundless Theatre present Natives at The Southwark Playhouse Theatre
Photo Credit: The Other Richard
Certain events within recent British history have really helped to shape our understanding of just how much race can effect daily interactions. We only have to look back to the Brixton Riots in 1981 a response to tension between the Metropolitan Police and the Black community and the more recent London riots of 2011 sparked by the death of Mark Duggan to grasp just how detrimental an issue racial profiling is. Drawing from his own experiences with the Police, Urbain Wolf‘s Custody depicts the pieces in which a family have to place back together following the loss of their son/brother/boyfriend; a young black male who suspiciously loses his life whilst imprisoned in a police cell.
Courtesy of Lidia Crisafulli.
Tez Ilyas wants to make you laugh, and the audience does, for the most part. His walk on song is Ni**as in Paris, you know the one? He recounts an awkward exchange with a DJ, trying to explain the song without saying the name…you know the really famous one with Jay Z and Kanye? He continues by making a quick jibe at Philip Hammond being out of his depth, yes quite. Then slips into a dance routine to the famous bhangra tune (you know the one), claiming the sequence was to show off his dance moves. Ilyas enjoys audience participation and these continue through the evening. The audience seem to enjoy it too; yet these interactions are as customary as you would expect them to be.
Desiree has great stage presence. She is engaging and inviting, she wants you to listen to her piece and she isn’t holding back. Her mention of the earlier attack at Westminster is surprisingly in line with how I feel. She says her friends from the USA don’t get how London works, she has done the tourist Westminster thing once, that’s it. Now she lives in Zone something-billion and well, it’s basically Croydon. Having spent the day at home, in Zone 3, I feel much the same.
Courtesy of Soho Theatre.
Inua Ellams is a Nigerian born internationally touring poet, playwright, graphic designer and artist. A man with this many talents is bound to put on an interesting show. An Evening with an Immigrant is set up in a small intimate space which adds to the honesty of the show. This isn’t really a play; more an engaging and insightful conversation.
Independent theatre criticism and journalism is on the rise, and with it, is highlighting a range of fresh voices from both a critical and dramaturgical point of view. Last year, founders Laura Kressly (The Play’s The Thing UK blog) and Katharine Kavanagh (The Circus Diaries Blog) founded the Network of Independent Critics, offering the opportunity for bloggers/vloggers and website owners to visit the world renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Travel costs and accommodation attribute to the majority of costs whilst there, and this therefore makes it quite difficult for independent reviewers to visit, therefore potentially missing out on a wealth of cultural content for their sites.
Courtesy of Network of Independent Critics
Yellow Earth Theatre was formed in 1995 by five British East Asian* (BEA) actors; Kwong Loke, Kumiko Mendl, Veronica Needa, David KS Tse and Tom Wu.The company sought to develop work that would widen the choice and type of roles being offered to BEA actors at that time and to create work that brought together our physical skills and western drama school training that explored our own cultural heritage.
