A deeply- sociological tale celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Windrush arrival, retold by the awe-inspiring movements of its performers.
Courtesy of Richard Moran.
The Bridge Theatre is converted into a Hampshire farmhouse garden for Laurie Sansom‘s staging of Nightfall, a new play by prodigious 31 year old playwright and author Barney Norris. Nightfall follows the declining fortunes of grief-striken widow Jenny (Claire Skinner), her son Ryan (Sion Daniel Young) and daughter Lou (Ophelia Lovibond) and a surrogate third child Pete (Ukweli Roach) who has recently been released from a year long stint in prison. Pete’s return, and his scheme with Ryan to illegally siphon oil from a pipeline that runs through the family land, promises to ease the families financial problems, but events take an unexpected turn.
Courtesy of Manuel Harlan.
visit here… After missing the opportunity to see Hairspray on West End, I jumped at the chance to see at The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. A colourful, energetic story revolving around Tracy and her fight for change. Set in a racially segregated Baltimore in 1962, Tracy successfully becomes part of the Corny Collins TV show, only to discover that her black friends are only allowed to dance on the show one day a month. She quickly sets about changing this, fighting for their right to dance together.
As the alcohol flows, the stage is set for a night of drunken debauchery and revelations. In an uncomfortably hot theatre, the suffocating, inescapable realities of Albee’s characters, extend into the auditorium. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a complex telling of a martial breakdown, a challenging premise but approached with admirable commitment at the Corpus Playroom.
Wine on black background
Rewind to 2004 and the likes of Kanye West, Terror Squad, and T.I were dominating the airwaves. A once disregarded musical form, hip hop was now at the pinnacle of global success; it’s a crucial component of popular culture. Hip hop’s influence is no doubt evident within the fields of music and dance, however the movement continues to fuel multiple facets such as art and fashion. 2004 would also be the year that Jonzi D, a key figure in the movement of Hip Hop Theatre within the UK, would curate a weekend packed full of workshops and performances that 15 years later would still inspire many.
What will the millennials of today look like in twenty, even forty years time? James Fritz’s The Fall, commissioned as part of the National Youth Theatre’s 60th anniversary, asks exactly that. Will we still be splurging our house deposits on avocado on toast and be glued to our mobile phones? It’s impossible to predict, but chances are the worries and fears of today will still blight the society of tomorrow.
National Youth Theatre’s The Fall
Christopher Rüping‘s distillation of Shakespeare’s most famous play places Hamlet in the here and now. His story is told by three Horatios, who take over all the parts in this heavily cut production.
Courtesy of Thomas Aurin.
Connection and communication have taken on new possibilities in today’s internet driven world. Anyone and anything can be accessed anytime at the click of a button, as long as there’s a stable connection to the internet.
Courtesy of Marc Brenner.
Confronting action, bold design and a defiant aggressiveness. An English Touring Theatre, Theatr Clwyd and Nuffield Southampton Theatres co-production supported by The Royal Theatrical Support Trust, A Streetcar Named Desire is given a modern revival, but I wonder whether its initial upbeat tone invites the appropriate spectatorship.
Toshiki Okada is one of the most important Asian directors. No Sex is his third work for the Kammerspiele, it premiered on 14th April 2018. A stage director and author, Okada founded the theatre group chelfitsch in 1997, which had their first international success with 5 Days in March, a play about two young people fleeing to a love hotel to have sex for five days. His latest play deals with a group of young men who think that sex no longer matters.
Courtesy of Julian Baumann.
