To describe Tim Crouch‘s An Oak Tree as ‘hypnotic’ might seem to be stating the obvious; it is, after all, a show about a stage hypnotist. Except that it’s not.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time adapted by Simon Stephens from the book by Mark Haddon and produced by the National Theatre is a visual feast, with assured performances from a tight ensemble cast and a dazzling array of stage and lighting tricks. The style of the piece sets about mining a rich history of complex movement and physical theatre techniques, drawing from the methods of people like Rudolf Laban and Jacques Lecoq. Using these ideas to tell the story and in place of complex set and scenery is an insight into the way our protagonist and narrator, Christopher, sees and interacts with the world.
Having become the “poster girl for mental health” through sheer happenstance, Ruby Wax‘s expertise in understandIng mental health and cognitive therapy might not be universally known on her list of credits. Those expecting a stand up show will be somewhat surprised to find themselves at a show centred around far more serious points than the elements on the surface of Wax’s chaotic life such as buying too many throw pillows.
hamlet is dead, no gravity by Ewald Palmetshofer, presented as a part of the Arcola’s VOLTA International Festival, presents a family with too many skeletons in the closet, two sets of friends with patchwork pasts and throws in a birthday and funeral – wrapped up in the beautiful Studio 1 at the Arcola, all brickwork and girders.
York Stage Musicals take to the Grand Opera House with a brilliantly energetic production of Legally Blonde The Musical. From the impressive set pieces to the dedicated ensemble cast, York Stage Musicals bring a lavish production which has the audience grinning with delight.
That feeling of getting over the towering walls of the British border, of arriving to that mystical place everyone back home talks and dreams about and entering the strange new world of tea breaks, advanced public transport systems and a functional minimum wage; it’s amazing.
Made in China‘s Tonight I’m Gonna Be the New Me concentrates on the idea of compromise, and how we constantly find ourselves adapting, even changing to keep the peace within a relationship. Love is a competition, a battle, tranquility, drama… an absolute kaleidoscope of ideas. But how does this complicated emotion manifest itself within this production?
It is always fascinating to encounter the many different venues around London that harbour theatre performances. This happens with such inventiveness in London as it happens in very few places in the world – there can be a theatre everywhere people are allowed to gather. Movingstage invested in a boat to present their work – Puppet Theatre Barge. They create this bizarre and entrancing atmosphere giving the audience the feeling of going on a voyage to another reality.
“Something sincere that takes the audience somewhere” seems to be an obvious and foolproof way of approaching your work as a playwright. It also seems rather simple. I could not find, however, a more fitting description of Bea Roberts’s work than the one she uses in this statement about her writing.
Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir was born in late september, 1856, on a small farm in the north of Iceland. Over the course of a lifetime she became the leading suffragate in the country, one of the first women elected to a municipal, lectured and became one of the major powers behind the Kvennabladid (The Women‘s Paper) which survives to this day. To honour her, a group of dancers have gotten together at Tjarnarbíó.
