From Sunday 1st to Sunday 8th March, The Southbank Centre marks the achievements of women the world over of both past and present as part of their 5th annual Women of the World Festival. Curating a unique and compelling festival of discussions, debates, performances, art installations and film showings, the festival’s aim is to shine a bright light on the accomplishments of unsung female heroes.
The Collector by Mark Healy is an adaptation of the novel of John Fowles, both of which I hadn’t heard before. As such, I sit down at The Space quite prepared to be surprised and enthralled by the curious plot I have read in the program. It does always make me sad though, and I’ve mentioned this in other reviews of shows at The Space, how this venue is usually so empty when it produces amazing pieces of theatre. And this is yet another of those cases.
The Malachites Theatre Company has the aim of reuniting Shakespeare to its Shoreditch roots accompanying the development of his writing. Now they bring us King Lear at the wonderful and eerie site: Peckham Asylum, an old chapel that naturally makes a quite artistic set. If there is one thing that this company and the director Benjamin Blyth know, it’s how to understand Shakespeare and bring it to life in the real and down-to-earth manner it should be done. Often Shakespeare in this country is made for the intellectual few, when what his plays really delve into are human relationships and this can be known and understood by the most plain unknowledgeable human being.
Thomas Middleton’s 17th century play The Revenger’s Tragedy is a story of power and revenge set in an Italian court. The story follows the fate of a man who swears to avenge his lover’s rape and murder, stopping at nothing to achieve his aim. Written in difficult verse, and with a convoluted plot line and quite divisive content (rape, torture, and every type of “icide” you can think of) this is a tough one to approach, to say the least. Maybe Lazarus Theatre Company should be praised for taking it on at all, in their new adaptation at the Jack Studio. Unfortunately theatrical bravery does not a good production make.
This is an important play about amazing young women. It is a physical show, that when you break it down is an hour long training montage visually. It is usually done in boxing gyms, although currently it is on at the Southbank Centre which does take something away from the rawness that such site-specific placement would bring.
In the last century, Brazilian Augusto Boal developed Theatre Of The Oppressed, which would later be dubbed as Forum Theatre to help the underprivileged around the world. Cardboard Citizens have been making theatre for the homeless and underprivileged for 23 years now, and are the leading UK based maker of Theatre Of the Oppressed.
Battersea’s Doodle Bar brings Telescope all the way from Azerbaijan. Described as “immersive”, an adjective that conjures up ideas of daring, absorbing theatre, the show’s somewhat sparse description intrigues me. I have very little idea of what I am about to experience.
So simple. So beautiful. Almost perfect. When the audience enter the room for J. Fergus Evans Rove they are greeted by the cast of two sitting in chairs, chatting. Not the most epic intro, as Evans throws out song titles for Rihannon Armstrong to play. All the songs centre on the near mythical Rover Joe, an Irish adventurer traveling America. When he finally finds a song she doesn‘t know, the show begins. With a deft touch, Evans traces his family history through half-true anecdotes, folk music and spoken word poetry.
Roy Williams’ new version of Sophocles’ ancient tale of familial warfare and hubris is brought to Theatre Royal Stratford East after touring the UK at the end of 2014. With this re-telling of Antigone, a story that has been told thousands of times in the last 2,500 years, Roy Williams sheds new light on an old problem. Just how much are we willing to stand up for what we believe in? How far should we go to protect our honour, or that of our family? This is what Williams addresses in a bleak, filthy Thebes where soldiers are “fam” and gangland rivalries are all that matter.
Going to The Vaults for the first time in the old Waterloo tunnels was not what I would call an enjoyable experience. As fringe and hipster as it may look it also looks like a third world country could do better in creating a theatre venue that does not intoxicate people with its dampness. It is a very claustrophobic place, uncared for, and it made me uncomfortable. Of course it won’t be the same for everyone – many may like the vibe, the decoration or the graffiti on the walls of the tunnels.
