The Great Gatsby is a renowned and revered novel. Written in 1925, nearly a century later it still manages to captivate readers. Unsure of how the novel would translate into a theatre production, I’m eager to see how it pans out.
Humans are a creature of habit, making it very difficult to go against the grain and break away from tradition. We wake up, work, return home, sleep and repeat the cycle. Majority of the time, the little things seem to just drift by, however in A Room For All Our Tomorrows, basic instinct and throwaway passages of time are given the platform to breathe.
Borderline is a Wang Ramirez production; distinctly made up of Honji Wang and Sebastian Ramirez. Ramirez is a French dancer and choreographer, with his roots set in B-boying; he began dance training in 1995, and was self-taught for many years, progressively winning championships and battles. Honji Wang, born in Frankfurt, started her training first in ballet, then, when she was 15 discovered her love for hip-hop dance, this has seen her perform with Rocio Molina, Madonna, and other celebrated performers.
As a production, Apart wears its heart on its sleeve. Created by the celebrated theatre group, Colectivo Alebrije, the play explores the historic leather-making district of Mexico’s León city. Intercutting between tales of past and present, the collective craft an intimate biopic of the region, traversing a range of perspectives to create a collective vision of the area. It’s difficult to avoid being charmed by the three performers, who attack the material with gusto and clearly telegraph their passion for the subject. However, the overall ambition of the production frequently outstrips their capacity, giving the material a rushed, unplanned quality.
Montserrat ignites, emotes and revels within the Casa Latin American Theatre Festival, currently taking place at both Rich Mix and the Barbican. Presented for the festival, Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol (Mexico) Theatre Company, devises, captivates and beguiles in a wonderfully truthful and emotive production of Montserrat.
Pants on Fire are a theatre company based in London who create original, dynamic, visually brilliant and widely accessible theatre. With a focus on ensemble, visual storytelling, energetic play and theatricality, Pants on Fire have devised some incredible shows. Their latest production, Ovid’s Metamorphoses will be performed this October, and is set to be a fantastic piece. I caught up with producer Daisy Hale to find out more about the company and their latest work.
Who are Pants on Fire?
PANTS ON FIRE is a London based ensemble, which celebrates visual theatricality, style and the language of theatre. Ovid’s Metamorphoses premiered at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it won the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award. The show ran for a month Off Broadway at The Flea Theater, in January 2011, and went on to tour the UK. The show was given the Whats On Stage Editors Award, an award especially created for the show. Peter Bramley is our Artistic Director and founder of Pants on Fire and has directed all of the company’s shows to date. He is head of movement at Rose Bruford College. He was in the last final-year group to have ever trained with the late Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
It’s not often we celebrate the idiosyncrasies of dogs; the only time the much loved pets have their moment in the spotlight is either for a Dog’s Trust Campaign or during the pomp and pageantry of C.R.U.F.T.S. Described as a ‘man’s best friend’, there’s no doubt that dogs hold a very important affinity to the family household, often considered as an additional family member. Watching a production about dogs may not necessarily sound as appealing a subject matter at first glance, however can Kandinsky‘s Dog Show challenge this perception?
The Bristol Old Vic hosts Little Bulb Theatre, a collective of excellent singers and physical performers who retell the myth of Orpheus through the medium of a recreated Berlin cabaret club. The evening pays tribute to Django Reinhart, and the legend of Orpheus, all of which is hosted by Edith Piaf. It was an eccentric evening, to say the least.
This may not have been a brief encounter, but it was brilliant! According to Simon McBurney, the Amazon rainforest has no regard for western time frames, and neither, apparently, does he. The Encounter took several years to write, or rather, to create, and the result relies almost entirely on sound. Each seat in the Old Vic’s main theatre is fitted with a set of headphones that feeds McBurney’s voice into our ears. The textured foam backdrop that stretches up to the ceiling not only provides a dry environment for the sound, but also allows for the clever light design to reflect both the weather, and the protagonist’s ever worsening mind set.
The immediate impression one has on first experiencing the set of Raymondo is a positive one; the sultry light of a number of vintage lamps dimly illuminating the distressed, but homely, items of furniture create a welcoming and rather beautiful impression, while, at the same time, the slightly haunting aesthetic is redolent with the promise the imminent revelation of secrets – it is a set, in short, about story-telling.
