Close your eyes. Imagine you are back in time, a young child again, sitting on your grandfathers’ knee whilst he slowly drinks his whisky, savours every deep breath from his roll up, and tells you a story, a story you have heard a thousand times before, his favourite story of the Wild West that you’ve grown to love over the years just as much as he. That is what watching ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ felt like; an overwhelming sense of familiarity, but unique in its presence in the Western field.

© Jethro Compton Ltd

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Sadler’s Wells welcomes Bruno Beltrão and Grupo de Rua with their show Crackz, part of this year’s LIFT festival that aims to gather globally unique artistic experiences in London. Crackz definitely fits in this category of unique experiences. What was created on stage can classify as a new genre for this Brazilian dance group, who specialise in combining hip-hop and breakdance with influences of many other styles such as capoeira, martial arts and contemporary dance.

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Ernest and the Pale Moon is the latest play from the upcoming theatre company Les Enfants Terribles. They are an interesting and imaginative company, and the only way I feel I can describe this play is as storytelling for adults.There is a large emphasis on physical theatre throughout the show, in particular mime.

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There is a state in long distance running called the wall. It happens when the body has used up all its fuel and needs to either stop running or switch fuel and it hurts, a lot. To overcome this, the only solution is to keep running, and after the pain comes a state of mild euphoria follows. That is what it felt like as Dauda Ladejobi finished his half hour reading of the 60 year old poem The Howl.

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After an extremely successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe with Titus Andronicus, Hiraeth Artistic Productions have taken on Shakespeare’s Hamlet with equal enthusiasm. Director Zoé Ford has once again embedded Shakespeare within a modern setting after Titus Andronicus was set in 1980s Britain, and this time we watch Hamlet from within the confines of a Her Majesty’s Prison in Liverpool.

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That ideal we call ‘privacy’ appears to now, more than ever to be a thing of myth. If you’re not being filmed by CCTV cameras then you’re having to reply to a barrage of work related emails. Those quiet, unassuming moments are a luxury, a means to recuperate and prepare for the following days obstacles. We’re taught to build up a wall, to keep problems and concerns to ourselves, but what happens when everything gets too much, and you need somebody to talk to?

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So you’re doing your weekly shop, leisurely scanning through the frozen foods aisle when suddenly the seemingly casual shop assistant breaks out into a song and dance. Before you know it, you’re surrounded by a crowd of unassuming customers turned undercover professional dancers who all miraculously appear to perform a perfectly choreographed sequence in unison! Cue the era of the Flash Mob! A momentary break out into the unexpected, the exuberant and the usual!

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Going down to The Place to see a set of three of Mamoru Iriguchi’s performances soon became a rather dream-like surreal experience. As one enters Mamoru’s world one must be prepared to absorb the new found logic in his twisted and unusual scenarios. Throughout the evening the consistent feelings were of uncertainty, confusion and awe.

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“For about half of you here, those that have never been to a poetry show, you might totally hate this!” Mark Grist‘s hilarious tale of how an eager English Teacher became, and dealt with becoming, a Youtube sensation, world famous battle rapper and the poet laureate of Peterborough. As he eagerly tells the story, he weaves in the poetry and raps, sometimes apologetically but always amusingly.

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‘Ten Women’: An unusual title for a play with a cast of sixteen, but still strong with a critical message of changing perceptions in a time where the media appears to call the shots. Bethan Dear has written and directed this pioneering production as a way to make people question their own perceptions of beauty, and to ask the audience, “What is real?” By using ten women to relay the story of one, reinforcing that we all face the same issues, is an amiable attempt at rocking the boat – but just how successful is this work in progress at actually achieving its goal?

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