In celebration of our 5th birthday this July, we’ll be collaborating with 5 theatres to give away a pair of tickets to 5 of London’s top theatre shows. You could win a pair of tickets to: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives at the Arcola, Pity at the Royal Court, The One at Soho Theatre, Che Malambo at Sadler’s Wells or Circolombia at the Underbelly.
Isn’t love a funny old thing? It’s that emotion that gives you butterflies in your stomach and pains in your chest. It’s the feeling of being brave whilst at the same time you’re terrified. We see love everywhere; from the mother tending to her child that’s just fallen over, the young couple taking selfies in the park, to the man playing Frisbee with his dog – it’s all around us and chances are, we’ve felt it at least once.
Discontent with the prospect of being incredibly respected and knowledable, due mainly to his studious nature, Faustus seeks more, he seeks a fountain of knowledge all of those around him would envy. Fuelled by greed, Faustus practises the dark arts; signaling the beginning of the end as he sells his soul to the devil.
Hanna examines old themes in new – and genuinely compelling – ways. Nature and nurture, motherhood, blame, responsibility, class and ethnicity all collide in this one-woman monologue that unpacks the consequences of a life-altering mistake made in a hospital wing. This is a poignant personal tragedy, made more affecting by recent news of NHS chaos and cuts post-Christmas 2017.
“I don’t believe the word love has ever meant the same thing twice.” The stars shine bright and so do our desires. Navigating a 17th-century opera house, 1936 Worcester, San Fernando Valley, 1979 and the Moon 2223, Forward Arena present their examination of queer history in Callisto: A Queer Epic. After a critically acclaimed, sold out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, the production lands at the Arcola for a second time.
Courtesy of Forward Arena.
The topic of race is a complex one, one that will have society talking, discussing and debating for centuries to come. Conversations have become increasingly overt, due in part to shifting attitudes. Lynette Linton’s #Hashtag Lightie is a landmark production, it brings to light what it means to be mixed race within the UK.
Courtesy of the Arcola Theatre.
Relativity, probability, possibility, certainty, knowledge, fame, selfhood. All of these interweave in the Arcola’s revival of Terry Johnson’s play. It’s an overwhelming collision of ideas that fares best when considering ideas of bodily autonomy and identity set against the fierce, faceless consumption of celebrity.
Courtesy of Alex Brenner.
All The Little Lights is a robust, complex play that encourages the audience to read between the lines and engage with the nuances of its three characters, estranged best friends Joanne and Lisa, trapped in a circle of love-in-hate, and 12 year-old Amy. Jane Upton’s script avoids a patronising signposting of content, and, in so doing, best suggests the insidious nature of its subject matter in a world where signs are missed, bruises hidden, and voices silenced.
Courtesy of the Arcola Theatre.
Angel self-consciously mythologises the story of Rehana, the ‘angel’ of Kobane, a sleepy market town in the North of Syria. The playwright, Henry Naylor, wrote the one-woman monologue after having researched the stories of women in modern Syria. In so doing, he stumbled across the person of Rehana. Rumours abound about her, but one thing is certain: she was a law student who abandoned her studies to train as a sniper, and she was in the middle of the fighting during ISIS’ 2014 siege of Kobani.
Courtesy of Steve Ullathorne.
When Albert Camus wrote his novel The Plague in 1946, it was considered a metaphor for the rise of fascism. Although director Neil Bartlett usually shies away from adapting novels because it is so very difficult, he felt that this particular work remains highly relevant today. Bartlett keeps all of Albert Camus’ – translated – words and only cuts and reworks the novel according to his concept.
Courtesy of the Arcola Theatre.