Simon Ward reviews Lunch & The Bow of Ulysses at Trafalgar Studios Two Steven Berkoff plays written 20 years apart telling the story of a couple’s first encounter and then the bitter reminiscences of their subsequent life together – Lunch (1983) and The Bow of Ulysses (2002). Played here […]
If we break a leg, we accept that time and care will work it’s magic. Unlike a lot of physical ailments, Louise Breckon’s underlying larynx condition resulted in a total repositioning of her identity, both professionally and personally. In an (almost) one-woman show portrayed in autobiographical fashion, ‘Can […]
Acorn is a modern reworking of two Greek myths, and tells the stories of Persephone and Eurydice without the distraction of their male counterparts. It isn’t an Angry-Young-Woman play, railing against the patriarchy; it’s a clever use of an ancient tale that provides an amusing insight into the […]
There is much to admire in this personal story which traces the performer’s journey from debilitating illness through to recovery. Adam Pownall fell ill with Guillain-Barré syndrome (or locked in syndrome) back in 2009. The symptoms of the condition developed very quickly, and he moved from being an […]
Monologues. They can fill an audience’s heart with dread, knowing that you are relying on a single actor and minimal props for the best part of an hour. Actors love them on the other hand. All eyes on them alone, their job to beguile the audience with their […]
Smoking Apples produce theatre that combines puppetry and visual imagery, and are known for their unconventional choice of subject matter. In their latest production they tackle the fishing industry, showing the problems faced by small independent fisheries. Our main puppet character is Alf, a man who has fished […]
In this distilled version of the 2014 Royal Court production, Tim Crouch explores our relationship with art and our sense of reality and what is ‘real’. During the course of the production the fictional artist, Janet Adler, is woven into academia, exploited by the film industry and commodified […]
There’s warm lighting, bare brick, dusty air, and it’s been a scorching day in London. Stepping into ‘Children of Eden’ didn’t feel very far from the deserts of the Biblical Middle East at all. The design of the show (by Kingsley Hall) is pleasingly earthy and bare; the […]
Shakespeare ReFASHIONed is a series of events at Selfridges which mark the 400th anniversary of The Bard’s death, with the focal point being a performance of Much Ado. The collaboration is an intriguing idea, in many ways Selfridges – frequent winner of the accolade ‘The Best Department Store […]
Rupert Brooke is best known for his WW1 poetry and his handsome good looks, but is otherwise a lesser known figure in the Bloomsbury circle of intellectuals and artists. Verge of Strife tries to present a true portrait of the man who, in his own time, was regarded as […]