Theatre, Reviews
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The Prize
8 Aug 2012
Steve Gilroy and Richard Stockwell's latest not quite living the Olympic dream
Gold and silver are mere split seconds apart. Hair’s breadths. There’s just as little between Olympians and Paralympians: a ladder that slips; a bout of meningitis; an IED underfoot. Life may not be fair, but – as the London 2012 hopefuls and former…
NOLA
8 Aug 2012
Underwhelming take on the 2010 BP oil spill
Theatre company Look Left Look Right scored two hits last year with innovative interactive pieces – You Once Said Yes and You Wouldn’t Know Him, He Lives In Texas – and their offering this year is a verbatim documentary piece about the 2010 BP oil…
Nggrfg
8 Aug 2012
Stereotypically confessional coming-of-age tale
Aged 16, Buddy aspires to grow up to become Canada’s Prime Minister. His teacher pooh-poohs the idea: ‘Because your bl...’ He checks himself. ‘I’ve never known a politician as – um – flamboyant as you.’ Buddy’s too camp to be black and too black to…
Oliver Reed: Wild Thing
8 Aug 2012
Rob Crouch paints a blazing theatrical portrait of the renowned boozer
In this excellent one-man show, the renowned hellraiser recounts his wayward life from beyond the grave and, appropriately, during the course of a mammoth boozing session. Rob Crouch does a superb job of playing the British film star of the 1960 and…
You Obviously Know What I’m Talking About
8 Aug 2012
Intelligent comic theatre about obsessive-compulsive nerd is surprisingly good
This cleverly devised bit of comic theatre boasts a marvellous set. Good job, too, given it concerns an extreme obsessive-compulsive, a reclusive nerd named Winfield Scott-Boring, whose entire carefully ordered daily life takes place within the confines…
Irreconcilable Differences
8 Aug 2012
Car crash drama is punchy and heartfelt if ultimately rather hackneyed
A couple. A car crash. Who lives? You decide. In reality, Benjamin and Pollyanna are clinging to life from their adjacent operating tables. We see them in an abstract limbo, tied together at the wrists, scrapping for our sympathies in order to…
After the Rainfall
8 Aug 2012
Ambitious multi-layered show that bears repeat viewing
A young British diplomat makes a desperate bid to get home from Suez in the 1950s. Thirty years later, a Cumbrian art student creates a memorial to a trapped miner. An Egyptian backpacker struggles across Europe, and an ant expert releases an explosive…
Maurice's Jubilee
8 Aug 2012
Softly charming piece that doesn’t quite set the heart alight
Maurice's health might be fading but his love for the Queen, sparked by a shared dance on Coronation night, remains undimmed. Will Maurice manage to hold on for one last encounter with Her Madge? Nichola McAuliffe's latest comedy, Maurice's Jubilee…
Bound
8 Aug 2012
Anarchic trip to California derails early on
A young lad, his innocent girlfriend and estranged father are trapped inside a freight train. What was meant to be an anarchic trip to California has turned into an indefinite prison sentence. It sounds like the ideal ingredients for an intensely…
Rime
8 Aug 2012
Square Peg astonish with daring and precision in riveting Coleridge circus
Contemporary circus, or nouveau cirque – a genre which combines circus acrobatics with a narrative or theme – is a genre more established in continental Europe than here in the UK. It is fascinating, therefore, to see London-based company Square Peg…
The Price of Everything
8 Aug 2012
Entertaining vision of a society built on kindness, by Daniel Bye
Daniel Bye is a man on a mission. From start to finish his performance lecture is out to prove that there are some things you just can’t put a price on. Starting with the lecture, Bye takes to the stage with a slideshow to ponder the price of…
All That is Wrong
7 Aug 2012
Restrained, compelling piece from provocative Belgian company
There’s power in simplicity this year, for the Belgian theatre company, Ontroerend Goed. Often tagged as ‘provocative’ or ‘controversial’ because of their knowing messing around with conventions – see their previous, excellent Fringe offerings, The…
The Letter of Last Resort / Good With People
7 Aug 2012
Double bill of short dramas that push the nuclear button
As the independence referendum draws nearer, with Trident shaping up as a particularly thorny feature of the debate around Scotland’s future, a revival of these two short works by two of Scotland’s leading playwrights offers keen, if contrasting, takes…
The Blind
7 Aug 2012
Stunningly powerful outdoors multimedia spectacle
Krakow-based KTO Theatre pulls off a rare feat in combining stunning visual effects with a potent emotional impact in its gripping, wordless show The Blind. Whether through pounding music, imagery that’s by turns shocking and poignantly beautiful, or…
Bottleneck
7 Aug 2012
Haunting, horrifying tale, brought to life by vivid writing
By the time you realise precisely what Luke Barnes’ play is up to, it’s already too late. You’re already in the thick of it. Far be it from me to let on. If you saw it coming, it could easily seem indulgent and crass. Instead, Barnes shows a familiar…
Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act
7 Aug 2012
Eloquent but dispassionate production of poetic apartheid drama
Exactly 40 years after it was written, Athol Fugard’s poetic condemnation of South Africa’s Immorality Act, which outlawed interracial intercourse until its repeal in 1985, stands as a fervent memorial, lest we forget the inhumanity of that prohibition.
I, Tommy
7 Aug 2012
Sex, socialism and sub-standard comedy in this play about the (in)famous Sheridan
First, a confession. Like Tommy Sheridan, I, too, have frequented... socialist meetings. However, contrary to media myth, left-wingers in Scotland don’t divide neatly into Tommy’s cheerleaders and those who stick pins in his effigy before they go to…
Petya and the Wolf
7 Aug 2012
Childlike in chaotic naiivety but enough depth to entertain all
Two Russian actors present this idiosyncratic physical retelling of the familiar tale of how Peter outsmarts the hungry wolf, soundtracked by a recording of the Prokofiev score with English narration. Although the story is simple enough for all ages to…
Mr Carmen
7 Aug 2012
Carmen pursuit becomes game of theatrical graffiti in stunning adaptation
Try as she might, Bizet’s Carmen can never throw off her determined suitor, Don José. Wherever she runs, he follows, unshakeable in his affections. Don José is the stalker par excellence. In the hands of AKHE: Engineering Theatre, this relentless…
Blink
7 Aug 2012
Web romance drama tingles magnificently before swerving into cliché
For 40 minutes, Blink tingles. Jonah and Sophie’s peculiar relationship tickles like a feather on a foot or champagne bubbles at the back of your throat. Jonah likes to watch. Sophie needs to be seen. They fall in love from afar, conducting their…
Eat $hit: How Our Waste Can Save the World
7 Aug 2012
A(n extremely odd) musical with an infectious message
The Poop Project are here to talk to you about your poo – loudly, clearly, and with songs and jazz hands. And if you’re the squeamish sort, it’s even more imperative that you listen. Let’s be straight: the five performers in this show aren’t the…
Rock
7 Aug 2012
Rabid account of US punk movement from one man and a cellist
Long before Kurt Cobain moved to Seattle, sold his ass and lost his soul, the clouds of the American punk rock movement were gathering, rumbling and occasionally transcending. From the poetic beat riffs of Gregory Corso through to the narcotic and…
The Beast
7 Aug 2012
With uke and loop pedal Bowden commands a spellbound crowd
Stuart Bowden wants to tell you a story about a beast. His name is Winslow and he lives on the edge of town, just a short helicopter ride away if you happen to have a helicopter. Winslow is a little awkward and a little lonely, one of his prized…
Still Life: An Audience With Henrietta Moraes
7 Aug 2012
Immersive monologue-cum-life-drawing-class
It’s pretty disconcerting being addressed by a naked, middle-aged woman, but you soon get used to it. And when she invites you to draw her body, you might feel self-conscious at first – but as writer and actor Sue MacLaine’s life drawing-cum-monologue…
Mephisto Waltz
7 Aug 2012
Derevo's surreal show of devil pact is success but lacks emotional tie-in
You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, and it would seem you can’t make a Derevo show without making an inordinate amount of mess. By the time the five performers step forward to take their well-earned bow, the stage is littered with more…
