Something must be going on in Yorkshire when you visit early in the year – and indeed it’s the annual Viking festival Jorvik which had been (due to my Haithabu roots) on my bucket list for years. Here in York the Vikings settled when coming over to Britain from Northern Europe. After I already got … Continue reading The York Dungeon – Yorkshire’s bloody history in 75 minutes
Transporting the ancient Greek play Medea by Euripides to the synth scene of the 1980s somewhere in the English midlands could go terribly wrong. After having seen this play in different variations at Wilton’s, the National Theatre and the Almeida Theatre along with the Lars van Trier film and the one starring Maria Callas I … Continue reading Medea Electronica brings Synths and Misery to the Pleasance Theatre – excellent drama
Confession first: Before tonight I had not seen Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show on stage or watched the film. I knew that the Time Warp was a thing, “Dammit, Janet” a catchphrase and that audiences brought water pistols, rice and toilet paper to performances everywhere. Hopefully, all these little myths and rituals will now make … Continue reading A baptism of fire at the New Wimbledon Theatre – seeing Richard O’Briens Rocky Horror Show for the first time
I was introduced to the oeuvre of Mikhail Bulgakov a year ago when I spontaneously decided in Zurich to go to the theatre and this blog found its direction. Since then I have checked for Bulgakov plays wherever I travelled, listened to audio plays and listened to Franz Ferdinand B-sides in a completely new context. … Continue reading Mikhail Bulgakov’s Morphine at The Cockpit theatre – in Russian with English subtitles
For the first time after leaving college I am back in Hamburg’s Thalia Theater. Founded in 1843 you can spot a real Hamburg citizen by the way the first syllable of Thalia is emphasized. I cannot remember seeing a single play here which I did not like – with productions chosen close to the curriculum … Continue reading Thalia Vista Social Club – a local institution in Hamburg’s Thalia Theater
When her Evil Stepmother does not allow her a mobile phone and she feels she is missing out, 21 year old Ella starts speaking in emojis and hashtags. Luckily the Fairy Matchmaker understands her pain and because we are in an adult panto it does not take long for Ella to admit that has signed … Continue reading An Adult Panto – Tinderella at the Canal Café Theatre at the Regent’s Canal in London
Exactly a year ago we came to London’s Bridge Theatre for the first time. It had only opened recently but we were standing in front of closed doors. Not even the foyer lights were switched on. I had bought the tickets a month before when looking for a Christmassy night out; not something as loud as a … Continue reading Hans Christian Andersen in London – A Very Very Very Dark Matter at the Bridge Theatre
On what seems to be the rainiest weekend this season in London a friend has come to visit from Hamburg. In advance we agreed that I’ll show her Brighton (I have never been during Christmas time) but before we head there I cannot see us drinking cocktails in a beer garden under a patio heater … Continue reading The Brighton Academy’s Sister Act in Clermont Hall, East Sussex
Finally I am in the same city at the same time as Toruk, Cirque Du Soleil’s take on James Cameron’s Avatar. I wanted to see it since I first stumbled upon a call for puppeteers in the newsletter of the Jim Henson Association years ago. Now I am in Bologna, a lively city on a … Continue reading Bioluminescence in Bologna: Cirque Du Soleil’s Toruk, based on James Cameron’s Avatar
I wanted to visit Kingston’s Rose Theatre since their collaboration with paper artist Su Blackwell but missed the show when jet-lag won. When Friedrich Schiller’s Don Carlos was announced in May, I got tickets immediately – after all, this tragedy was a big part of my college exams and I must have read it several … Continue reading Don Carlos at the Rose Theatre in Kingston
