Chop Me Up Or Let Me Go at the Bread And Roses Theatre in Clapham

You have truly made it in show biz if you have been abducted by a mega fan: Tom Reynolds’ radical admirer is the gun-equipped, wide-eyed epidemiologist Astrid Barton (Ciara Murphy) who has obsessively watched every piece of video footage of her favourite actor. In a room decorated with signed film posters and photographs, he is … Continue reading Chop Me Up Or Let Me Go at the Bread And Roses Theatre in Clapham

The Ballad of Maria Marten at Wiltons Music Hall

The mysteries around the 1827 murder of a 25-year-old country woman from rural Suffolk have survived the Victorian era as the Red Barn Murder and led to several stage and screen adaptations already – but too much focus was put on the murderer, playwright Beth Flintoff realised whose play is dedicated to the actual victim, and … Continue reading The Ballad of Maria Marten at Wiltons Music Hall

An Evening Without Kate Bush at the Soho Theatre 

When one of your favourite living artists stopped live gigs years before you were born, seeing her eventually perform live, feels surreal. Given her rare performances, superfans have turned to impersonators, theme parties, interviews with her stage dancers, fiction with fortifying titles like Waiting For Kate Bush and her biography Under The Ivy (updated in … Continue reading An Evening Without Kate Bush at the Soho Theatre 

Ladies and Jellicles – Linus Karp at the Phoenix Arts Club

The euro techno beats of an upbeat version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Memory welcome me at the Phoenix Arts Club once my covid pass has been checked, followed by another non-conical Let’s Get Jellicle anthem. If you know how the blue Belgium comic goblins describe events as smurftastic you get an idea of tonight’s one … Continue reading Ladies and Jellicles – Linus Karp at the Phoenix Arts Club

Frozen at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane – a triumph

My non-fluent visitor from abroad has never heard of the most successful animated film ever and does not recognise pictures of the Pixar film, let alone the Oscar-recognized soundtrack. I had my suspicions already but still gasp when this is being confirmed over and over, even by someone who lives pop culture-wise under a stone … Continue reading Frozen at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane – a triumph

Have you ever been ghosted by a God? Arrows And Traps present Talking Gods

Talking Gods starts with Hestia, the nowadays lesser-known deity of home and hearth, is telling us about her modern life, cohabiting with her activist sister Demeter and her teenage niece Cora. Her sister is much less domestic than Hestia, swears like a trooper, smokes weed and cares more about Aldi, Extinction Rebellion and genocide in … Continue reading Have you ever been ghosted by a God? Arrows And Traps present Talking Gods

London’s National Theatre At Home – Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus

If there is one advantage of lockdown, it is the access to plays you have missed seeing on stage, in my case Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at London’s National Theatre and again at its rerun in 2018. Thank you, National Theatre At Home. I first watched the Oscar-showered film from 1984 in school when I was … Continue reading London’s National Theatre At Home – Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus

Nyokabi Macharia stars in Actors Anonymous – The livestream

The great folks I met at Crooks 1926 highly recommended Actors Anonymous on the digital stage to me, a one-woman show starring Nyokabi Macharia as every single participant in a self-help group for aspiring actors in London. Here mediation junkies and notorious late comers meet in a chair circle, here they share their experiences and … Continue reading Nyokabi Macharia stars in Actors Anonymous – The livestream

Open Bar making A Christmess Carol online

This December is the first in which I receive an email from Charles Dickens. It includes log-in details and thanks to these, tonight’s audience and actors are all together on a Zoom call: “Hello, my little Christmas crackers!” I recognize most faces from Open Bar’s Shakespeare in the Garden, the theatre company behind the only … Continue reading Open Bar making A Christmess Carol online