VAULT Festival 2017: Final Week Previews Part 1 (1-5 March)

We’ve now reached the final week of the annual VAULT Festival, and it’s been a blast doing coverage of the festival and seeing all the exciting shows. But it’s not over yet, and there’s still plenty of amazing shows playing in the first week of March! All of Me by Anything Other Theatre Company Loner Gareth (not by his own admission) has recently been fired … Continue reading VAULT Festival 2017: Final Week Previews Part 1 (1-5 March)

Preview: Fundamentally Happy by Nine Years Theatre

Award winning and critically acclaimed Nine Years Theatre opens their 2017 season with a production of Fundamentally Happy, Haresh Sharma’s Life! Theatre Award winning script (Best Production, Best Script 2007) first staged by The Necessary Stage. Fundamentally Happy is a two character play that follows 30 year old Eric (Timothy Wan) as he revisits his childhood neighbour Habiba (Lok Meng Chue), as the place he spent … Continue reading Preview: Fundamentally Happy by Nine Years Theatre

Review: Prism by Toy Factory

Toy Factory starts off the year with the big budget production of Prism. Tackling issues of gentrification, progress and history, Prism is a monster of a play with a big message to tell. Prism bears many similar themes to plays like Jean Tay’s Boom, offering commentary on our endless, inevitable march of progress and refusing to stop even for a moment to consider what’s lost in the progress, as … Continue reading Review: Prism by Toy Factory

[Review] VAULT Festival 2017: You Having Olaf? by Joseph Cullen (26/2/17)

Joseph Cullen is a bit of a madman. Armed with an English Literature degree and an assortment of children’s party tricks, the artistic director of Over The Limit’s solo show comes fully equipped with all the tools to make you laugh at one man’s crusade against the children of the world, and shockingly, you might find yourself rooting for his cause too. Still suffering from … Continue reading [Review] VAULT Festival 2017: You Having Olaf? by Joseph Cullen (26/2/17)

Review: The Pillowman by Pangdemonium!

First staged in 2007, The Pillowman returns to the stage, once again deftly helmed by the indomitable Tracie Pang and an incredible cast and creative team. Written by Scottish playwright Martin McDonagh, The Pillowman takes the form of a police procedural drama with a twist – the murders follow the exact same killing methods as writer Katurian’s dark fairytales (Daniel Jenkins). Put in the hot seat … Continue reading Review: The Pillowman by Pangdemonium!

Preview: Blue Elephant Theatre March Season

Located in Southeast London, the Blue Elephant Theatre seeks to produce new works across all genres in the performing arts, from physical theatre to dance, to nurturing new writers and reviving classics. This March, they’re bringing in two fringe-type works from up and coming companies Haste Theatre and Resuscitate Theatre, both playing for a limited time. Oyster Boy by Haste Theatre All-female theatre troupe Haste … Continue reading Preview: Blue Elephant Theatre March Season

VAULT Festival 2017: Dancing MPs, Cornish Heists and Extraterrestrial Sketches (24/2/17)

We continue our coverage of the VAULT Festival this week with three shows – Yann Allsopp’s dance-without-dance show The End of Dance, Marietta Kirkbride’s scintillating script about the battle against gentrification in The Long Trick and Gemma Arrowsmith’s love letter to our blue planet in Earthling: The End of Dance by Yann Allsopp The premise of The End of Dance is straightforward enough – in fictional Britain, a bill totaling … Continue reading VAULT Festival 2017: Dancing MPs, Cornish Heists and Extraterrestrial Sketches (24/2/17)

Review: Indices of Vanishment by RAW Moves

What happens when you get a theatre director to choreograph a dance piece? You’ll probably get something like Indices of Vanishment, assuming you have the directorship of as capable a practitioner as Edith Podesta and the leadership of Artistic Director Ricky Sim. Riffing on RAW Moves’ 2017 season theme of Clutter, Podesta crafts an intimate, powerful piece about the baggage we hold in life, and despite it being her … Continue reading Review: Indices of Vanishment by RAW Moves

[Review] VAULT Festival 2017: Dark Testament and Sketchy Santas (23/2/17)

We start off this week’s coverage of the VAULT Festival with two starkly different plays, both of which take deliciously dark turns really quickly: Testament by Old Sole Theatre Company and The Grot In The Grotto by acclaimed and award-winning sketch comedy team Casual Violence. Testament by Old Sole Theatre Company For anyone who’s grown up reading the Bible or has some knowledge of its … Continue reading [Review] VAULT Festival 2017: Dark Testament and Sketchy Santas (23/2/17)

Review: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Director James McDonald brings a stunning all-star production of Edward Albee’s most famous play to the West End. Brash, riveting and destructive, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? made waves when it first premiered, nabbing the Tony Award for Best Play and was even adapted into Oscar-winning film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. In this new production, the award-winning cast consists Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill (best … Continue reading Review: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Harold Pinter Theatre