This year’s commentary is split into two parts. CLICK HERE for 2023 – A Theatrical Year in Review [Part 1 – The Issues]. Theatre Scenes’ recent annual Year in Reviews have focussed on big sector issues, broadening our focus beyond the theatre performed on our stages. But it is always a relief to turn the attention back to the shows, […]
[Punctum’s punk-infused offering packs a punch] When entering Basement Theatre’s main stage, the first thing I notice is the set design by Minsoh Choi, as the back wall of the stage has been painted a bright, baby pink. Given the show’s punk aesthetic, it’s a bold and fairly bad-ass move and I’m silently impressed after estimating the cost for a […]
Heart Go…Boom! is an entertaining and affecting devised piece which explores and critiques the relationships we have with ourselves, and with others. The play consists of five performers sharing semi-autobiographical solo pieces and wider ensemble work. The stories depicted are a great mix of universal and personal – from self-service checkout woes to having a twin, or from fitting-in to […]
[Full of Possibilities] Part of the irresistible pull of the stage is the opportunity to slip into the skin of another, to imagine and inhabit another world before being released back into your own life. Nadia Freeman aka Miss Leading’s Another Universe self-consciously employs the stage as a space in which to explore some of the myriad of possible lives […]
[Raspberry sauce with a side of body horror] Jessie McCall’s latest choreographic offering I Get So Emotional Baby demonstrates the inexhaustible vocabulary of the human form. Palpable female emotion collides with references to the male gaze in an engrossing and stimulating work. The movement focused I Get So Emotional Baby offers a tightly woven series of images and motifs pertaining […]
[Timeless and timely] Empty of performers, the main stage at Basement is adorned with eye-catching intricacies to represent a living area and kitchen – there’s a sumptuous green velvet couch, colourful map of Haiti and a potted plant… with browning leaves. After house lights dim, our central characters Jo (Layla Pitt) and Flo (Estelle Chout) enter with varying states of […]
Caffeinated Zombies Set in the titular Best Cafe in the World after a zombie apocalypse, this story centres around cafe owner Jayden (Jehangir Homavazir), and his friends Sahil (Mo Nasir) and Gabby (Celine Dam). Jayden has big plans to make the cafe a communal space where people can relax from the nightmare outside. Trouble arises when news arrives of a […]
[Come for Candy, Stay to be Compelled] It is often considered unwise for an actor to share the stage with a child or a dog, as these smaller, less-inhibited performers tend to possess an almost magnetic draw upon an audience’s attention. To this company Emily Hurley’s explosive work The Judas Sheep adds a third guaranteed scene stealer- the titular articulated […]
[More than a Youth Show] In 2019 I wrote a review which included a meme that intimated that the ATC youth shows excite me more as an audience member than much of what appears in the main programme. Now in 2021 ATC, with the support of Proudly Asian Theatre (PAT), offers Yang/Young/杨 as part of the Here and Now season […]
[Nobody puts Cake Baby in the corner: fatness, art, and representation] The Basement stage floor is littered, quite literally, with trash – empty take-out boxes, wrappers, and containers of food – directly contrasted by diaphanous pink material strung grandly from the centre of the ceiling. It is immediately intriguing and the audience seems to be in a good mood, warmed […]
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