REVIEW: The Last Man on Earth (Is Trapped in a Supermarket)

November 4, 2015

Like a movie made out of Yoga Mats and Paper Plates [by Jess Holly Bates] It’s no secret that I have a raging crush on devised theatre. It is fast, and furious, and often absurd. Providing live experiences made under pressure, the material generated in a devising room operates in a dangerous state of flux, always under threat of performative disorder. […]

REVIEW: This is our Youth (The Basement)

April 9, 2015

Escape from New York  [by Tim George] Directed by Benjamin Henson, this new revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s pressure cooker of disaffected youth in Reagan-era New York is by turns claustrophobic, bleak, and nihilistic. It is also blackly comic and surprisingly profound. A young man steals $15000 from his father and holes up with his only friend, who also happens to be […]

REVIEW: Fix (The Basement)

August 13, 2014

Fix transfixes [by Sharu Delilkan] Knowing that playwright Jess Sayer wrote this play when she was 21 is both amazing and somewhat disturbing. Her carnal knowledge of what it is like when someone experiences a personal crisis is phenomenal for someone of such a tender age. However I quickly forget that this is the case as Fix basically sucks us […]

REVIEW: Queen (Smoke Labours Productions)

February 14, 2014

Gay outing [by Sharu Delilkan] Queen is a scream, a sass, a laugh, a cry, a voice. The publicity material’s description of Queen is spot on. Although a re-staging of the show, Sam Brooks’ Queen is still unique in nature because unlike most coming out gay stories the focus is the emotional roller coaster of under 18-year olds. Despite its […]

REVIEW: Mancub (re:Generate Theatre)

November 14, 2012

Lacks Bite [by James Wenley] Mancub tells the familiar story of teenager’s rite of passage from adolescence to manhood. Paul (Ryan Dulieu) traverses the terrain of teachers, parents, his first girlfriend, and school sport. There is one major complication: Paul begins to take on the characteristics of different animals, and eventually believes he can turn into animals at will. Scottish […]

REVIEW: Short + Sweet 2012 Week 2 (Stamp at The Edge)

September 26, 2012

Sweet As! [by Sharu Delilkan] I thoroughly enjoyed tonight’s performances of Short + Sweet which is in stark contrast to my review of Week 1. Varied, funny, clever, poignant and sweet in equal proportions the performers complemented each other creating a great mix of thought provoking dialogue. In case you haven’t seen Short + Sweet before, it is the biggest […]

REVIEW: Alice (Outfit Theatre Company)

July 11, 2012

If this is a kid’s show, consider me a big one! [by James Wenley] Outfit Theatre Company have turned their devising smarts on Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland story. I’ve never been to one of Outfit’s School Holiday shows, so was very curious to see how their upstart (and often dark) style would translate for children. As we enter TAPAC […]

REVIEW: Punk Rock (Outfit Theatre Company)

March 29, 2012

Teen angst on overdrive [by James Wenley] Pity the British teenager. There’s something about the British school system that has seen it spawn more than its fair share of films, television and plays eviscerating the subject. Alan Bennett’s thoughtful The History Boys, which Punk Rock has been compared to, took a fairly noble approach to student’s studying their final exam. […]