Nineveh

Rating [rating=2] Reviewed by Tony Peters   During 2011, Theatre Témoin artistic director Ailin Conant travelled extensively in Israel, Kashmir, Lebanon and Rwanda speaking to ex-soldiers about the trauma of war and the difficulty of returning to civilian life while carrying the emotional burden of what they’d witnessed and acts they themselves had perpetrated. Julia […]

Between Ten and Six

Rating [rating=3] Reviewed by Michaela Clement Hayes     A flat in North London. A ticking clock. Pea stew. Snap. Death. Socially awkward Charlie (Chris Mayo who also wrote the play) has finally found somewhere to live and at first look it seems ideal, but is his live-in landlord Ed (Owen Llewelyn) really what he […]

Beautiful Thing

Wilma’s Rating [rating=5] The stars were out in full force at last nights press night for Beautiful Thing at the Arts Theatre. Paparazzi lined the entrance way to the theatre to catch a snap of people like Kimberley Walsh, Gok Wan, Gabby Roslin, Melanie Sykes as well as some of the original cast members of […]

The Life of Stuff

Wilma’s Rating [rating=3]   The Life Of Stuff is a dirty, gritty play that is not for the faint hearted. Performed at Theatre 503 (above the Latchmere pub in Clapham Juction) this intense piece of theatre is heightened by the smallest stage I have ever seen. It can’t have been more than 2×2 metres and […]

Love vs Hate

Rating [rating=3] Reviewed by Frances Revel   Misery loves company. I’d never fully understood that phrase, but after my Monday night at the Tristan Bates theatre watching Love vs Hate I get exactly what it means. The concept was fun, and interesting. Two plays. One about love (by men) and one about hate (by women). […]

Once

Wilmas Rating [rating=4] Ever since I saw the film Once, I have been trying to give the DVD away to anyone and everyone who visits my house. So far, no luck and it is still cluttering up my home (somewhere). Obviously I wasn’t a fan and so I was not convinced that Once the musical […]

Princess Mononoke

Rating [rating=4] Reviewed by Holly Raeburn   Most films are a hard task to translate to the stage and Princess Mononoke is certainly ambitious. A two and a half hour Japanese animation by studio Ghibli, Hayo Miyazaki’s story of myths, forest spirits, battles and gods addresses the fundamental point of man versus nature and the […]

Streets: A New Kind of Musical

Rating [rating=4] Reviewed by Tony Peters   It’s something of a bold claim calling your play “a new kind of musical”. But while the idea of a disenfranchised youth fighting against a system that has all but given up on them is not totally new, this is a powerful, sometimes brutal and often moving work. […]

Billie Holiday Story

Rating [rating=4] Reviewed by Michaela Clement Hayes   Cast your minds back to April 1915, the year that Billie Holiday was born. Life was very different for everyone then, especially a girl who seemed to find trouble wherever she looked. My dad used to listen to Billie Holiday when I was younger, but I didn’t […]

The Thrill of Love

Wilma’s Rating [rating=3]   It’s not so much the thrill of love as the title suggests, but the sad desperation of love. A story of a beautiful (Marylin Monroe esk) woman, Ruth Ellis, who willingly serves as a punchbag to her cheating boyfriend until eventually she has enough and shoots him dead. The show tells […]