The pine tree design by Camilla Clarke provides a subtle serenity, juxtaposing the trauma of war in Bad Roads – a series of sparsely connected stories by Natal’ya Vorozhbit around her home country of Ukraine.
Mates blogger: Daniel Perks
Daniel Perks is one of over 45 theatre bloggers who are part of the MyTheatreMates collective. This page features Daniel's posts on MyTheatreMates. Take a look at our full list of theatre bloggers and our aggregated feed of all our Mates' posts. We’re always looking for new theatre bloggers. Could that be you? Learn about how to join us.
"Corporate by day, culture by night" is the strapline for Daniel Perks’ website, where he’s been blogging for several years independently, covering "opera, ballet, contemporary dance, interactive theatre, musical, Shakespeare and everything in between’. Daniel contributes on a freelance basis to several publications including The Reviews Hub, Exeunt, A Younger Theatre and Theatre & Performance, and he is an assessor for the Off-West End.com Awards (‘The Offies’). Daniel tweets @dperks13.
The latest from Daniel on MyTheatreMates
SEX WORKER’S OPERA – Touring
This cabaret-style show has energy, passion and emotion in spades. It’s not a slick production; it doesn’t shine with bells and whistles, or a complex, sharply written narrative with intertwining, overarching themes and artistic devices.
WE ARE THE LIONS, MR MANAGER – Touring
Neil Gore’s retelling of this story is one equally full of passion and guts; one which honours and pays homage to a poignant moment in socialist history.
THREE MOTHERS – Waterloo East Theatre
Three Mothers, each with three stories; three relationships with their children; three reflections on their sense of belonging, of home – more specifically, on migration.
INSIGNIFICANCE – Arcola Theatre
Terry Johnson’s Insignificance didn’t happen, but it could have done, such is his attention to detail and understanding of the characters’ intrinsic behavioural patterns.
TRYST – Tabard Theatre
Tryst: A private, romantic rendezvous between two lovers, conducted with no one else’s knowledge. Perhaps they wouldn’t approve, perhaps they would recognise the affair for what it is – a predatory act from a man to con a woman out of her worldly possessions.
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… Hamza Mohsin & The Ends
Written and directed by Hamza Mohsin, The Ends features a cast and crew of emerging, culturally diverse artists from a working class background, the majority of whom have been plucked from workshops at the famous Anna Scher Theatre School.
ALL THE LITTLE LIGHTS – Arcola Theatre
All The Little Lights is intrinsically sinister, more so when considering the age of the characters involved. These girls are embroiled in a menacing world of prostitution and gang violence, a world that has taken its toll on the older in the bunch.
31 HOURS – Bunker Theatre
Kieran Knowles’ insightful show focusses not on those who moan about the loss of life, but on those whose job it is to clean it up, remove all trace and get the railways up and running again.
BIG FOOT – Touring
Joseph Barnes Phillips launches into a monologue with gusto, transitioning between numerous characters in a portrayal of love and loss on a personal level.
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE – Touring
Nick Lane’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Gothic tale is well suited to the stage – The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde is expanded to provide more substantial ancillary characters.
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE – Touring
Nick Lane’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Gothic tale is well suited to the stage – The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde is expanded to provide more substantial ancillary characters.
THE TOXIC AVENGER – Arts Theatre
The Toxic Avenger is certainly a stylised, kitsch, cult musical – takis’ set and costumes paint a vivid picture of a luminously dystopian New Jersey (or is it reality?), overrun with toxic waste that the Mayor (Natalie Hope) is dumping about town in order to make a quick buck.
B – Royal Court Theatre
It pauses awkwardly yet intentionally, peppered with sharp, monosyllabic grunts and statements of the obvious. The feeling is fresh and new, exactly the reputation that the Royal Court has gleaned for itself.
Ghost-hunting with the West End cast of The Woman in Black
“When you get big school groups in, mass hysteria breaks out – they set each other off. It becomes a kind of white noise all the way through the show.”
LE GRAND MORT – Trafalgar Studios
It’s a show about the delicious intimacy that exists on the cusp of life and death, those dying moments when one is at their most vulnerable.
FEVER PITCH – Union Chapel
Scott Stroman’s composition feels heavily influenced by Bernstein, particularly West Side Story. Indeed, Fever Pitch has a number of themes that coincide with the lovers Romeo & Juliet.
THE REVLON GIRL – Park Theatre
The Revlon Girl opens with an evocative soundscape in pitch black, the audience experiencing an impending sense of doom as the slurry of colliery waste slides down the hill and buries part of the town of Aberfan.
The dark side of #Edfringe: Loneliness, lack of sleep & depression
It has been three weeks since I left the bubble that is Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017 to return to the much larger bubble that is London. And ironically, the manic, fast-paced lifestyle of living in the capital is a relaxing break from the utter madness that was Edinburgh for the month of August.
The dark side of #Edfringe: Loneliness, lack of sleep & depression
It has been three weeks since I left the bubble that is Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017 to return to the much larger bubble that is London. And ironically, the manic, fast-paced lifestyle of living in the capital is a relaxing break from the utter madness that was Edinburgh for the month of August.