The biggest pleasure in Glenn Chandler and Charles Miller’s new musical, inspired by the hedonistic history of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, is the beautiful set and video projections.
Mates blogger: Shyama Perera
Shyama Perera is one of over 45 theatre bloggers who are part of the MyTheatreMates collective. This page features Shyama'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.
Shyama Perera is a novelist and broadcaster. She has been a judge on both the Olivier Awards panel and their Affiliate Awards panel. She ran the Monkey Matters Theatre Reviews website for six years and reviewed for local papers and BBC London before realising it’s much more fun being part of a lively team. She is delighted to be one of My Theatre Mates.
The latest from Shyama on MyTheatreMates
‘Rosemary Ashe & Richard Gibson lead a joyous cast’: CALL ME MADAM – Upstairs at the Gatehouse ★★★★
Rosemary Ashe’s high-energy singing and delivery drive the action in this playful revival of Irving Berlin’s 1950 Broadway comedy, directed by Mark Giesser.
‘Young love is under the microscope in James Lewis’ knotty two-hander’: LATELY – Lion & Unicorn Theatre
Callum and Alison are instantly drawn to each other when they meet at school. Or it could be university. We never know. We’re in Shithole-on-Sea and our sense of place is, fittingly, all at sea.
‘Well-oiled storytelling’: WHEN DARKNESS FALLS – Park Theatre
This play won’t give you sleepless nights. It does give you rich historical detail. I imagine anyone who enjoys ghost stories went rushing home to Google Guernsey’s dark history.
‘A tense & funny watch across 100 minutes’: A RAT, A RAT – Golden Goose Theatre ★★★★
Mental illness is no fun. The portents aren’t good in A Rat, A Rat, yet this lively short play by Chloe Yates finds humour and possibility in every exchange.
‘A masterly exercise in exploring the grey’: DRIP DRIP DRIP – Pleasance Theatre ★★★★★
At a time when headlines reduce the debate around racism to good or bad, black or white, Drip Drip Drip is a masterly exercise in exploring the grey… It’s theatre at its best.
‘Beth Burrows connects with the audience instantly & pulls them in’ – ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
From the wicked Queen who can’t let go of her stupidly innocent son, from the dumbstruck King to the spunky swamp Princess who swims the moat and swashbuckles her way into favour, this is a show for the young, and the young at heart.
‘You will leave thoughtful & smiling’: THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP – Soho Theatre ★★★★
It’s amazing how entertaining deportation can be. We laughed our way through the stories of crime and punishment collated in the glorious confection that is Hassan Abdulrazzak’s The Special Relationship.
‘Jimmy Porter is the Heathcliff of kitchen sink drama’: LOOK BACK IN ANGER – White Bear Theatre
Jimmy Porter is the Heathcliff of kitchen sink drama. Dark, sexy, harsh, demanding, cruel; his vicious turns of phrase delivered in poetic flourishes, excite and repel in equal measure.
‘Bristles with promise from the off’: NETFLIX & CHILL – Drayton Arms Theatre
Netflix & Chill bristles with promise from the off. Ben’s a working-class boy who’s been to university and is saving for a masters by working as a chef in the local pub. He’s gentle, he’s kind, and he’s making the best of a bad hand.
‘Strangely wonderful & wonderfully strange’: PEOPLE SHOW 137 – Southwark Playhouse ★★★★
Strangely wonderful and wonderfully strange. That’s the only way to sum up People Show 137. Basically, two old blokes, aided and abetted by some other old blokes, a chanteuse puppet, and the legs of three can-can dancers, are in a French café where the single croissant has been dusted, ready for sale.
‘A charming presentation of a Victorian classic’: A LITTLE PRINCESS – Drayton Arms Theatre
Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that the litmus test of a good Christmas show is not whether the grown-ups are enjoying the writing or the acting or the storyline, but how the children are responding.
‘There are scenes that will remain with you long after the performance is over’: THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS – Cervantes Theatre ★★★★
After a cinematic start with the characters caught in spotlights mid-activity, we tumble into The House of the Spirits with a series of brutal scenes – rape, bullying, exploitation, pain.
‘Men are men until they err & then it’s the victims who are blamed’: WHEN THE CROWS VISIT – Kiln Theatre
Anupama Chandrasekhar’s tense and searching new play When the Crows Visit is a theatrical response to the 2012 Delhi gang rape of a young woman on a bus. These men walk among us, protected by the very society they are undermining; how does that happen?
‘Looks at the big picture through the small detail’: THE GIRL WHO FELL – Trafalgar Studios ★★★★
Trafalgar Studios, London – until 23 November 2019 We can only judge the dead through the narratives of others. When those narratives contain a level of both culpability and finger-pointing, who are we to believe? And should it matter when the dead girl at the heart of their concerns is a 15-year-old who committed suicide by jumping from a road …
‘Exploring the dark corners where memory hides’: DISSOCIATED – Etcetera Theatre
There are some really interesting ideas in Dissociated, from the exploration of a woman’s psyche during continuous nights of conscious sleep to the fact that the traumas she unearths are punctuated with singing and dancing.
‘An exploration of the senses’: THE EYES OF THE NIGHT – Cervantes Theatre
It’s an intriguing premise. A successful middle-aged woman approaches a blind lottery ticket seller and offers him money to spend an hour in a hotel room with her. What does she want, and what is his expectation?
‘Had me pinned to my seat with anxiety’: AT LAST – Lion & Unicorn Theatre ★★★★
How deep are the internal divisions in British society post-Brexit, and is it possible that the anger erupting on the streets around Westminster every day could escalate to the point of civil war? That is the question underpinning James Lewis and Alexander Knott’s dystopian new play, At Last, which literally had me pinned to my seat with anxiety at times.
‘Two short plays exploring issues around women & the grief many experience when love goes wrong’: Ophelia Rewound & Muse – Camden People’s Theatre
It is interesting that Camden People’s Theatre is running two, unconnected, shorts each evening, both exploring issues around women and the grief many experience when love goes wrong.
‘Well-crafted & executed storytelling’: THE MOZART QUESTION – Upstairs at the Gatehouse ★★★★
Michael Morpurgo’s story, The Mozart Question, is essentially about the solace and joy great music gifts us. For Paola’s parents, however, beautiful music presages pain and shame and guilt.