Calling their collection Grimm Tales For Fragile Times And Broken People, Creation have woven together five of the Grimm brothers’ stories which have resonances with the current lockdown situation and the issues of confinement and mental health.
News, Reviews and Features
These are all of our in-house news and features as well as syndicated article excerpts from our 45+ theatre bloggers. You can also access All Our Mates' Posts in comprehensive list form and view individual author pages.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Typical at Soho Theatre On Demand
Having first performed in 2019 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to Soho Theatre for a sell-out run, Ryan Calais Cameron’s play Typical has now been released digitally for a limited time. We round up the reviews…
‘Creatively it is a show that is firing on all cylinders’: THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE – Southwark Playhouse (Online review)
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice brushes up well as a classy and confident new British musical.
‘Has a contemporary resonance’: MYTH (Online review)
Ancient Myth clashes with modern Myth in a powerful rock musical about fame and mental health.
’An innovative take on the now commonplace online concert’: THE SECRET SOCIETY OF LEADING LADIES – Barn Theatre (Online review)
The Secret Society of Leading Ladies is the brainchild of Ryan Carter and puts the viewer in control of a concert which sees five selected leading ladies brought together (digitally) under mysterious circumstances.
‘A different, special atmosphere’: Grimm Tales for Fragile Times & Broken People – Creation Theatre (Online review)
Fresh from winning an ONCOMM Award for their inventive reinvention of Wonderland in Alice – A Virtual Theme Park, Creation Theatre is continuing its exploration of the digital auditorium with their newest production Grimm Tales for Fragile Times and Broken People.
NEWS: The Old Vic announces 2 new commissions to mark International Women’s Day
The Old Vic has announced two new commissions for International Women’s Day to be screened as part of the Your Old Vic programme. These One Voice monologues are written by Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Regina Taylor and will be broadcast on YouTube from 8 March 2021.
‘Every element has been slickly put together’: Sherlock Holmes An Online Adventure – The Case of the Hung Parliament (Online review) ★★★★★
This new experience from the team behind Alice’s Adventures Underground, Sherlock Holmes An Online Adventure – The Case of the Hung Parliament really gets audience’s brains working in this clever and innovative production.
Seems to have hit the appropriate moment’: TROILUS & CRESSIDA – RSC (Online review)
The RSC’s stirring production of the not often seen Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida with canny casting and a thrilling percussive score.
Let’s avoid start-stop misery on the road to theatres’ recovery
On Monday Boris Johnson announced his (apparently irreversible) plans to take us out of lockdown forever. He even provided a detailed timetable of dates when each stage should be implemented.
NEWS: Jack Holden’s new one-man play Cruise has its world premiere online in April 2021
Aria Entertainment and Lambert Jackson Productions in association with Shoreditch Town Hall will present a filmed production of Cruise, a new one-man play with live music, written and performed by Jack Holden (War Horse, West End; Ink, Almeida Theatre), available to watch via Stream.Theatre from 15-25 April 2021.
‘Your chance to boogie in the stars’: HOTLINE – Tron Theatre (Online review)
A new audio experience from Tron Theatre and Produced Moon, Hotline is an interactive piece over the telephone, concerning a call to the Moon.
NEWS: The Almeida Theatre’s production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Hymn will be available on demand in March
The sold-out live-streamed world premiere production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Hymn, originally due to play to socially distanced audiences at the Almeida Theatre, will be available to rent on demand from 3-9 March 2021.
‘Demands not only attention but change in attitude’: SHAKEN – The Actors Centre (Online review) ★★★★
Thirty-minute piece Shaken from The Actors Centre effectively explores the aftermath of a disaster and whether lessons can be learnt to prevent it from happening again.
‘There’s a real joy in hearing the 100% live vocals’: WEST END MUSICAL DRIVE-IN – Stream.Theatre (Online review)
This capture of last summer’s West End Musical Drive In delivers much of the thrill of live performance, with Shan Ako and Layton Williams in particularly fine form.
‘Each performance is well worth seeing’: SECRET SOCIETY OF LEADING LADIES – Barn Theatre (Online review)
The Secret Society of Leading Ladies is the latest initiative from the Barn Theatre and it gives you, the viewer, the power to create your own concert.
NEWS: Shane Richie will star in a digital revival of Scaramouche Jones
Stage and screen actor Shane Richie (EastEnders; The Entertainer; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here) will take on the role of the titular tragic clown in the digital revival of Justin Butcher’s solo show, Scaramouche Jones.
NEWS: Theatres could open in May but distancing rules are likely to remain until June at the earliest
Theatres will reopen subject to social distancing rules in May 2021, the Government has announced, but with no likelihood of operating at full capacity before late June at the earliest.
‘The writing is nuanced & structured’: HYMN – Almeida Theatre (Online review)
In an empty Almeida Theatre, two heavyweight actors – Adrian Lester and Danny Sapani – bring serious male energy to Lolita Chakrabati’s new play Hymn.
Coming out of lockdown: Is it better to wait than to rush to open theatres & risk everything?
Setting a timetable requires Johnson to be a clairvoyant, predicting the future way of a virus that, to be honest, is only really getting started. Yes, vaccines are being done fast (I got my first dose on Saturday), but lifting the lid on Pandora’s box too quickly — by setting a timetable for reopening — won’t benefit anyone’s mental health, if it simply exacerbates the virus and leads to the necessity to shut down again.