What were you doing on 9/11? And, if you were in London, on 7/7? I thought about this recently when watching Stuart Slade’s excellent new play BU21.
BU21 – Trafalgar Studios
Stuart Slade’s Black-Mirror-dark London-centric BU21 delivers six interconnected young Londoners’ reactions to a terrorist attack on the city from the burns victim to the white van man who got a book out of it.
Re-review: BU21 – Trafalgar Studios
I enjoyed Stuart Slade’s BU21 massively when it played the Theatre503 early last year but I hadn’t intended to revisit the show – sometimes the memory of it is plenty sufficient.
BU21 – Trafalgar Studios
How would you cope in the aftermath of a terrorist attack? That’s what Stuart Slade’s brutally honest play explores through the lives of six very different personalities.
14+ shows most likely to make critics’ #theatre2016 list of lists
I rounded up my personal choices in a recent blog and have enjoyed reading and publishing the scores of Year in Review blogs (nearly 30!) from My Theatre Mates colleagues in recent weeks. As an addendum, I’ve now rounded up critics’ round-ups in other publications.
BU21 – Trafalgar Studios
The premise of an airliner exploding over Fulham after being hit with a Russian man-portable infrared surface-to- air missile, or as intense Londoner, Graham, who was caught up in the aftermath puts it, ‘it looks you know, like a bazooka…’, in a terrorist attack is extremely compelling. Compelling, because it could happen.
BU21 – Trafalgar Studios
Much like the play’s own traumatised characters, Stuart Slade’s BU21 feels precarious, but ultimately achieves great depth through cathartic honesty. The intimate six-hander, now playing at Trafalgar Studios after a successful run at Theatre503, tells the story of six people who have been scarred by a terrorist attack on flight BU21 (a fictional attack that takes place in the very-near future).
BU21 – Trafalgar Studios
Stuart Slade’s BU21 has transferred to the West End’s intimate Trafalgar Studios. The ideal setting for a piece that showcases the spectrum of human emotion in the aftermath of a fatal terrorist attack.
9 shows to look out for in January: The Kite Runner, The Girls, The Glass Menagerie & more
Will it be a Happy New Year for your theatregoing? It’s crucial to get things off to a good start! Here is Love London Love Culture’s guide to some of the best shows opening in January 2017 that you might want to see… Click on links to BUY tickets in the Mates Ticket Shop.
Coming up in 2017: Upcoming reviews from Emma Clarendon
Welcome to 2017! Here’s a guide to some of the reviews to look out for (so far) from Emma (LoveLondonLoveCulture) Clarendon in the coming months.
Year in Review: Carole Woddis’ top 20 new plays of 2016 (with special praise for the Fringe)
Recalling the year past, which is de rigueur for those of us who have spent too many nights in darkened rooms, I’m struck again by the richness and talent of so many shows I’ve seen, particularly in the smaller and Off-West End and Fringe venues.
Year in Review: Ian Foster’s top 10 shows of 2016 (out of 332 seen)
I started the year intending to see fewer shows than in 2015, when I made 304 visits to the theatre – but, somehow, I seem have crept up to 332 for 2016. The only consolation is that it is still some way off the high water mark of 2014… 383.
The Year Ahead: 20 (non-West End) shows to look forward to in 2017
This list is looking a little further afield to shows I hope to get to throughout the year from Bolton to Manchester, Sheffield, Woking and several Off-West End and fringe venues.
NEWS: ‘Terrorist attack’ play BU21 transfers to Trafalgar Studios
After a sell-out, award-nominated run at Theatre503, Stuart Slade’s BU21, a play about “some sort of massively catastrophic end-of-the-world shit going down”, transfers to the West End’s Trafalgar Studios 2 for a limited season in the new year, running from 4 January to 18 February 2017, with a press night on 11 January.
Text of the Day: BU21
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
BU21 – Theatre 503
Powerful new play about a terror attack on London has strong passages, but is a bit too frantically humorous.
On not being a massive sado-masochistic pervert: Terrorism, tragedy and the modern stage
UPDATED 20 December 2016: BU21 transfers to the West End’s Trafalgar Studios 2 for a limited season from 4 January to 18 February 2017. Click here to book tickets. So you’re watching a play – Sophocles, Seneca, Shakespeare, Webster, Sarah Kane, whoever. You’re witnessing some hideously traumatic event – old guy having his eyes ripped out, kids dismembered by their mum, …