We are in Cornwall, forty years ago, on the 19 December 1981. A lifeboat in Penlee Station answers a distress call, but never returned, with the loss of sixteen lives.
‘Focuses on the battle in the trenches & between the classes’: INTO BATTLE (Online review)
The scene is set at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1910. A group of exceptional young men finish their education as the shadow of war slowly approaches.
‘The tension builds because we cannot see anything’: Some of Us Exist in the Future (Online review)
One of the three Papatango New Writing prize-winning audio plays now available to listen to at a theatre near you, Nkenna Akunna’s Some of Us Exist in the Future is an ambitious piece which centres on queer immigrant Chiamaka.
‘A lot of potential’: GOING THE DISTANCE — Lawrence Batley Theatre (Online)
Theatres were in trouble over the whole of 2020, and many are still waiting for audiences to return to their pre-pandemic levels.
‘The musical we perhaps all need’: COME FROM AWAY – Apple TV+ (Online review)
On 11 September 2021, it will mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. To commemorate the anniversary, Apple TV+ has filmed a performance of the Broadway production of Come From Away, released to subscribers on 10 September.
‘Just don’t expect your journey to be a comfortable one’: THE CONTAINER – Young Vic / Digital Theatre (Online review)
Site specific theatre hasn’t been easy over the last eighteen months – in fact you can take out the first two words of that statement. It’s been tricky enough getting regular venues open, let alone some of the more esoteric settings which were used before you know what kicked off. A production that it would probably be almost impossible to revive now is Clare Bayley’s The Container which happened at the Young Vic in 2009. Set in an actual shipping container near to the theatre it allowed for just 28 audience members each time crammed onto uncomfortable benches around the perimeter with a narrow central strip for the 6 performers to use. 34 bodies in close proximity packed into a metal box with no sense of social distancing and not a mask to be seen; even Covid deniers might baulk.
‘A completely successful piece of digital theatre’: WALDEN – Cinemas Nationwide (Online review)
Twin sisterhood, space, and the uncertain near future are at play in Amy Berryman’s debut play, Walden, which recently enjoyed a run on stage as part of the Re:Emerge season at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Now, it resurfaces in a filmed version to be released in cinemas on Wednesday.
‘Stylish, visceral & very contemporary’: SALOMÉ – Southwark Playhouse (Online review)
Currently running in stage in the Little at Southwark Playhouse, Lazarus Theatre’s version of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé proves to be a daring, electric, and exhausting feat of theatre.
‘Unapologetically both theatrical drama & a tense piece of work adapted for the screen’: THE SYSTEM (Online review)
Paul is dead, killed at his own party. Everyone is a suspect, and most of them had a motive. Written and performed by Emily Head, directed by Guy Unsworth, The System is filmed live in one take. We meet each suspect to see how they react under interrogation, and see if the mystery can be solved.
‘Definitely picks up the spirit of the era’: WARHOL: BULLET KARMA – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review)
Garry Roost’s play Warhol: Bullet Karma focuses on the events around his shooting by Valerie Solanas (this ground was covered from a more feminist perspective in Femme Fatale).
‘Takes care to balance the comical & tragical with flair’: LOST IN LOVE – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review)
Lost in Love is a new play presented by Flow Stage Productions. A brash and funny lady, Emily (Rachel Pryde) has something to tell about her life and the men in it.
‘A good balance of humour & compassion’: TILL LOVE DO US PART – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review) ★★★★
Till Love Do Us Part isn’t one of the flashiest productions on the digital fringe in terms of its technical style, but the writing carries it through.
‘Inventive & funny’: PLANET OF THE GRAPES – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review)
Over on the ZOOTV platform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, you’ll find Planet of the Grapes, a delicious livestream performed live in New York City. I’m told that on Sunday the city was being battered by a hurricane, but it didn’t seem to cast a shadow on the show.
‘Intrigues from the first frame’: EAST BELFAST BOY – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review) ★★★★
East Belfast Boy intrigues from the first frame, and lends itself perfectly to the new format, redefining the boundaries between disparate art forms.
‘Shrewd, sensitive & sad’: CALL ME ELIZABETH – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review) ★★★★
In Call Me Elizabeth Kayla Boye takes on the difficult task of writing about, and portraying the icon which was Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011). Just like Marilyn Monroe, you feel you already know everything about her; the marriages, the child star turned child woman in the Hollywood machine, her constant health battles, the diamonds, her activism.
‘Emotional & fearless’: THE TARANTULA – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review) ★★★★
Written and performed by Patricia Légaré Eddisford, The Tarantula is just under an hour of monologue, a story that transcends its one-room location.
‘Rarely falters’: MEET CUTE – Camden Fringe ★★★★
Quackpot Productions has brought fresh and quirky show Meet Cute to the Camden Fringe, in which Tim and Gill’s budding romance goes anything but smoothly.
‘Clever piece of digital theatre’: Captain Condom & the Covid-19 Conundrum – Camden Fringe (Online review)
Captain Condom & the Covid-19 Conundrum masks a very serious message about sexual awareness and education in a funny show utilising the superhero theme.
‘Full of emotional twists & turns’: PUSH – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review) ★★★★
Now streaming at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the Pleasance Online platform, Popelei presents PUSH, a filmed theatre piece about a woman and a pregnancy test. The language is weird, static, and poetic, the mood is comic, the pace fast and frenetic, the performance manic and moving.
‘Really explores what is possible in the online medium’: ITHACA – Edinburgh Fringe (Online review) ★★★★★
Currently streaming on the Fringe Player platform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Ithaca is a one-person stage to screen version of The Odyssey.