Kieran Hurley explores free speech and the nature of online debate in Bubble.
‘What we see on the news about Palestine is not this story’: VISIT BETHLEHEM – Vault Festival
Visit Bethlehem is a short, sharp, site-specific show which imaginatively blends fun into a personal tale about the brutal reality of living under military occupation.
‘Heart-breaking, wonderfully crafted piece’: LÒNG MẸ – Vault Festival
As a child of an immigrant mother, the double-bill is Lòng Mẹ like a beloved jumper that’s scratchy but warm, you embrace the small pains because the comfort and love is so much stronger.
‘Sparky & compelling story’: MEAT – Theatre 503
Writer Gillian Greer confidently addresses nuances and problems around sex and consent in Meat at Theatre 503 and director Lucy Jane Atkinson ensures tensions consistently run high.
‘Particularly fiendish’: JEKYLL & HYDE – Vault Festival
This is certainly something different to the majority of the festival’s shows: rather than a traditional show, it is a scavenger hunt/immersive promenade show, put on by established company Fire Hazard Games.
‘Delivered with an unrelenting energy’: COLLAPSIBLE – Bush Theatre
Breffni Holahan delivers Margaret Perry’s script for Collapsible with an unrelenting energy that starts high and reaches stratospheric levels.
‘Fitting tribute to a comedy classic’: DAD’S ARMY RADIO SHOW – Touring
Dad’s Army Radio Show is every bit as quaint as Godfrey’s sister’s cucumber sandwiches and every bit as cosy and comfortable as one of Pike’s scarves.
‘Wonderfully funny & perceptive monologue’: GOBBY – Vault Festival
Jodie Irvine poignantly uses a great deal of humour to address the social awkwardness and loneliness of 21st-century living in Gobby.
‘A stunning & universal piece’: DROP DEAD GORGEOUS – Vault Festival
Through movement, moments of perfect clowning, and almost-unending feasting, the Drop Dead Gorgeous ensemble transpose the female experience and made it a tangible thing that you feel you could physically wrestle with.
‘An exceptional piece of new writing’: PUSH – Vault Festival
Push is a one-woman show centred on one woman’s story, and its sense of universality will be welcome to those who experience the pressure to have, or not have, children.
‘Slick, smart & penetrating’: VOiD – Vault Festival
If a piercing performance of the mind is something you are after, you will not be disappointed with VOiD at the Vault Festival, London.
‘An impressive range of issues delivered beautifully by the cast’: BODY TALK – Vault Festival
Full Disclosure has created an ensemble piece in Body Talk that weaves the characters’ lives together with the sensitivity and playfulness that these subjects require.
‘Exquisitely performed’: SOLD – Vault Festival & Touring
Amantha Edmead is a marvel to watch in Sold, a piece that embraces it all, packing this story of family separation, numerous masters & a quest for freedom into an hour.
‘An engaging & reflective story that’s well-played’: SCENES WITH GIRLS – Royal Court Theatre
Female friendship is such a fickle, flighty thing so difficult to get right, and Miriam Battye nails both its positives and negatives in Scenes With Girls.
‘Both difficult & comforting to watch’: FACES IN THE CROWD – Gate Theatre
Whilst the script for Faces In The Crowd demands unwavering focus and attention in order to not get lost, women’s individuality, voice and their suppression by patriarchal systems are profoundly resonant.
‘Oily Cart still put access at the heart of their work’: ALL WRAPPED UP – Touring
Oily Cart, the creators of All Wrapped Up, makes gently immersive, highly sensory performances for people under five years old, and people with complex needs.
‘Some genuinely disturbing moments’: FIX – Pleasance Theatre
Despite the issues, the script’s range of influences and forms, combined with great performances, result in a generally strong production of Fix at the Pleasance Theatre.
‘Energetic & engaging’: ONCE – Touring
The melancholic, Irish music performed by actor-musicians and the almost-love story set Once apart from the bold, brash showiness of musicals that stick more closely to traditional forms.
‘An excellent debut play brought flawlessly to life’: I WANNA BE YOURS – Bush Theatre
I Wanna Be Yours at the Bush Theatre speaks to younger and older people navigating an unjust world, and reminds the privileged among us of the constant learning we have to do.
‘A powerful comment on the flimsy whims of political allegiance’: UBU!: A SINGALONG SATIRE – Touring
With the stalls audience standing and the performers clamouring through the crowd and onto the stage, Kneehigh’s staging of Ubu! evokes a gig, a party and a political rally all in one.