Erin Markey is a darling of the New York performance art, comedy and cabaret scenes. With an established, devoted fan base, her work has been lauded by publications such as the New York Times and Time Out.
EGGS COLLECTIVE – #EdFringe
Eggs Collective are after the #bestnighteva with this joyful show modeled on the great British night out. Gold sequinned dresses, blue eyeshadow, and WKD by the bucketload are vital ingredients of this playful tribute to one of this country’s most venerated institutions.
LISTS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD – #EdFringe
Things that are good about Lists for the End of the World
1. It’s funny, sad and moving all at once
2. Though the concept is simple, it’s structurally dynamic
KLANGHAUS: 800 BREATHS – Southbank Centre
A dozen or so of us were led to the roof of the Royal Festival Hall where we were told to expect: ‘A multi-sensory encounter of shifting sound, colour and light, which reinvents the gig-going experience as a site-responsive close-up standing performance.’ Whatever that is.
DIRTY WORK (THE LATE SHIFT) – Battersea Arts Centre
The performers are framed by a false, red curtained, proscenium arch that forms, like the show itself a facade: a description of something without being either of itself or the thing it describes. An hour and fifteen minutes runs with Robin Arthur and Cathy Naden taking turns to speak.
DOUBLE DOUBLE ACT – Unicorn Theatre
What happens when two experimental performance artists join forces with a few kids to make a kids’ show? Utterly delightful, if messy, madness. 1990s Nickelodeon is a clear influence, as are fart jokes, poo, time bending and parallel universes.
VS. – The Yard Theatre
Vs is a short but energizing piece of dance theatre. It’s fun, but it would be even more fun if it didn’t come clothed in the relentless hype that Goode and his admirers have created around the show. You are entitled to believe that queer performance is the future of British theatre, but really you can only believe that this kind of devised live art is brilliant if you have no historical memory whatsoever.
FLIGHTS OF FANCY – Soho Theatre
Taking a cabaret-style approach lends itself to the wonderfully disparate stories – Korean Culture camp as a child, hanging out in Seattle’s cafes, a layover in Korea, and internet dating all feature along with other topics and tales.
FLIGHTS OF FANCY – Soho Theatre
Taking a cabaret-style approach lends itself to the wonderfully disparate stories – Korean Culture camp as a child, hanging out in Seattle’s cafes, a layover in Korea, and internet dating all feature along with other topics and tales.
Buzzcut Festival: Day Two highlights include Free Lunch & Stuntman
Part of the reason I wanted to come to Buzzcut is that I find it hard to write about live art. I don’t dislike it, far from it – I have a broad but uninformed appreciation of it. But my theatrical home is built from Shakespeare, text-based narratives and the great American playwrights.
Buzzcut Festival: Day One highlights include ApocoLIPS & Close Shave
The DIY/anarchist vibe is strong – a hand painted banner stretches across the front of the building and the ornate hall used as a the cafe/bar/community hub/place for announcements is similar – but it doesn’t look sloppy. There is care and thought in every corner, from the crèche to the info desk.
CELEBRATION, FLORIDA – Touring
Shows incorporating technology have become more and more common recently. This experimental show, Celebration, Florida, features two unrehearsed performers wearing headphones.
Narcissistic Nativity, Fucking Little Elf Bitch – Rosemary Branch Theatre
After 20 years running the Rosemary Branch, Cecilia Darker and Cleo Sylvestre moved on to pastures new in June this year. Unattended Items, a company with a focus on interactive theatre and design-led work, took over and have been busy programming work that has similar practices to their own.
THE PEOPLE SHOW 124: FALLOUT 124 – Toynbee Studios
Making devised work for the past 50 years, People Show are nothing less than prolific. Their multidisciplinary works are numbered as part of the title; the company’s works now number 132. To celebrate their anniversary, the company’s taken over Toynbee Studios for three days, filling the venue with performances, films and an exhibition celebrating their half a century of work.
Edinburgh Fringe: Two Man Show
RashDash are angry. Like, fucking furious level of angry. They’re fed up of patriarchal language and gender stereotypes that limit both men and women from expressing themselves honestly
Edinburgh Fringe: Lucy McCormick, Triple Threat
A cultural relic of its time, the bible is hardly pro-women. Lucy McCormick, here incarnated as one of those vapid pop stars who evangelically (and often inappropriately) rallies for the cause they’re currently backing, wants to turn the spotlight on the new testament’s women.
HARDY ANIMAL – Touring
What happens when a dancer and performance maker loses the ability to dance due to chronic pain? She makes a solo dance piece with hardly any dance in it. A mix of emotive description, encounters with medical and health practitioners, and her own research tell the story of an injury and the subsequent pain that wouldn’t leave her body. Pointedly still and so quiet that she needs a mic, Laura Dannequin’s resilience makes a compelling piece of solo storytelling that mourns the dances her body wouldn’t allow her to make.
CIRCUS DIARIES: Pinta/WireDo by Zero Gravity & WHS/Hanna Moisala
The Finnish double-bill of Pinta and WireDo began with the stronger of the two pieces, WireDo, from tightwire artist Hanna Moisala. Both shows are presented as part of SIRKUS – a showcase of Finnish circus work held at Jackson’s Lane in association with the Finnish Institute in London and Circus Info Finland, the country’s national body for promotion and development of the circus arts.
RAVE SPACE – Camden People’s Theatre
When I received an invitation to Camden People’s Theatre festival Sprint 2016 closing show, Will Dickie’s latest work Rave Space, I jumped at the opportunity to experience more of his work.
WONDERATIONS – The Canvas Cafe
Sunday evening was a night of new discoveries. The Canvas Café, just off Brick Lane, serves homemade cakes and prosecco by the glass. It also has walls you can write on and a cosy downstairs performance space. In that space was Ivy Davies and her show Wonderations, a gentle, joyful blend of spoken word, songs from her EP and questioning whether or not Mickey Mouse is actually God.
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