A double whammy of festive musical frolics for the festive season reached us with the launch of Thespie’s All I Want For Christmas Is Theatre and The Theatre Channel’s fourth episode Hopeful Holidays.
‘Delivers both smiles & retrospection’: WE NEED A LITTLE CHRISTMAS (Online review)
Directed by Michael Strassen and produced by Ginger Quiff Media and Guy Chapman, We Need a Little Christmas from St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden is a hearty bowl of punch you will not want to miss.
‘The perfect accompaniment’: OOPS! I STREAMED IT AGAIN (Online review)
Thespie has “done it again” with Oops! I Streamed It Again, a lively concert featuring some of the stars of West End musical on hiatus, & Juliet.
In a pause where the singe…
‘Charms with its songs & sense of showbusiness’: THE FABULIST FOX SISTER – Southwark Playhouse (Online review)
Luke Bateman and Michael Conley have written a piece in The Fabulist Fox Sister which may still have the odd rough edge, and which rushes through their subject’s string of misfortunes later in life, but which charms with its songs and sense of showbusiness.
‘Glorious, campy & traditional’: JACK & THE BEANSTALK – Online review
A glorious, campy and traditional pantomime conceived and co-directed by Peter Duncan, Jack & the Beanstalk steams into Everyman cinemas/online from 4 December 2020 and Showcase cinemas from 11 December.
‘You may want to sleep with the light on afterwards’: ETERNAL – Darkfield Radio (Online review)
Darkfield Radio is back with a new show, Eternal, this time for one person, in bed. It is just as creepy as the others, using a soundscape through headphones to give you the shivers.
‘Fizzes with energy’: THE HOUSE THAT JACKSON BUILT – Half Moon Theatre (Online review)
The Half Moon Theatre has been sharing a wide variety of shows for children during theatre lockdown, and in its latest, The House That Jackson Built written and performed by Justin Coe, they retain their high standards.
‘Has become more cinematic with each episode’: The Theatre Channel – Episode Three (Online review)
Filmed inside The Theatre Cafe and out and about, this latest episode of The Theatre Channel’s series of musical theatre showcases features songs from rock musicals.
‘Each minute counts’: SHAKEN – The Actors Centre (Online review)
Currently streaming via The Actors Centre, Shaken is a one-person production by writer/director/performer Mariana Lafón.
‘Seeing the piece from several angles is liberating’: UNFAMILIAR AT HOME – ArtsDepot (Online review)
Unfamiliar is a sensitive piece of work which explores a facet of queerness and masculinity we do not often see.
‘Pulled me in & out from what was unfolding on screen’: THE HUNGER ARTIST – CVIV Arts (Online review)
An “absurdist adaptation of Kafka” by CVIV Arts, The Hunger Artist opens with three people brightly lit on a stage with wooden flooring. A chalk board detailing “warder” and “day” suggests some form of prison.
‘A tour de force performance in a brilliant monologue’: THE POLTERGEIST – Southwark Playhouse (Online review)
A tour de force performance (mark Joseph Potter as one to watch) in a brilliant monologue on an empty stage, you will not want to miss Philip Ridley’s The Poltergeist.
‘There is love up here on the screen & it shows’: UTE LEMPER – RENDEZVOUS WITH MARLENE (Online review)
More of a dramatic piece than a concert, Ute Lemper (once described as “the new Marlene”) brings back the memory of the progressive woman, “Hollywood icon, chanteuse, soldier”, through song and speech. This is Ute Lemper – Rendezvous With Marlene.
‘A lot of thought is given to the online audience experience’: MISFITS – Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch (Online theatre)
When the writing is tight, fresh and more character driven, Misfits is very much worth a watch.
‘Brings actions into sharp relief’: RIGHT LEFT WITH HEELS – STIGMAcollective (Online review)
This 50-minute film of STIGMAcollective’s right left with heels, returning for a second year to the Voilà Europe Festival at The Cockpit, remains a piece of power and intellect on the screen.
‘The usual stereotypes are shaken’: TWO – Guildford Fringe (Online review)
Jim Cartwright’s Two is a snapshot of its time and its people, their abject poverty and aspiration to escape clearly underlined.
‘Provides hugely satisfactory chills to its captive audience’: STAY SAFE – New Perspectives (Online review)
In the spirit of continued inventiveness under these odd times, spooky drama Stay Safe from New Perspectives takes place entirely over WhatsApp.
‘Highlights the creativity displayed by female writers during this pandemic’: PRESS PLAY – Popelei Theatre
A season of new digital performances written and performed by a female-led creative team, Press Play offers bite-sized chances to escape from the worries of the current world situation.
‘A special piece of theatre’: FINDING PERCY EREBUS – Elephant Talk Theatre (Online review)
With a startingly original score by Sam MacDonald, clowning, puppetry, and different video and audio effects, a variety of settings and emotions are conjured up Finding Percy Erebus, a depiction of a child’s sense of loss and curiosity.
‘Just the thing to lift the spirits’: BUYER & CELLAR – Above The Stag Theatre
There’s a lot to unpick from camp comedy Buyer and Cellar set in Barbra Streisand’s basement mall (as described in the chunky book she wrote about designing her Malibu estate) which has just opened at Above the Stag.