A surreal, existential tragi-comedy, On Bear Ridge is at times tense, laugh out loud funny and heart-wrenchingly sad.
‘So pitch black that you struggle to see where the laughs are’: VASSA – Almeida Theatre ★★★
Vassa, adapted from Maxim Gorky’s original by Mike Bartlett, is a pitch-black comedy rather than a farce, so pitch black that you struggle to see where the laughs are.
‘Comedy doesn’t always stick’: THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT – West End ★★★
Sean Foley’s adaptation of the 1950s Ealing comedy The Man In The White Suit stars Stephen Mangan as clever but hapless scientist Sidney and Kara Tointon as Daphne, a posh, mill owner’s daughter.
‘It swells your heart & breaks it’: A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG – Trafalgar Studios ★★★★
Peter Nichols’ 1967 comedy A Day In The Death of Joe Egg demonstrates both how far we’ve come in our treatment of and attitudes towards disability but equally how the moral dilemmas and struggles remain.
‘A slow build to an explosive picture’: MASTER HAROLD & THE BOYS – National Theatre ★★★★
Master Harold & The Boys is a play about lessons and devastating loss, about how you can’t dance around injustice and its impact.
‘Cruttenden’s performance is one of subtle conflict’: BLACK CHIFFON – Park Theatre ★★★★
Black Chiffon is an interesting play, slowly building enough psychological intrigue and drama to keep you hooked.
‘Heart-wrenching performances’: APPROPRIATE – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
Appropriate isn’t my favourite Branden Jacobs-Jenkins play but it has enough in it of what I love about his writing to enjoy.
‘Delving beneath the surface of labels & stereotypes’: THE DOCTOR – Almeida Theatre
The performances are superb in The Doctor at the Almeida Theatre, Juliet Stevenson is as formidable as her character and Ria Zmitrowicz’s dry one-liners are a refreshing light relief particularly as the persistent tension can become a bit numbing.
‘Tense & gripping’: ACTUALLY – West End ★★★★
Actually is a complex play that explores more than consent, it raises questions about attitudes towards sex and relationships, race, religion, upbringing and family.
‘A lesson in embracing the simple pleasures’: THE COLOURS – Soho Theatre ★★★★
Harriet Madeley’s The Colours is a verbatim play based on interviews with people with life-limiting illnesses and those working in palliative care.
‘The start of something really powerful’: TREE – Young Vic Theatre
There is much to applaud in Tree but it feels like a play that is more about the spectacle and experience than a substantial exploration of meaty issues which is fine to a point.
‘More satire, please’: THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE – Park Theatre
The Actor’s Nightmare is six short plays, linked by themes of acting, theatre and performance and brought together for the first time at the Park Theatre.
‘Expertly draws out the growing anticipation’: EQUUS – Trafalgar Studios ★★★★
Equus is an intriguing play, part psychological thriller, part mirror to the human condition and this is an almost thoroughbred production.
‘There isn’t time to get bored’: THE ILLUSIONISTS – West End ★★★★
The Illusionists are back in London for the summer season with their mix of illusion, thrilling feats, humour and family fun.
‘Fiercely intelligent & keenly observed’: Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner – Royal Court Theatre ★★★★★
London’s theatre scene is awash with productions which offer a ‘fresh’ take on classics but Jasmine Lee-Jones’ play Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner demonstrates exactly what really ‘fresh’ theatre is – and should be.
‘Gets off to a punchy start’: DARK SUBLIME – Trafalgar Studios ★★★
Dark Sublime is a long play and while it contains some really good material it would benefit from being trimmed back to make it slicker and more focused.
‘Touching moments & humour too’: SUMMER ROLLS – Park Theatre
Actress and writer Tuyen Do’s first full length play Summer Rolls brings a story about a British Vietnamese family to a UK stage for the first time.
‘The play has been so beautifully brought to life by a genius team’: Actor & writer Tuyen Do has her first play staged at the Park Theatre
Tuyen Do is no stranger to the London stage having appeared most recently in The Great Wave at the National Theatre and Pah-Na at the Royal Court, but next week she’ll be sitting in the audience watching her first full length play Summer Rolls performed at the Park Theatre.
‘An exposing & painful play’: STRANGE FRUIT – Bush Theatre
Strange Fruit is an exposing and painful play but it feels like it distracts itself from its otherwise powerful key theme.
‘The eccentric inventiveness is thoroughly entertaining’: THE FUTURE – Battersea Arts Centre
The eccentric inventiveness of what Little Bulb has done is thoroughly entertaining.
Little Bulb Theatre: The Future, Battersea Arts Centre 2019. Photo: Adam Trigg
I loved Little Bulb Theatre’s last production Orpheus so much I saw it twice, so I was really excited to see their new work The Future.
It projects us into the world of three scientists who, with the help of a compere/conductor/presenter (Clare Beresford), explore super intelligence – AI – and the impact it will have on humanity.
This being Little Bulb their take is executed with quirkiness, music and song.
The scientists wear tinfoil on their heads and have an idiosyncratic way of talking that manages to be nerdy, dry and humorous all at the same time. Shamira Turner is particularly brilliant in her style of delivery.
Living with super intelligence
AI is represented by a box on a stand – the genie contained – and the play (and it’s rock-inflected songs) explore the good and bad of living with super intelligence.
Scenarios and presentations are played out by the scientists in their own quirky style of fun and you find yourself laughing at them just as much as with.
Little Bulb Theatre: The Future, Battersea Arts Centre 2019. Photo: Adam Trigg
Sometimes points are embellished with songs which, hand on heart, I didn’t like much. It’s a personal thing, I find it hard to engage with narrative delivered in this way and musical theatre does have a tendency to make me cringe. Sorry.
It did temper my enjoyment, but there was a lot I did like, the eccentric inventiveness of what Little Bulb has done is thoroughly entertaining.
Artificial intelligence is a meaty topic and not one that is going to be properly explored and challenged in 60 minutes but The Future touches on some interesting aspects of the debate, creating a platform for further discussion.
Little Bulb Theatre: The Future, Battersea Arts Centre 2019. Photo: Adam Trigg
All the characters in the play are based on real scientists with some dramatic license and we are left with a selection of their written works,which inspired the piece, to peruse.
See The Future at Battersea Arts Centre until June 29th.
It’s 60 minutes without an interval and it gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for inventiveness and fun but ⭐️⭐️ for the songs.
You might also like to read:
My review of Little Bulb’s Orpheus
Fringe review: Woke, Battersea Arts Centre, a powerful look at American civil rights activism now and in the 70s.
From the archives: Remembering the travellator in the Young Vic’s production of Joseph K with Rory Kinnear.
And more about Little Bulb Theatre.
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