Over the course of 30 scenes in 90 minutes decked with imagery and metaphors, Dipuka Guha’s intricate script for The Art of Gaman takes us through Tomomi’s journey through the decades.
Alison Carr’s Caterpillar, a finalist in the Theatre 503’s Playwriting Award, gets an excellent staging and will later tour to the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.
Set in my home turf Newham, it’s nice to see the area being portrayed with a bit of heart that doesn’t revolve around violent crime. Although, Shadow Kingdoms does centre around the act of criminal damage (to the officials anyway) – graffiti art to others.
With some extra material added to the end of Isaac Came Home From the Mountain, it would widen the lens to include the wider implications of these characters’ actions and add further weight to a promising story.
“You look like a fucking idiot.” There was so much love in this insult, that with all the crap this family have to deal with you knew they’d muddle through it together.
Be’er Cotton is powerful, heady stuff. The play is an adrenalin ride of fury, racism, broken family units, and video games packaged up with a soaring soundtrack.
Br’er Cotton is an exemplary play that both honours the memories of those murdered by the state without repercussions, and presents the issues at hand with a care that respects their complexity.
There’s this terrible balance between keeping the list short enough to hold attention but making sure great shows get shared. Hence why I’ve been defeated here, yet again, and we have a top twelve.
