Both At Home With The Brontës and Wasted have their plus points and it is interesting to see how the same subject matter can be treated in radically different ways.
‘The less respect you have for the Brontes before you watch this, the more you’ll enjoy it’: WASTED – Southwark Playhouse (Online review)
Wasted is about the Bronte siblings from childhood to death, as they attempt to follow their artistic – and romantic – ambitions.
Debbie’s favourite female performances of 2018
Mind the Blog rounds up her favourite female performances in the theatre during 2018.
What’s Debbie looking forward to in October 2018?
It honestly doesn’t let up. At all. After an Edinburgh-focused August, and a ‘keep myself busy at all costs’ September (mostly to avoid the hell that is rush hour transport), October has rolled in, bursting at the seams because there is too much to do.
‘An explosion of feminist energy’: WASTED – Southwark Playhouse
Wasted at the Southwark Playhouse is an explosion of feminist energy, a dark and angsty account of the lives of the four most famous Brontë siblings.
‘A defiant & intelligent display of strong womanhood’: WASTED – Southwark Playhouse ★★★★
Any musical can only be as good as its underlying book and Wasted, based upon the lives of the four Brontë siblings (three girls and a boy) is written around a very strong core.
Mark Shenton views the latest week of news & openings in the West End, across the UK & in New York
News, reviews, controversies and commentary from the West End and Broadway, including the first West End job share and the re-opening of the Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle).
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Wasted at Southwark Playhouse
Adam Lenson directs Natasha Barnes in the new rock musical Wasted about the Brontës. Here, Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews…
‘Wonderful to see an experimental & new British musical’: WASTED – Southwark Playhouse ★★★
With a cast of just four, Wasted tells the story of the Brontë siblings and their journeys to success, and questions (to an extent) what makes a legacy and how fulfillment is achieved.
‘Real & definitive progress could be made’: Here’s to all the women’s stories we’ve yet to hear
Apparently, 2018 is the ‘Year of the Woman’, and it has definitely felt like the world of theatre has stepped up for the occasion.
What’s Debbie looking forward to in September 2018?
On the broader theatrical landscape, there are plenty of things opening this month! In London Eugenius! returns to The Other Palace, Milly Thomas’ Dust transfers to Trafalgar Studios 2, and Foxfinder opens at the Ambassadors.
Who emerged from this year’s Stomping Ground festival?
The individuals were given full rein, not only pitching, casting and directing, but in producing, marketing, fundraising and ultimately organising the festival itself.
WASTED – The Albany
Kapila directs Kate Tempest’s Wasted as part of the Stomping Ground Festival, a Young Director’s training programme set up by StoneCrabs Theatre Company. Charlotte (Chioma Anyanwu), Ted (Jack Boswell) and Danny (Ludovic Hughes) epitomise the latest generation of working professionals, a clash of worlds where each person feels trapped in their own situation.
The Lowdown: A musical theatre scratch night
Other forms of theatre have scratch nights, where companies can perform an excerpt from their work in progress, in return for audience feedback. Producer Hannah Elsy observed that there was no such thing for musical theatre, so she organised one at independent arts venue Rich Mix, featuring 20-minute snippets of four musicals currently in development.