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I think we first came across Theatre Re, a company who create work "on the edge of mime and theatre", at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival, where our impressed reviewer gave their show 'The Gambler' a highly glowing write up. Their latest offering, 'Blind Man's Song', heads to Jackson's Lane next week, staged as part of the London International Mime Festival.
The new show, which has been devised with help from blind and partially sighted people, sounds amazing. I talked to director Guillaume Pigé, to find out more about Theatre Re, and about what inspired this show. You can read the interview here.
Blind Man's Song is on at Jackson's Lane from 21-22 Jan, see this page here for more info.
JAMES HOGAN: IVY, JOAN AND OBERON
If you know anything about the world of drama publishing, you've probably heard of James Hogan, the founder of Oberon Books, known for its commitment to printing new works, as well as publishing the output of established names like Arnold Wesker and Peter Hall.
And, if you know about Oberon Books, then you may also know that James is himself a scribe, with a past career that's seen him work as a journalist as well as a playwright. A double bill of his two short plays, 'Ivy' and 'Joan', which deal with themes of love, loss, and futile hopes, is currently being staged at Jermyn Street. I sent over some questions, to find out more about the show. You can read the interview here.
'Ivy' & 'Joan' are on at Jermyn Street Theatre until 24 January, see the venue website for info and tickets.
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COMEDY/MAGIC: Jerry Sadowitz - Card Tricks & Bile | Leicester Square Theatre | 16-24 Jan Close-up magician and poison wit Jerry Sadowitz lays the bile on thick with this live combination of card-based slight-of-hand (displayed on a big screen) and his confrontational comic stylings. Details and tickets here. THEATRE: Bull | Young Vic | until 14 Feb (pictured) Written by Mike Bartlett, who recently served a West End hit in 'King Charles III', 'Bull' is billed as a knife-sharp play about the fine line separating politics and playground bullying, offering a ringside insight into three employees striving to keep their jobs. Details and tickets here. THEATRE: The Ruling Class | Trafalgar Studios | 16 Jan - 11 Apr In the hottest theatre ticket of 2015 so far, director Jamie Lloyd twins with Olivier-nominated leading man James McAvoy in this revival of Peter Barnes' 'The Ruling Class', which follows a potential paranoid schizophrenic who, when his father dies, finds himself at the centre of a web of lies, schemes as his family fight cold-bloodedly to save their reputation. Details and tickets here. |
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COMEDY: The Saturday Night Show w/ Phil Wang + LetLuce + Joe Wilkinson | The Invisible Dot | 17 Jan Joe Wilkinson, aka the bearded menace off of 'Eight Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown', stars alongside deadpan rising star Phil Wang and "lavishly surreal" sketch ensemble LetLuce at this particular 'Saturday Night Show', which is curated by the brilliant team at The Invisible Dot. Details and tickets here. MUSIC: Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards | Koko | 17 Jan (pictured) BBC 6 Music DJ and man of diverse sonic tastes Gilles Peterson hosts his tenth set of Worldwide Awards, which amidst all the prize-giving features live appearances by rising artistes Fatima, Dorian Concept, The Heliocentrics, Marshall Allen, Taylor McFerrin, Clap! Clap!, Lone and Adrian Younge. Details and tickets here. THEATRE: Upper Cut | Southwark Playhouse | until 7 Feb A provocative portrait of a politician's fight for diversity and black representation within a Thatcher-era government, 'Upper Cut' is written by safe-pair-of-hands Juliet Gilkes Romero, who was inspired by real-life events. Details and tickets here. |
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COMEDY: James Hamilton + Adam & Lydia - Jerks In Progress | Etcetera Theatre | 18 Jan (pictured)
James Hamilton of 5*-ThreeWeeks-rated sketch-a-teers Casual Violence dips a toe in the comic waters for this trial go of his latest solo show, and Adam & Lydia - a collaboration by the acclaimed Beta Males' most farcical man Adam Blampied and bona fide actress/comedian Lydia King; perform their own new work-in-progress set. Details and tickets here. COMEDY: The Mitford Sisters w/ Pappy's | The Phoenix | 18 Jan Fanciful skits from top-tier trio Pappy's add ambiance to this night fronted by The Mitford Sisters, a rival sketch team in its early days featuring the separately excellent Dominic Allen, Chris Stokes and Duncan Preston. Details and tickets here. THEATRE/MUSICAL: The Caucasian Chalk Circle | Unicorn Theatre | until 21 Mar Brecht's bloody moral play of 1948 is updated, translated, and given a bolt-on original songbook (and its own fight choreographer) in this, a new adaptation led by director Amy Leach. It's a vast societal story alive with blood and beheadings, crucial choices and risks, and contemplations on the world in which we live. Details and tickets here. |
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COMEDY: Josie Long - Cara Josephine | Soho Theatre | 19-31 Jan Comedian Josie Long meditates on relationships, ageing and "being outdoorsy as a bear" in this intimate yet non-corny insight into her own private heartbreak, which bowled over audiences (and the critics) at last year's Edinburgh Fringe. Details and tickets here. COMEDY: Lucy Beaumont - We Can Twerk It Out | Soho Theatre | 19-21 Jan It's all going on at the Soho theatre 'atm', as BBC Comedy Award-winning new face Lucy Beaumont (who Johnny Vegas says has "the timing of Les Dawson"), lifts the lid on this show of unusual, off-the-tracks gags straight from the North-East coast. Which is where she's from too. Details and tickets here. THEATRE: East Is East | Richmond Theatre | 19-24 Jan Jane Horrocks is the matriarch to a chip-shop-owning English-Pakistani family (and a half) in this Sam Yates-directed new framing of actor/playwright Ayub Khan Din's 'East Is East'. The play, which pre-dates its film parallel, visits the Richmond Theatre as part of a nationwide trip following its Trafalgar Transformed-backed premiere. Details and tickets here. |
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COMEDY: Mae Martin - Funtimes w/ James Acaster | Camden Comedy Club | 20 Jan (pictured) Canada's ultra-sprightly Mae Martin workshops her latest ideas, with experimental entertainment also provided by deadpan "long-con gags"-maker James Acaster, the excellent (albeit now expired) Three Englishmen's own Tom Hensby and sketch freaks Twins' Annie McGrath. Details and tickets here. THEATRE: Berenice | The Space | 20-25 Jan Racine's classic play about a love triangle torn apart by civil war is thrown forward into modernity, and remodelled as an essay on 'the media' vs celebrities' right to privacy. Details and tickets here. THEATRE: Diary Of A Nobody | King's Head Theatre | 20 Jan - 14 Feb Back for another crack at The King's Head Theatre is Rough Haired Pointer's popular adaptation of 'Diary Of A Nobody', a larger-than-life farce based on the "funniest book in the world" of the same name by Evelyn Waugh, which follows the pompous and hardworking Mr Charles Pooter. In Mary Franklin's production, a cast of four actors takes on 45 parts, from 'vulgar' Gowing, to Borset The Butterman, to Sarah, 'the worst maid in all of literature'. Details and tickets here. |
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COMEDY: Stand Up For A Chair | Bloomsbury Theatre | 21 Jan (pictured) Smiles-winning pairing Jessica Fostekew and Sara Pascoe lay on the likes of Alan Davis (and Katherine Ryan, Al Murray, Susan Calman, and a secret "MEGA STAR") in aid of a new wheelchair for Fostekew's teen sister Hatty Greenway, who has cerebral palsy and scoliosis. Details and tickets here. MUSIC: Hinds | Boston Arms | 21 Jan The new band name on all the cool kids' lips is Hinds, especially since this sparky all-girl Spanish squad had to change it from Deers. Because a hind is a female deer aged three and over, got it? Anyway, despite this minor tweak, Hinds will still be playing Deers' same style of wall-of-sound-sized indie-pop, which can be tried and tasted on the official Hinds Bandcamp page. Details and tickets here. THEATRE: Happy Birthday Without You | Tricycle Theatre | 21-24 Jan Actress/comedian Sonia Jalaly - who writes, speaks and looks like a real credible star in the making - here plays "'award-winning' live and visual spoken word solo artist Violet Fox". 'Happy Birthday Without You' finds Jalaly, in character as Fox, looking back on a lifetime of birthdays, and sharing the story of her complicated relationship with her mother through a series of birthday anecdotes, musical interludes and cake. Details and tickets here. |
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COMEDY: Joe Wilkinson & guests | Bloomsbury Theatre | 22-24 Jan (pictured)
Mopey oddment Joe Wilkinson, off of 'Him & Her' and other things, headlines three of those '& friends' kind of comedy nights, inviting pals in 'Impractical Jokers' star Paul McCaffery and 'Irishman Abroad' podcasting man Jarlath Regan along for what's sure to be an... um, 'wild' ride. Details and tickets here. DANCE: Plexus | Sadler's Wells | 22-23 Jan 'Plexus' is a "jewel of optical theatre" (says Le Monde) created by France's Olivier-nominated Aurélien Bory especially for classically-trained Japanese dancer Kaori Ito, in which the latter appears as if "entrapped by five thousand cords in a forest of brilliantly lit strings". The show is part of this year's silent yet deadline London International Mime Festival. Details and tickets here. THEATRE: Broke | Greenwich Theatre | 22-24 Jan Highly praised by TW London's Edinburgh Fringe-based sister site ThreeWeeks, verbatim theatre company The Paper Birds alight with their latest play 'Broke'. Like all their shows, it's based on real interview transcripts, in this case on the topic of dwindling British finances; spanning the realities of a cashless society, from displaced families, to living on beans on toast. Details and tickets here. |
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