THURSDAY 26 APRIL 2018 THISWEEKLONDON.COM
BRYONY COLE AND GRACE CARROLL: WET
Coming up at Theatre N16 is a new play about a pair of friends who decide to make a feminist porn film, which therefore broaches the topic of female sexuality and desire from a rather interesting angle.

I was keen to find out more about the show - what informed it, and what inspired it - so I spoke to its creators, Bryony Cole and Grace Carroll. Read the interview here.

'Wet' is on at Theatre N16 - now in N17 - from 29 Apr-3 May. Click on this link here to book your tickets.


FRIDAY 27 APRIL 2018 >>

We Can Time Travel | Shoreditch Town Hall | 24 Apr-5 May
"Since he was a boy, Dom has been receiving messages from the Traveller, a mysterious voice, at the edge of time. Join him for an experiment in Harmonic Time Theory to prove, once and for all, that time travel is real". Yes, regular readers may be able to guess that I basically got sucked in by the title because of my weakness for time travel, but, as always in these circumstances, I only stuck around after getting sucked in because this sounds completely super, and you know, it's by the award winning Dom Coyote. Read about it here.

Tribe | Jacksons Lane | 27-28 Apr
This is part of the Jacksons Lane festival of visual theatre and new writing known as Jacksons Five (see what they did there?), and it looks ever so good, promising lightning fast sequences combined with vivid use of sound and light. "Ru is desperately climbing the corporate ladder, blissfully unaware of where it will lead him.But when the spirits of his ancestors abduct him in a nightclub bathroom, Ru starts to see the world in a whole new way". Book your tickets here to find out what happens next.

Tumble Tuck | King's Head Theatre | 24 Apr-12 May (pictured)
Another event from King's Head Theatre's female focused Who Runs The World season, and a play that we first heard about when it had a successful and acclaimed run up the Edinburgh Festival last summer. It's about a young woman who loves to spend time in the pool, but doesn't want to be judged on how well she performs in it, and examines the self worth of women today and the emphasis we place on winning. See the venue website here.


SATURDAY 28 APRIL 2018 >>

Working Class Dinner Party | Camden People's Theatre | 28 Apr
Back over to Camden People's Theatre now for another tasty treat from the Common People festival line up. Part show, part discussion, 'Working Class Dinner Party' sees working class artists, thinkers and fakers explore what it means to grow up on a council estate and who creates the definitions of working class identity. Head this way for details.

Not Talking | Arcola Theatre | 25 Apr-2 Jun (pictured)
It's a play by an Olivier Award winning writer but it's never been seen before. Promising to be a gripping and lyrical drama, Mike Bartlett's first play, written in 2005, is about cultures of silence: "A relationship where it has become impossible to talk. A system that protects abuse of power. How do you speak out?" See the venue website here for info.

Gracie | Finborough Theatre | 29 Apr-15 May SMT
"Gracie was born into a polygamous religious community, and brought across the US border to Canada at the age of eight, when her mother became the eighteenth wife of an elder there. A lively and irrepressible child, her world is full of faith and family, but by the time she is fifteen, and at marriageable age, she feels increasing pressure to conform...but will she ever dare to take the leap and step into the outside world?" The European premiere of this play by veteran Canadian playwright Joan MacLeod, see this page here for more.


SUNDAY 29 APRIL 2018 >>

Horny Handed Tons Of Soil | New Diorama | 29-30 Apr (pictured)
Yes, you surely know that I was attracted to this show because of it's clever title, but, hurrah, that doesn't mean that the content will be any less than top class. It's been created by award winner Lizzie Nunnery and was inspired by the work of Mersey poet Adrian Henri, and mixes beat poetry with folk song, electronic composition with live brass and percussion, and documentary film with theatrical storytelling. Click here for more.

Bites and Scratches | Arcola Theatre | 29 Apr
Another night of new stuff from new talent and, gosh, yes, we like these. This one comes from Fine Mess, who present their sixth showcase since 2014, featuring work from five different playwrights. As you'll see from the blurb here, the group have developed work by a host of playwrights including the likes of Anna Jordan, Rob Hayes, Sarah Page, Camilla Whitehill, Afsaneh Gray, Isley Lynn, Duncan Gates, Oli Forsyth and Milly Thomas, so it's safe to say they've some experience in these matters... details here.

Screw | Theatre N16 | 29 Apr-3 May
"Holly and Sophie are frustrated. They're frustrated by their failing careers as filmmakers, frustrated about how absurdly expensive life is in London, and also frustrated by their sex lives. In an attempt to do something about it they decide to write a feminist porn film, wrestling with their own sexual neurosis along the way". A very intriguing sounding play looking at how women relate to porn and to their own sexuality, see this page here to book tickets.


MONDAY 30 APRIL 2018 >>

A Gym Thing | Pleasance Theatre | 30 Apr-13 May
"Driven by a daily quest for perfection, Will takes us on a fast paced, sweaty, physical exploration of how the gym has strengthened and weakened his relationships, his physique and ultimately his life. A complex love story from a gym addict's point of view, set within a 60 minute workout, tackling body image and bigorexia, leaving those who don't visit the gym with a greater understanding of 'why we do what we do'" This did well up in Edinburgh last summer, more information about it here.

Everything I am | King's Head Theatre | 30 Apr (pictured)
Part of the previously mentioned woman-focused Who Runs The World season at the King's Head Theatre, but only on for one night so don't miss it! It's an autobiographical piece from Natasha Brown, looking at the intersections of identity, celebrity worship and belonging, and offering a rallying cry against holding your tongue - something women have been forced to do for eons. Tash is taking her cue from someone who never fails to speak his mind - Kanye West - and will not be silenced. Book your tickets here.

Tomorrow At Noon | Jermyn Street Theatre | 24 Apr-15 May
You remember we told you a couple of weeks back about the run of Noel Coward short play cycle 'Tonight At 8.30' at Jermyn Street? Well, 'Tomorrow At Noon' is a collection of three new one act plays written specifically in response to those. 'Glimpse' by Jenny Ayres is inspired by Coward's 'Still Life' and is the story of a woman whose history holds too much for her to leave behind. Emma Harding's 'The Thing Itself' is a reaction to 'Shadow Play', and sees Vic and Simone facing a day when the sun fails to come up. 'Smite' by Morna Young is a response to 'The Astonished Heart' and is story of buried answers, blind hearts, and life after loss. More here.


TUESDAY 1 MAY 2018 >>

Grotty | The Bunker | 1-26 May
"Welcome to the desert. The London lesbian scene. A couple of little sad old basements that drip with sweat and piss. We sit, listening to second-hand pulsating noise coming from some gay boy night upstairs. And it's a Wednesday. And it's a night called the 'Clam Jam'. Can you imagine being straight and going to a night called the 'Cock and Hole'? The women in black. The best tables are marked theirs by a crowd of empty prosecco bottles. They sit there in their uniformed black, a deep rich black only lots of money can buy... and they are looking at you. They are not nice girls. But this is not a nice story". Click here.

Baby Box | King's Head Theatre | 1-6 May
This piece from Sleepless Theatre Company is another play on as part of the brilliant women-focused 'Who Runs The World' season at King's Head Theatre, and it sounds fascinating, as well as promising to be darkly funny. It focuses on a sibling relationship whilst also delving into the rather thorny topic of female reproductive health, specifically the utterly hideous and often life-changing endometriosis. When women's menstrual pain is just accepted, how is a young girl to know when she actually has a medical condition? And how might it affect her familial relationships? See this page here for more.

I Amdram | Camden People's Theatre | 1-3 May
Hannah Maxwell, star of this story-telling performance, comes from a family who've been taking part in amateur dramatic performances for four generations, and that's where the show's primary theme comes from. "Utilising queer theory, degree-level practice-based research and a showstopper of a smile, I, AmDram minds the gap between the identities we assert and the worlds we leave," runs the blurb. Piqued? Me too. Head this way.


WEDNESDAY 2 MAY 2018 >>

Kes | Jack Studio | 7-19 May
"Billy Casper is 15 years old. Bullied at school and unhappy at home, he doesn't fit in. But when Billy comes across a wild kestrel and realises he can train her, he discovers a new life above the small Northern mining town in which he lives. Together they learn to fly and Billy finds friendship and hope - until one snap decision and an unplaced bet change things forever". The staging of an adaptation by Robert Alan Evans from Barry Hines' well loved novel 'A Kestrel For A Knave', which you've no doubt come across in its incarnation as a film. I definitely want to take a look, so I bet you do too: see this page here.

Anuvab Pal - The Empire | Soho Theatre | 1-5 May (pictured)
One of India's top comedians Anuvab Pal with his interesting sounding angle on colonialism and empire: "The British came and gave him a colonial accent, British values, decorum, all that and left. He lives in contemporary India - a billion confident humans fed on social media, American consumerism and way past their colonial hangover. How does this man still under the influence - the British influence - survive in 'New India'? Nobody knows, the least of all him". For all the info, step right this way.

Worth A Flutter | The Hope Theatre | 1-19 May
This definitely sounds like it's got betting as a theme, what with that title, and the fact that, in the blurb, we're offered odds on each character, but I am not entirely sure exactly where to expect that theme to take us: but for that reason I am intrigued, and should definitely go to see it and find out. It certainly sounds like it's going to deal with some fairly heavy stuff - Broken marriages, loss, domestic violence and a dysfunctional member - but it also promises to be a comedy, however dark. Details here.


THURSDAY 3 MAY 2018 >>

Effigies Of Wickedness | The Gate Theatre | 3 May-9 Jun
"As the Nazis identified difference as something to be afraid of, the Weimar cabaret scene danced on with songs that celebrated it. With artists from Brecht and Weill to Schoenberg, this subversive underground scene was bursting at the seams with brilliant, visionary voices. No surprise then, that they were censored, exiled, and incarcerated shortly after as 'degenerates'. And their songs have been all but lost since. Until now". This collaboration from the Gate Theatre and English National Opera sounds incredible, and features some of our favourite performers. See this page here for more info.

Mental | Battersea Arts Centre | 3-5 May (pictured)
Our reviewer up at the old edfringe this summer absolutely loved this award winning show, co-written and performed by Kane Power, dealing with the subject of his mother Kim's bipolar disorder and the way it affects her and those around her. I think it's fair to say that this might not be the easiest thing to watch, but it has important things to say, and deals with a difficult subject in a dignified and respectful way. See the venue website here for details.

Stephen Bailey - Can't Think Straight | Soho Theatre | 3-5 May
Stephen Bailey is someone else we first ran into up at the Fringe one year (not literally "ran into", obviously, we're not deliberately violent here at TWHQ, but we did manage to see his show) and thereafter decided that he was one to watch. Given his general up-and-comingness and appearances on TV and radio, I think its safe to assume that others agree with us. So, head this way to book your tickets to see this "working-class, ginger, gay, northern comic" in action.
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