REVIEW: Last Night, by Benin City, as part of 'The. Last Word Festival' at the Roundhouse

I’m dubious going in to The Roundhouse’s Sackler Space. There are no seats and the dread that fills me when I think about 4th wall breaking, cringe worthy audience participation takes root in my stomach. The room was alive with chat and people seeing friends they knew and having a drink and then it occurred to me; I’m actually at a gig, well… sort of. 

Benin City are made up of drums, brass and three vocalists, Josh, Shanaz and Tom. They embody the spirit of club culture, they are young, they like to party and they have something to say. 

London is changing and it's had a big impact on the night life of The city: over the past five years the number of nightclubs in London has halved and Benin City's 'Last Night' centres around this very issue. 

REVIEW: Next Thing You Know at the Etcetera Theatre

I love new musical theatre and this week the Starbuck Theatre Company brings to the Etcetera Theatre ‘Next Thing You Know’ a musical by Drama Desk Award Nominees Salzman and Cunningham. I was excited to see this musical: ‘I Love You Because’ Salzman and Cunningham’s first show, is one of my favourite little gems so I was expecting great things. 

This four hander and a piano sat cosily in the Etcetera's intimate theatre in boho Camden, however, I couldn't help wondering if this would be drowned by space if it was to run in a larger theatre; thus it was a good setting for the performance I was about to watch. The book is the first weak point of this performance; with under developed characters and songs that felt as if they were picked from the discard pile of ‘I Love You Because’,; it really doesn't give the performers a good foundation to build characters the audience can empathise with.