REVIEW: Bump! at Tristan Bates Theatre

Ian and Eliana have a few things in common. They both dislike their jobs, live pretty solitary lives and talk a lot on the phone with their siblings. They are complete strangers to each other, but their lives eventually collide - quite literally - the day Eliana bumps into Ian's car. This fortuitous and unfortunate encounter leads to a successful date and the clingy Ian falls madly in love with the more aloof Eliana.

This is the simple storyline behind Andrew Hollingworth's fast-paced play Bump!, where the physical element and some essential speech are the main ingredients for a heartwarming and meaningful performance. 

In the role of Ian, Andrew Hollingworth is a clumsy geek who spends his free time playing computer games and texting Eliana. Oriana Charles is the eternal unsatisfied school teacher Eliana, who spends her free time painting her nails and dreaming of a more exciting life. Both characters require serious stamina and a level of coordination that is achieved brilliantly. The physical work is excellent and nurtures the strong comedic nature of the show.

REVIEW: Flood at Tristan Bates Theatre

Tom Hartwell is a very talented playwright and he's surrounded by equally talented cast and creatives. Fact. His latest play Flood is a well-seasoned mix of drama and comedy that shows the long-term life perspective of an alcohol-addict, using wit and irony. 

In a house basement, Adam (Jon Tozzi) is going through the last few boxes of his late mother's belongings. Her funeral is in a few hours and, with the help of his sister Jess (Emily Celine Thomson), he's clearing the room that, in Oscar Selfridge's simple but imaginative design, appears messy and severely flooded. Some photo albums, old school reports and a bottle of whisky that his mother used to drink in secret take Adam down memory lane and reveal the serious drinking problem that he inherited from the woman. Meanwhile the funeral is cancelled because of the severe rainfall that hit the small Somerset Village and both siblings get to spend some time with a few old friends. Amongst them are Jess' long-term boyfriend Michael (Nathan Coenen), Adam's ex-girlfriend Laura (Molly McGeachin) and Ben (Tom Hartwell), who appears completely transformed after having moved to London.

REVIEW: Tiddler & Other Terrific Tales at Leicester Square Theatre

In the heart of the mighty jungle a young monkey has lost his mother and needs a bit of human help to find her. Meanwhile, in the southern regions of the United States, a lady farmer is unhappy with her tiny house and seeks precious advice from the old wise man. Strolling around town in his old scruffy clothes, George The Giant longs for a makeover and some new friends. Whereas, deep under the sea, the young Tiddler is reluctant to attend fish school and makes up some wonderful stories to justify his lateness.

Born from the pens of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, Monkey Puzzle, A Squash and a Squeeze, The Smartest Giant in Town and Tiddler are four lovely stories presented by the same team behind Stick Man Live.

REVIEW: KlangHaus 800 Breaths at Southbank Centre

Climbing the backstairs of the Royal Festival Hall, I could feel a pungent smell of chlorine. Walking beside walls painted in white and turquoise, it felt like I was slowly immersing myself into an upside-down swimming pool.

At the top of the stairs, a man in a dark overall was waiting for my group, producing a low vibration with his throat and other sounds with his mouth. He stopped us and measured the heartbeat of one of my companions, before starting to count his own breaths with his hand . . . One. Two. Three. He told us that the we were about to share 800 breaths.

Following him to the top floor of the building, we entered a space where numerous pipes and ducting of the heating and ventilation system intertwine and form a labyrinth. Perching inside a small nook, a woman, also wearing a dark overall, was operating a console with luminous buttons. The deafening sound of the electronic percussions emphasised the flickering images projected all around. In a small space in the corner, another man wearing the same uniform was playing a bass.

REVIEW: Tiresia at Etcetera Theatre

Whoever is familiar with Ian Dixon Potter's plays, will recognise some connection between his previous work Boy Stroke Girl and his most recent Tiresia. In both cases there is a similar cliff-hanger plot where the truth unfolds slowly, without ever entirely revealing itself. Investigating the controversial opposition between how people relate with the external world with regards to their appearance and the adherence to social labels, Dixon never offers a conclusion that proves to be universally valid. Instead, he presents the matter from a variety of angles and allows the audience to form their own opinion whilst they witness elaborate but clearly exposed dialogues.

Tiresia opens with the young woman in the title role (Natasha Killam) hobbling towards a small table centre stage and soon joined by an older man named Harold (Albert Clack). They have known each other for quite a long time, but something in their friendship has recently changed. Harold is visibly astonished when he first sees Tiresia and she talks through the phases of a long rehabilitation, without ever mentioning what caused her injury. She's the protegee of a famous painter called Arthur, who has suddenly left the country without even saying goodbye to his closest friends and family. Tiresia and Arthur are closely related and snippets of their connection trickle from the various conversations throughout the play, like pieces of a jigsaw laid on a table one after the other.

REVIEW: Sh!t-faced Showtime: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at Leicester Square Theatre

The idea behind Sh!t-faced Showtime is simple: five classically trained musical theatre actors perform a production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with one of them – chosen in turns – who spent the hours preceding the show drinking and will inevitably appear on stage totally shit-faced. First launched by the Magnificent Bastards Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010, the original format Sh!t-faced Shakespeare has caused a mayhem around the world, allowing the creatives to expand their repertoire and explore the realm of musical theatre. 

When the lights of the Leicester Square theatre went down and the performance started, it didn't take me long to identify in Alan McHale the Guinea pig of this theatrical experiment. His wobbly attempt to follow the choreography as one of the Munchkins and the giggly mumble that replaced his lines as the Scarecrow became the main entertainment of an unpredictable Sunday evening at the theatre. 

REVIEW: House of America at Jack Studio Theatre

The long-standing myth of America as a promised land where all dreams come true is revived by Ed Thomas in his drama House of America. Set in the living room of the Lewis family, in the South Wales Valleys, it opens with a monologue where Mam (Lowri Lewis) introduces herself to the audience and expresses her concern for the slow and steady expansion of the open-cast mine that is threatening her house. Her husband left her many years ago to go to America with a new lover and she had to raise her three children on her own. Now young adults, the siblings are consumed by the lack of opportunities of their homeland and fervently dream of California and reuniting with their estranged father from whom they've never received any news. 

Mam has a big secret to keep, which is seriously affecting her nerves. Her daughter Gwenny (Evelyn Campbell) spends her days reading Jack Kerouac's On The Road and the poems of the Beat generation. Her two sons and former gravediggers Sid (Pete Grimwood) and Boyo (Robert Durbin) seek employment at the mine as a life-changing career advancement but, whereas the former is desperate to break-free from his current condition, the latter is more concerned about his mother's mental welfare. After borrowing Jack Kerouac's book from his sister, Sid initiates a dangerous role-play with Gwenny, which introduces some of the most dramatic undertones into Thomas' play and contributes to gradually transform it into a bloodied nightmare. 

REVIEW: I Know You of Old at The Hope Theatre

'You always end with a jade’s trick. I know you of old.' Shouts Beatrice (Sarah Lambie) at the end of yet another quick repartee with Benedick (David Fairs). In William Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, most of the action revolves around this unconventional couple, where they both take pride in publicly mocking each other but they're intentionally tricked into falling in love. Using only The Bard's original lines, David Fairs wrote a completely different play, where the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice preserves its chracteristic wit but receives a dark twist. 

Staged in modern times, I Know You of Old, is set in a chapel, where the audience is sat around Hero's coffin. She is dead, unable to cope with the public shaming received on her wedding day. After being wrongly accused of infidelity by her fiancee Claudio (Conor O'Kane) and rejected by her father Leonato, she fainted in front of the altar and – differently from what happens in Shakespeare's plot – she has never woken up. Highlighting the mysoginistic attitude of Shakespeare's male characters, this reformed play restores justice for the wretched Hero and openly condemns the people responsible for her misery. Thanks to a fortuitous revelation, Claudio gets a chance to set things straight, whereas Beatrice has the opportunity to reinstate the honourable memory of her deceased cousin and confirm her strong and independent character.

REVIEW: Held at Tristan Bates Theatre

Held is set in an all-male prison, where five inmates are shown in two intertwining episodes of drugs, sex and violence. In the first act, entitled Walking, newbie Jamie (Jack Brett Anderson) shares his cell with disillusioned jail veteran Sleat (Anthony Taylor). Initially, the two seem to get along well, and Sleat appears as the fatherly figure keen to take the younger boy under his wing, but things change suddenly and Jamie learns the hard way that nobody can be trusted in prison.

The second act, Dog City, reproposes Jamie's ordeal from a different perspective. Set in the prison's lavatories, it shows the consuming and self-destroying passion between baby-faced Finn (also played by Jack Brett Anderson) and his controlling lover Cal (Duran Fulton Brown). Between them stands the sleazy drug baron Ryde (also played by Anthony Taylor), who plays some ruthless power games to satisfy his perverted needs. 

The subject is strong and has the potential to set the table for a very interesting discussion, but Tina Jay's volatile script lacks the dramatic charge necessary to make it resonate. The tension built before the interval isn't satisfied in the second half, where the plot comes to a standstill and nothing eventful happens for several minutes. Learning from the programme that the playwright has worked as a teacher in a men's prison, one would expect to receive an informed insight on the precarious relationships between inmates. Instead, the scenes presented in Held are hardly credible and the writing loaded with stock phrases that feel more appropriate for a TV drama than a life-changing conviction. 'Will you save me Cal?' asks the vulnerable Finn, tormented by his burning love and the abstinence from drugs.

REVIEW: Tom Molineaux at Jack Studio Theatre

Born a slave in Virginia, Tom Molineaux earned his freedom with his successes as a bare-knuckle boxer. Unbeaten, he moved to England in 1810, eager to face Tom Cribb, the undisputed champion who had been forced to retire through lack of suitable opponents. But, when the two finally met in the ring, Molineaux had to fight two adversaries: the strong Cribb and the hostility of a country where boxing was considered a national sport.

Tom Green based his play on a real story and weaved the drama around the ill-fated friendship between Molineaux (Nathan Medina) and Irish prize-fight reporter Pierce Egan (Brendan O'Rourke). The plot is intense and touches serious topics like racial discrimination, depression and substance abuse but, ultimately, falls short of fulfilling its dramatic potential.

Kate Bannister's direction is unimaginative and intoxicated by an abundance of repetitive yet insignificant gestures. For example, the two actors keep taking off their shirts and putting them on again a minute later, without a real purpose. Despite the suspense that builds naturally during the matches, Tom Molineaux is lifeless and resembles more of a bedtime story than a fiery tale of blood, sweat and tears. Furthermore, the inserted projections with video interviews of current boxers affect the pace of the play and, as anyone unfamiliar with the sport, the lack of subtitles to identify the speakers and the poor audio quality left me quite confused.

REVIEW: Blush at Soho Theatre

On my way out from watching Blush at Soho Theatre I grabbed a copy of Timeout magazine for my journey home. Whilst flicking through the pages, I found a very well-timed column about a Welsh girl who, after receiving an unsolicited picture from a guy of his genitals, made him believe that she lived in Buckingham Palace and was inviting him over. The guy was publicly shamed for driving there from Croydon in the middle of the night and waiting in front of the gate, before being spotted by the guards.

Strongly linked to the same topic, Blush is a play about unnecessarily sexualised content on the net, web pornography, online diffusion of private pictures and the consequent cyber-shaming that has become a widespread issue. Written by Charlotte Josephine and performed by the author herself, together with Daniel Foxmith, this seventy-minute drama gives voice to five every-day characters which highlight distinct aspects of the problem. Taking turns centre stage on a red round carpet, the two actors are surrounded by lights and white screens - as if they were on the set of a photo shoot -- and impersonate three women and two boys, with the use of different accents and inflexions.

REVIEW: This Is Not Culturally Significant at The Bunker Theatre

Some people are born to be performers and Adam Scott-Rowley is one of them. His debut show, This is Not Culturally Significant, was playfully devised during his years of training at LAMDA and has been gradually developed into the current fifty-minute single act. After a showing at last year's Edinburgh fringe festival and unanimous critical acclaim at the 2017 Vaults festival, it has now transferred at the brand-new Bunker theatre.

Taking in-yer-face theatre quite literally, the young writer, performer and director behind This is Not Culturally Significant appears on stage, after a momentary black-out, entirely naked. Sat on a stool, with his legs spread in the air, he's playing with his genitals and faking an orgasm, whilst impersonating an American woman who works as a webcam porn-star. 

REVIEW: Dyl at The Old Red Lion Theatre

When James (Scott Arthur) moves to Aberdeen and starts living with his landlord Ryan (Laurie Jamieson), he finds himself in front of a man who ticks every box of the petulant flatmate cliché. James is a young rigger who has left his ex-girlfriend Steph (Rose Wardlaw) and his two-year old daughter Dyl in England, but struggles to cope with the distance. He's withdrawn, depressed and hunted by the ghosts of his past wrongdoings. Things seem to change when Ryan invites James to spend an evening with some mates – which is devised by director Clive Judd with the stereotypical imagery of strobe-lights, heavy drinking and friend-snogging episodes to regret the day after. Following this night out, James starts opening up to his live-in landlord and Ryan – also calling into play James' mother Wendy (Joyce Greenaway) – realises that he could do something to help his tenant.

REVIEW: Paper Hearts at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Combining feel-good vibes with a motivation-boosting plot and a cute finale, Paper Hearts is the musical love story of the year. 

Young bookshop attendant Atticus Smith (Adam Small) is an aspiring writer, with plenty of talent but particularly low self-esteem, and his skills are called into action when the business gets into trouble by the hand of his father Roger (Alasdair Baker). The difficult relationship between father and son is sweetened by the arrival in the shop of Roger's chosen manager Lilly Sprocket (Gabriella Margulies) and her romance with Atticus is intertwined with the plot of his manuscript Angel Star. The Cold War adventures of protagonists Yanna (Sinead Wall) and Isaac (Matthew Atkins) give breath to the main action and offer a metaphorical counterpart to Atticus and Lilly's misunderstandings.

REVIEW: Joan at Ovalhouse

In 1429, Joan of Arc was at the head of the French army that lifted the siege of the English and facilitated the return of the crown of France to its rightful owner Charles VII. Two years later, Joan was tried for claiming to have visions of the Archangel Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret, but escaped the stake, thanks to a last minute retraction. Only a few days later, though, she was again arrested for dressing in soldier's clothes and, considered a relapsed heretic, she was burned at the stake in the marketplace. Twenty-five years later, a posthumous retrial established her innocence and, almost 500 years after her death, she was declared a saint. 

Questioning the boundaries of gender roles and aesthetics, Joan of Arc remains in our social imaginary for her masculine appearance and fierce defiance of feminine duties, having taken her father to court to nullify her arranged marriage. How well her martyrdom fits into our modern society is made clear in Joan, a 75-minute show written and directed by Lucy J Skilbeck, and performed by the fiery Lucy Jane Parkinson. Joan can be hardly classified within a genre and offers a lineup of cheesy pop songs, dramatic monologues and moments of semi-improvised interaction with the audience. Better as a singer and stand-up comedian than as a dramatic actress, Parkinson's charismatic persona holds the piece together, despite its noticeable lack of structure. She is engaging, sparkling and a perfect modern alter-ego to the Maid of Orléans, to whom she gives new flesh and blood.

REVIEW: Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing at Leicester Square Theatre

If you still remember with a certain nostalgia the excitement you had as a kid when attending a pantomime and that sense of participation that gave you the thrills, then you shouldn't miss Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare. Treading the boards since 2010, this close-knit group of friends and professional Shakespearian actors is now at the Leicester Square Theatre for its very own take on Much Ado About Nothing. 

The concept is simple: all performers have rehearsed an abridged version of the play but one of characters – chosen in turns – has been drinking for four hours before the show and appears on stage, as they like to put it, completely sh*t-faced. Two audience members are given a bugle horn and a gong to stop the performance when they reckon the drunk actor is getting too sober and needs a top-up, whereas a third one is in charge of a large bucket (no explanation needed there). The outcome is quite unpredictable and the audience is free to hiss at the villain, make loud comments and cheer uproariously during this 90-minute pantomime for over-18s.

REVIEW: Macbeth at the Jack Studio Theatre

A ten-minute stroll from Honor Oak Park station, the Jack Studio Theatre is a hidden gem in the south of leafy Brockley. Tucked in at the back of the Brockley Jack Pub, the spacious 50-seat venue offers an excellent programme of new writing and classic plays at very affordable prices. Also, thanks to its welcoming staff and warm environment, it's a great place to mingle, where I felt at home from my first visit. 

For this production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, the AC Group and director Thomas Attwood offer a fresh and original combination of high technical values and strong acting that make the play feel engaging and genuinely heartfelt. The several roles are covered by a close-knit cast of eight, which appear entirely committed to the script. Attwood has overseen every detail of this two-hour long tragedy and, thanks to his thorough direction, every line takes shape through the voice and the smallest gestures of the performers. Relying heavily on non-verbal language, in his hands Macbeth acquires a creeping psychological resonance and even the presence of blood is not meant as a shock-factor and is limited to its essential role within the play.

REVIEW: Escape the Scaffold at Theatre503

With an opening scene that seems an open reference to Hideo Nakata's horror film Ringu, Escape the Scaffold confirms the thriving collaboration between playwright Titas Halder and director Hannah Price. Earlier this year, their work on Halder's debut play Run the Beast Down at the Finborough Theatre received four stars from The Independent, Time Out and the Stage, with all the critics agreeing on the talent of the playwright and Price's original direction, which included a live DJ set throughout the performance. Consolidating this prolific partnership, Escape the Scaffold demonstrates the ability of the award-winning director to regale life, sounds and colours to the nightmarish script on the relationship of three university best friends.

'We're not friends.' says Marcus (Charles Reston) to his former housemate Aaron (Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge), when they meet again five years later. 'We used to be friends. We were only friends because we were in the same place at the same time' he adds. Charles Reston is remarkable in the challenging role of Marcus, which is depicted as a judgemental young man who gradually becomes a sly and manipulative husband. His wife – and former housemate – Grace (Rosie Sheehy) is a weak and eternally undecided artist-wannabe, who shares many views on society and politics with the activist and troublemaker Aaron. Once again reunited in the house they used to share in their university years, the three characters bring depth to this two-hour long drama, where water is slowly filling the basement and darkness relentlessly creeping into their minds.

REVIEW: Chinglish at Park Theatre

Winner of The Stage's Fringe Venue of the Year 2015 and aptly described as 'a neighbourhood theatre with global ambition', Park Theatre was a lovely surprise. Its brand-new interiors and quirky layout on split floors have all the features of a professional theatre but the warm and welcoming vibe of a community venue. Open since 2013 and committed to a mix of new writing, classics and revivals, the venue has quickly gained a prestigious reputation, thanks to three West End transfers, two National Theatre transfers and three national tours of its productions. The main thing to keep in mind when booking tickets is that that the second-row benches of the circle (in the main auditorium) take the concept of 'perching' to a whole new level and you should avoid them if you don't feel comfortable with heights.

Written in English and Mandarin by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, Chinglish is a witty comedy on the obstacles of cross-cultural communication and the unpredictable consequences of translation faux-pas. Although some of its outcomes might appear quite simplified and relying on clichés, I sympathised entirely with the topic, which I experienced personally when I first arrived in the UK and I wasn't able to speak English.

REVIEW: Kicked in the Sh*tter at The Hope Theatre

Sitting on a bench, somewhere in a corner of town, two young siblings are 'laughing, dreaming and talking sh*t' about their bright plans for the future, like moving to another city and having a good job. The boy is only sixteen and his older sister is quite protective towards him. She is in love with a local guy and she can already see herself having a family with him. But, when the future hits and becomes present, things are completely different from what they had imagined. Unemployment leads quickly to desperation and the lack of opportunities nurtures a looming mental illness. The sister is now a single mother-of-two and her brother suffers from depression and panic attacks, which make him unfit for work. Government benefits are the only thing that keeps them afloat, but the social system is oblivious to their dramatic situation and fails to give the necessary support. In a crescendo of trips to the job centre and ignored cries for help, nothing is left – nothing worth living for.

Kicked in the Sh*tter follows last year's West End success of playwright Leon Fleming and director Scott Le Crass with Sid, and confirms the creatives' ability to depict the young generations with vivid and thought-provoking tones. On a note included in the programme, they both explain how this play contains many autobiographical elements, which they felt the need to share with the audience. 'This is not poverty porn,' writes Le Crass, who considers the derogatory comments on a person's socio-economic situation unacceptable and urges for a more open discussion about mental health.