REVIEW: Bin Juice at The Vaults

‘Bin Juice’ directed by Anastasia Bruce-Jones is playing in The Cavern at The Vaults until the 15th March. If you’ve never been to The Vaults, as a venue it’s known for being damp, hot and dark... a very fitting setting for this play that shies away from none of these things. 

A fast paced glimpse in to a surreal world of waste disposal to the extreme is navigated by three actresses: Adeline Waby, Madison Clare and Helena Antoniou, playing ‘bin ladies’. We meet them interviewing Belinda, (Antoniou), to become their apprentice and by the end we learn the true meaning to the cost of waste disposal. 

It’s a fairly standard start to the play, watching it you feel as if the actress’s are pushing both vocally and rhythmically- but it being the first night in a new space as the run settles in this will probably subside. That being said the back and forth between Antoniou and Waby, (as Francine), is berating throughout and doesn’t feel reactive or that they are listening to each other. Throughout the piece the pair are fairly unadventurous with their choices almost bulldozing through any attempt of comic pause or dramatic tension, and it’s hard to get on board with their characters as they just seem a bit too young to be playing them. The light relief in this, and throughout the whole piece, is the wonderfully measured and detailed performance both physically as well as emotionally of Madison Clare as the slightly dim but endearing Marla. The jewel of the show is a back and forth driven by Clare about faces on food packaging- a wonderfully witty and nuanced delivery. The only time we ever hit any empathy for a character is nudged at during a speech about Marla’s fear of flies and finding her mother dead, but there just doesn’t seem enough air given to it, maybe a choice deliberately made but doesn’t pay off. 

REVIEW: Fight Night at the Vault Festival

Deep under Waterloo, in Unit 9 of the Vaults, Exit Production’s Fight Night transpires the night of a multi-million-pound live boxing match. Following an atmospheric walk within the graffiti-covered tunnels to location, the audience is split into two teams and taken to the arena to meet the fighters, Joe Williams (Pete Grimwood) and Ian ‘Bam Bam’ Bradshaw (Edward Linard). We experience full control over the fighters’ decisions in the tense build up to the fight and support them during medicals, warm ups, interviews and even inside the ring.

Overall, it is a well-structured performance, with an energetic opening from Brendan O’Rourke and referee Simon Pothecary. The sound quality of the microphones often made it difficult to hear commentary, but nonetheless the event was off to an exhilarating start. Unfortunately, this was not sustained in the thirty-minute section before the fight and did not meet expectation as it was unclear where I was meant to be or who I was supposed to speak to. The audience is responsible for seeking information to be knowledgeable enough to place bets on the fighters, however, more encouragement was required to be drawn into the scripted scenes. Several people peeled off to join the glitz and glamour or become judges for the fight, which left only a few remaining to participate in incredibly gripping moments in the show.

REVIEW: Open at the Vaults Festival

Hidden away down a graffiti filled tunnel minutes away from Waterloo station lies The Vaults, a cracking space for fringe theatre events and fresh pieces of artistry and performance. Within this year’s line-up is Full Disclosure Theatres latest project: Open, a two hander show written and performed by a real-life couple, exploring the tale of two husbands, one hundred lovers and modern day romance. 

I attended their opening night of the production on Wednesday 23rd January, which just so happened to be the debut day of the festival itself, now entering its seventh successful year in Waterloo. Naturally there was an infectious buzz throughout the venue, and everyone was ready to delve into the lives of Christopher Adams and Timothy Allsop. 

Being a gay man myself, I was very intrigued to learn more about a first-hand experience being in a modern day open gay relationship; something that I have personally never come into contact with. And through a mix of verbatim, storytelling and real-life comedy drama, that is exactly what we received. The play began at the couple’s first meeting and continued chronologically throughout their relationship to the current day. They explained when and why they first agreed to go “open”, and invited us into an exploration of their love, jealousy and desire for one another, and the 130+ other men they have encountered along the way. 

REVIEW: Becoming Shades at the Vaults Festival

This was my first ever visit to the Vaults Festival, a programme of theatre and comedy in the tunnels under Waterloo Station which first started in 2011. As you enter the central tunnel you feel the slightly seedy, off beat vibe and youthful energy with resonances of the Edinburgh Fringe which promises something different.

Becoming Shades from Chivaree circus returns in an extended form as one of a small number of shows that run throughout the Festival and is presented in one of the larger spaces holding an audience of around 150. It promises big circus spectacle ,intimate immersive theatre and haunting music in a story of female empowerment from a whole female cast. It is an over ambitious promise and the evolution of the show into a longer form with over extended break in the middle does not fully deliver . It does offer impressive exciting aerialist circus and haunting music presented in a promenade format with audiences shepherded to create spaces for the cast to perform their acts but its storytelling is lost and the immersive experience is muted. The Director Laurane Marchive says in her programme notes that they did not want to give audience members clear answers but we do need more clues than a wordless performance can't deliver. A simple scene list in the programme or projected on a wall would have helped immensely to offer understanding of the link between the elements. Only in the hours following did I piece together any meaning.