Twenty-five years after its premiere, Blue/Orange still feels disturbingly relevant. A timely reminder that the NHS’s struggles with race, class, and mental health are far from resolved. Blue/Orange, 25 Years On Twenty-five years after its first outing, Blue/Orange still says something uncomfortable and true about race and mental health, as well as the limits of […]
Inertia, part of SEEN Lewisham at the Broadway Theatre Catford, uses near-future technology and virtual entrapment to explore racism in AI, addiction, faith, and the politics of identity from a distinctly Black British perspective. Virtual Futures, Real Inequalities Inertia sits neatly within SEEN Lewisham’s remit to platform underrepresented voices, and it does so by tackling […]
A horror influencer turns playwright in Bog Body, Olivia Cordell’s solo show that mixes lecture theatre with supernatural scares. Bog Body Are bog bodies having a moment? It would seem so, with two different shows currently on the fringe circuit with that title. I saw Olivia Cordell’s version last night at The Glitch, a one-off […]
Oscar Wilde’s rarely-performed first play Vera; Or, the Nihilists receives a sympathetic revival in this production at the Jack Studio Theatre in Brockley. Oscar Wilde’s First Play Now here’s a question. If a play by a relatively popular playwright is rarely performed, why is that? Surely some are criminally overlooked. Others might be… how shall […]
One particular magnetic performance overcomes limitations in the writing in Born With Teeth. And it might not be the Elizabethan playwright you’d first think of. Born With Teeth One thing’s for sure: Ncuti Gatwa has charisma in spades. His Kit Marlowe is confident, flirty, and absolutely mesmerising. Having not seen any of his high profile […]
Not Your Superwoman at the Bush Theatre is a moving new play by Emma Dennis-Edwards (co-created with director Lynette Linton), exploring the bonds and fractures between three generations of Black women, and what it means to carry or resist the weight of inherited expectations. Not Your Superwoman You know you’re at a powerful piece of […]
Vernon, written and performed by Gary Bates, is a heartfelt monologue about a funeral director whose work forces him to face his own grief. Blending dry humour with an emotional core, it’s a simple but powerful piece of new writing at SE Fest. Image credit: Gary Bates. Vernon Vernon is a one-man play about a […]
Black Power Desk at Brixton House is a new Black British musical that blends family drama, politics, and a vibrant and varied soundtrack to tell a story of resistance rooted in real history. Black Power Desk I can just about remember enough of my high school history classes to have a conversation about Rosa Parks. […]
Megan Prescott’s Really Good Exposure explores toxic beauty standards, the pressures of the entertainment industry, and how to reclaim agency in unexpected ways. Content/Trigger Warning: NSFW themes including exploitation, nudity, sex work. Really Good Exposure As an elder millennial, there was a lot that felt familiar in Megan Prescott’s Really Good Exposure. I watched a […]
The Popess: Instructions for Freedom brings to light the little-known story of the Guglielmites, a 13th-century religious sect. Elena Mazzon tells this tale with humour, directness, and a contemporary feminist eye. The Popess: Instructions for Freedom The Popess: Instructions for Freedom takes as its starting point the unusual history of the Guglielmites, a small religious […]
