PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Wanderlust

Wanderlust - Anonymous Ensemble
Jacksons Lane, Highgate

The theatre can so often be a stuffy, boring affair. Polite etiquette means that we calmly sip our pre-performance drinks, shuffle to our seats when instructed and titter when the action on stage allows us to. So what happens when a ten-foot Bavarian powerhouse takes charge, forcing audience members to impersonate vampires, drink shots of vodka and sing about a tree pussy? A glimpse of the true strength of theatre, that's what.

For one night only Anonymous Ensemble take over the intimate Jacksons Lane Theatre with their award nominated production, Wanderlust. The performance - described as an interactive, burlesque, promenade extravaganza - follows the story of Tall Hilda as she describes her life from her vodka swilling antics with a travelling circus and her journeys with a violin playing gypsy and his dead wide, through to her apocalyptic cries for the power of love and dancing. But its not a straightforward chronological tale that we treated to here; its an experience that we can take part in, enjoy and take away with us as our very own.

From the outset we are warned that we will be required to participate in this performance, and it is not long before we are up off our feet cosying under a mock circus tent and throwing fake snowballs at one another. Its important not to underestimate the achievement of the trio on stage as they lure a tired and somewhat jaded audience out of their comfortable seats and allow themselves to be open to ritual humiliation. Jessica Weinstein excels as the giant showgirl, who seduces us to join her own stage and allow her to take total control. Her ballsy demeanour and exquisite comic timing mean that you are compulsively drawn to her and are not only willing to do everything she asks, you want to impress her while you do it.

Wanderlust highlights the joy and spirit of theatre: the joining of like-minded people to learn and experience something together. It also shows that the theatre can teach you, not just through philosophical statements and declaration but making you relaxed and open. Instead of questioning and analysing every moment, we go with it, enjoy it and become both free and unified as a collective. And for a 70 minute show to achieve that, especially in this age of increased individualism, is nothing short of a miracle.

Phil Burt

Wanderlust will be performed again at Madame JoJos, Soho on 2nd August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Blood Wedding

Blood Wedding - Metta Theatre

Southwark Playhouse

Under the railway arches, Southwark Playhouse hosts a wedding party for a young couple. You enter either as the bride's or the groom's guest. Dress code? Colourful. You will be greeted with a glass of juice and handed a piece of paper that has the order of service and lyrics of a couple of songs.

So expect some singing and party affair, in Metta Theatre's re-contextualised Blood Wedding by Frederico Garcia Lorca. Piano, guitar, percussion and glockenspiel make up a live band playing engaging and jazzy tunes that sets a central American atmosphere. The audience is led to sing and dance to celebrate, but the sound of the trains above quickly transports us to a clammy space where, on the wedding day, the new couple and their family confront family histories and unsettled passions.

While the original story itself is full of symbolism, this production places knife-crime as its central theme, and sets to share Lorca's words with contemporary London audience, where knife-crime is increasingly becoming a social reality.

The company's talented performers give fervent speeches, and all accompany themselves with either singing or musical instruments, as they dig deeper into their characters' flaws and conscience. Naomi Wirthner's powerful performance as The Mother is impressive, and her voice and singing provide an underlying fear that echoes throughout the show. As the show progresses, the emotional richness compounds, and the wedding decor becomes redundant.

Southwark Playhouse's heavy and blackened brickwork provides a challenging architecture for the designers. But under Poppy Buton-Morgan's direction all ingredients seem to blend and just manage to capture the orchidaceous ambience that is vivid in Lorca's writing. Stabbings and murder are recurring subjects, however, the accents of the performers, their costumes, and the overall ambience contribute to an ambiguous time and place, which contradict the relevance that the show strives to convey. Indeed, it creates a fresh angle to the story, but perhaps with a little more reference to here and now.

A unique wedding that invites you to be part of. Take a friend with you, or you will be less compelled to dance and will be left alone at the reception that follows.

Ingrid Hu

Blood Wedding runs until 15th August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Ghosts, or Those Who Return

Ghosts, or Those Who Return
Arcola Theatre, Dalston

In theory, there is nothing preventing Ibsen’s Ghosts from being as relevant today as it was in 1882. Originally dismissed as “an open drain” by a scandalized Victorian audience, its themes of incest, sexual disease and euthanasia are still hitting headlines in 2009. I was expecting Bijan Sheibani’s new adaptation at the Arcola to inject fresh life into the claustrophobic tale, but I left disappointed.

Sheibani and his designer Alex Eales have stuck rigidly to Ibsen’s original stage directions. The set at the Arcola is a generic nineteenth century drawing room, with glossy cornicing framing pale blue walls. There is little acknowledgement in the design of the dark loneliness at the heart of the play, aside from the drizzling rain splattering half-heartedly on the windows. It is left to Jon Clark and Emma Laxton to try and squeeze some atmosphere out of this dry, dull setting, which they do admirably. Laxton’s music is hauntingly melancholic and Clark’s subtle lighting is appropriate, although by the last act the audience are left squinting through the twilight.

Against this backdrop Mrs Alving, Pastor Manders and the syphilitic Oswald trade secrets and revelations. Suzanne Burden gives a strong performance as the miserable matriarch, although her initial restrain is more convincing than her melodramatic outbursts as the play draws to a close. Harry Lloyd’s Osvald is a joy to watch, skillfully underplaying the ‘exhaustion’ which plagues his character and alternating beautifully between puppyish affection for Regine and strained introspection.

Paul Hickey’s Pastor, however, is more problematic. Originally intended as an empathetic character, Pastor Manders was the lens through which Ibsen confronted Victorian society with its own hypocrisy. Although Hickey shows brief moments of emotional depth, for the most part he is left wringing his hands and fretting over the youth of the nation in a weak caricature of a church minister. He quickly becomes a comedic figure, eliciting more laughs than Jim Bywater’s bumbling Engstrand.

Without a convincing link to the Victorian mindset, the audience are left to view the play through the jaded eyes of the 21st century. Osvald’s decline into syphilitic dementia is sad, but not shocking. His mother’s struggles seem needless and his father’s infidelity barely evokes a reaction. Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s new translation is full of rich imagery; the characters speak of loneliness, despair and decay. Unfortunately, the poor staging and flippant handling of the text do not do justice to this darkly tragic story.

Amy Jane Clewes

Ghosts, or Those Who Return runs until 22nd August

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Feeble Minds

Feeble Minds - Spare Tyre Theatre

Rich Mix Arts Centre, Bethnal Green

Reality TV rarely confronts us with reality. Theatre, however, always does. Spare Tyre Theatre's latest production, Feeble Minds, is an extraordinary piece of theatre that puts life right in your face, with little room to retreat.

Director Arti Prashar brings together inc. Theatre Ensemble - a collective made of 11 artists with a range of learning disabilities and actors over the age of 60 from the group HotPots - in creating a play based on Shakespeare's Timon of Athens. One of Shakespeare's problem plays, Timon of Athens is a bitter commentary on subjects such as greed, indulgence and materialism in his day. Rather than an adaptation, Feeble Minds is a work inspired by these topics, with a contemporary makeover and a strong emphasis on multi-sensory experience.

On entering the space, a collection of hung kitchen utensils create a rich soundscape which is then followed by various recordings of the sounds of everyday life - running water, cooking noises, and, of course, music. Slowly this becomes layered with projections of text, the singing and dancing of the actors and, rather evocatively, the smell of food. It is only on retrospect that it is clear that this is a show for the visually impaired and those who are hard of hearing. In all honesty, as an under-35-year-old and able audience member, I am astonished by the performance in front of me. Emotions and expressions are delivered with such honesty that it is at once shocking and thought provoking.

A truly courageous undertaking, the elderly and the less abled have so much to share with the contemporary audience. They represent a reality that most of us choose to ignore, until it intervenes and becomes part of our life. But then, they have set out to prove that The Bard's work is as universal as ever, and see it as a unique challenge. As the director says, it is a 'risky and daring' project. Are you feeling brave to see it?

Ingrid Hu

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: The Visitor

The Visitor - OMADA Theatre Company
Tristan Bates Theatre, Covent Garden - 20th July

Sometimes the repercussions of our actions can force unforeseeable changes upon our previously unquestioned daily routines. For Miranda and Morris, their resignedly repetitive existence within a World War II compound is compelled to change. Miranda's unthinking act of compassion in bringing home the injured 'visitor' pulls apart two people who have been brought into an unnaturally close proximity.

The initially unfathomable opening has a Pinteresque quality. Graham, the visitor, is more of a hostage than a guest. Gradually it becomes clear that almost no one is anywhere or does anything by their own volition: Miranda has to reuse the same old tea bag over and over again, Morris is forced to trade at The Mercantile, and all (bar Graham) only reside in this hovel because they were brought there, Nazi fashion, in a 'hot dog' van.

Notably strong performances come from Samantha Whaley as Miranda and Michael Armstrong as Morris. Both portray their simplistic and sheltered characters with great conviction and no hint of irony or derision, despite some of their obviously dubious opinions, such as Morris' fundamentalism. The smaller roles of Maxwell and Graham are also both carried off well, but are harder to play, given that the characters are less developed. The role of Maxwell is perhaps the most bizarre being an entertaining, but not easily recognisable, fusion of a gay Walter the Softy of the Beano fame, and the Artful Dodger.

The most disappointing aspect of The Visitor is that it is not longer. The alternative history of the play is slightly confused, and it is not clear whether the inclusion of a TV set and Marks and Spencer's carrier bag are intentional or unwittingly anachronistic. However, the variety of pace and tone would certainly sustain the intrigue of the audience well beyond the 45 minute running time, and a longer piece would allow the able writer and cast to really flourish.

Helena S. Rampley

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Damages

Damages
Old Red Lion Theatre, Angel

Its no new thing to say that newspapers are not what they used to be. At one time Fleet Street was the bringer of truth, the voice of reason offering us an insight into news stories taking place around the globe - an insight that would at once inform and educate us. Now, certain papers appear content with simply reporting the fact that Lily Allen managed to draw breath today. Gone is the interest in world leaders and their political decision-making, in are the tales of drug abuse, love spats and knicker flashing.

Its this change of agenda - and the precarious relationship between fame hungry celebrities and the muck-racking hacks that can make or break their fledgling career - that provides the centre piece for Damages, Lucid Muse's revival of Steve Thompson's 2004 play about the world of tabloid journalism and the lives that it can affect, calling for the “end of cheese and sleaze.” Set in real time, the play follows the final hours before a paper is due to go to press and unleash on its reading public a photograph of a children’s presenter caught topless with a man who happens to not be her husband. What initially appears to be a simple question of invasion of privacy, takes a much darker turn as personal feelings and potential honey traps come into play.

The humid July evening outside makes the small space of the Old Red Lion theatre both stuffy and claustrophobic enhancing the tense action on stage beautifully. As the print deadline draws ever closer, you too feel the sweat pricking the back of your neck, your palms beginning to clam up and the sense of panic that’s doing the rounds. This feeling is also increased by the raised voices of the cast as they thrash out their personal and professional differences. It’s a cast that is very apt at handling the sparring dialogue and quick witted comebacks, in particular the charming young whiz-kid Bas, Simeon Perlin, and his Ice Queen ex-girlfriend Abigail, played with precision by Perlin’s Lucid Muse co-founder Joanna Bell.

The only problem with this production is the question of relevance. A lot has happened in the five years since this was first performed at the Bush Theatre – papers have become more shocking, we have more access to celebs and it seems rather unlikely that there would be any question about running a topless shot of a golden girl anymore. With a set that looks as though it is a left over from Channel 4’s Drop The Dead Donkey, it has the feeling of being a bit out of date, especially given the media satires now available to us such as In The Loop and Newswipe, who both push the issue so much further.

A really enjoyable performance, its definitely worth watching. However, it is questionable that its going to cause stop anyone digesting the next bit of celeb gossip the minute they leave the theatre.

Ruby Green

Damages runs until July 25th

NEWS: Barbican plays host to year's most exciting season

Since it's birth in 2000, the Barbican Bite festival has brought some of the most prestigious artists and performers from around the globe to London from Russia's Lev Dodin and the Maly Drama Theatre (Platonov, 2007), to Pina Bausch of Germany (Kontakthof, 2002), by way of Brazil and Grupo XIX de Teatro (Hysteria, 2008). For years they have been offering a platform to the finest and most experimental International work and, by the looks of the Bite:09 programme, they are going from strength to strength.

Among the numerous prestigious offerings are Teatr Zar, the multinational group who aim to show that theatre is to be heard not only seen. From 24th September they will be performing Gospels of Childhood, their three-part ritualistic lamentation of birth, death, pleasusre and pain, told through song, chanting and movement.

James Thiérrée returns to Britain after his 2007 Sadlers Wells production Au Revoir Parapluie with Raoul, a story of a man with no beginning or end who tumbles through a series of utopian fantasies in a world which is at once entirely alien and clearly recognisable. Combining his trademark cross-fertilisation of acrobatics, mime and clown-like charm, Thiérrée promises to tease his audiences with this delightful, visual comedy.

Not afraid to leave the confines of the Silk Street venue, once again Barbican offers a number of off-site productions to entice people off the streets and into new places. One example is They Only Come At Night: Visions from Slung Low. The promenade performance will begin at the Barbican Box Office and will combine live performance, dance, music and digital projection as Slung Low take attendants through the fast-paced theatrical world.

These are just a few of the wonderful and innovative projections that will be available from September. For more information and to book tickets check out the Barbican website

www.barbican.org.uk/bite09/

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Project X

Project X - Love & Madness: The Madness Season
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

Taking your seat in a theatre, you can be forgiven for assuming certain things are about to take place. The etiquette and traditions of British theatre-going have been in place for over a century meaning that for majority of people a theatre ticket means not only watching a performance but going for a pre-theatre meal, buying a programme and enjoying an interval ice cream. Bearing this in mind, Love & Madness' Project X is a truly tantalising prospect. Expect the unexpected.

As the company began devising the production - while rehearsing for the Riverside residential a Dodin-esque fashion - there was an understanding that it could take on any shape or form, be performed in any space and could deal with any subject matter. Love & Madness take the rules and threw them out the proverbial window. But what is the end result? If I say the words cornflakes, weasels and Nirvana, you may get some idea.

While Love & Madness have opted to keep the performance within the traditional theatrical space, its no holds barred when it comes to performance style and plot. The latter concerns Ron Cheeseman, an average looking 33 year old postman who goes about his mundane daily routine perfectly content. That is until he learns about the small issue of death. And so follows Ron's earth shattering realisations that he has no understanding of childhood, the aging process or indeed mothers, realisations that lead him to a half baked suicide attempt and a twist that could give M. Night Shyamalan a run for his money.

The beauty of this production is how different it is to everything else from the Madness season. After dealing with murdering gangsters, insane army generals and grave exhumations, here we see Love & Madness letting their hair down and having fun. And it is a fun that is both exciting and intoxicating for the audience to see. John Giles is heartbreaking as the confused posite while there are some stand out performances from chorus members Will Beer and Toby Wharton whose expressive faces and comedically fluid movements bring tears to the eyes. Director Matthew Sim offers a wonderfully crazed Willy Wonka style Head Weasel (the only hint I'm going to offer about the road this story takes) who manages to walk the fine line between sinister over-lord and uber-camp menance with elegance and poise.

This production has the feel of a University style production where the actors dare to explore, to take risks, to experiment with new ideas and, ultimately, to have fun. You get the feeling that all performances should be this brave and exciting. As they wave farewell to the Riverside Studios, Love & Madness can be confident that they have not only gained a new, wider fan base, but they have shown the Hammersmith audiences that true theatre is not about a star name offering a half-baked turn as Hamlet. Its about the collective soul, the group and the ensemble. And that is something we shall forever be grateful for.

Phil Burt

Project X runs in rep until July 25th

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Fucking Men

Fucking Men

Arts Theatre, Covent Garden

With its unabashedly sexual title, set and content, it is hard to say whether Joe DiPietro's display of 'the empty existence of the urban gay male' does the reputation of gay culture more harm than good. Whilst Fucking Men delivers a frank, no holes barred account of gay relationships, the necessity to sensationalise the characters and the liaisons they involve themselves in suggests a willingness to revel in and even endorse the remaining taboos that surround homosexuality. The title has to be partly blanked out on promotional material and referred to by box office staff as 'F'ing Men'. In this respect, the play seems to be revisiting previously trodden ground; the play texts of Ravenhill's 1996 Shopping and Fucking initially had to be sold in paper bags. Is society still childishly attracted to a play just because it has an expletive in its title?

Despite the scandal of the title and the occasional overtly stereotypical presentation (pink y-fronts, a studded belt and a love of Brokeback Mountain) Fucking Men is undeniably entertaining. A large cast and a fairly short play aid the show's pace, switching rapidly but clearly between different encounters. Characters remain on stage for a time after their scenes, which is initially confusing, but eventually contributes to the depiction of the casual anonymity of the sex the characters experience.

DiPietro shows a blunt divide between love and sex. Couples who love each other very rarely have sex, and those who have sex very rarely love each other. The world these characters inhabit, despite the prevalence of physical intimacy, is unquestionably isolated. All of the characters rehearse monologues which they then integrate into sexual scenarios, disclosing their desperate quest to affirm their identity, and to attempt to live out their individual imagined dramas.

Fucking Men brings the audience face to face with many home truths. "People don't call when you're desperate, that's the first rule of life" demonstrates the frequent inability to interact successfully and to find what is 'sincere'. This play is honest and funny and, apart from a few dodgy accents, very smooth. It does not however present the gay community in a very even-handed way. From DiPietro's account, it would seem that gay men inhabit a loveless underground world of hedonism and dishonesty. Yes, it is liberated to be able to show this, and yes the play is lively and enjoyable. However, in its reinforcing the notion of the gay community as a staunchly separate world, Fucking Men is something of a self-sacrifice. By ignoring the fact that heterosexual relationships can be just as blighted by the issues shown as gay relationships, DiPietro perhaps does the gay community damage.

Helena S Rampley

Fucking Men runs until 31st December

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Mincemeat

Mincemeat - Cardboard Citizens
Cordy House, Shoreditch

After watching Cardboard Citizens' latest production Mincemeat, I cannot help but feel that I have done a good deed by simply turning up to see a show.

Set in Cordy House, a disused building on Curtain Road in trend-setting Shoreditch, Mincemeat is a promenade performance based upon a series of reconstructions and fictionalized characters and stories surrounding Operation Mincemeat, which took place during the Second World War. The British Intelligence’s successful deception plan was depicted in Ewen Montagu’s 1953 book The Man Who Never Was and then subsequently made into a film of the same title.

The show commences with a false start of sorts, as a van filled with kidnappers is driven into the warehouse’s ground floor space from the street. The audience is then led to a different room where the story is introduced. From there, the actors shift among characters and the audience is taken to imagined spaces within the building where the intelligent use of interior architecture depict various scenes. Sometimes the audience are allowed to sit and seamlessly become part of the setting, while in other rooms the audience are the invisible onlookers witnessing the events, following the main character as he uncovers his true identity. The play’s close takes us back to the room in which we began, but by now it has been converted into a wartime shelter complete with bunker beds allowing audience and performers merge. Overall the production is cleverly executed, without tailor made costumes but also without excessive scenery.

The feel good factor comes from the fact that, rather than seeing a show with potentially like-minded theatre-goers, the audience represents a beautiful slice of Londoners from all walks of life. Needless to say, the ensemble itself comprises a wide range of real life characters and however superficial this observation may be, the energy of a true and engaging social theatre is definitely in the air.

If you are not sure about seeing a show supported by The Big Issue, then hopefully Kate Winslet - the company's new ambassador - will encourage you. Go see it.

Ingrid Hu

Mincemeat runs until 12th July