PAUL VIRIDES PRODUCTIONS AND EVELYN JAMES PRODUCTIONS PRESENT THE WORLD PREMIÈRE OF ALEX OATES’

ALL IN A ROW

Paul Virides Productions and Evelyn James Productions present

The World Première of

ALL IN A ROW

By Alex Oates

Directed by Dominic Shaw; Designer: PJ McEvoy

Puppet Designer: Siân Kidd; Lighting Designer: Rachel Sampley

Southwark Playhouse

14 February – 9 March 2019

Paul Virides Productions and Evelyn James Productions today announce the world première of All in a Row renewing their collaboration with writer, Alex Oates and director, Dominic Shaw following their previous production of Silk Road (How to Buy Drugs Online). The production opens at Southwark Playhouse on Monday 18 February, with previews from Thursday 14 February, running until Saturday 9 March.

Laurence likes pizza.

Laurence is about to go to school.

Laurence thinks it’s okay to wee on mummy’s pillow.

Like any couple, Tamora and Martin have big hopes and dreams. But when your child is autistic, non-verbal, low-functioning and occasionally violent, ambitions can quickly become a pipe dream.

In a household brimming with love, resentment and realisations, meet Tam, Martin and Laurence’s carer Gary as they struggle to care for their beloved boy. On the night before social services finally intervenes, who is the victim here? Who was the traitor? And who do you blame when you can no longer cope?

All in a Row is a kitchen sink comedy-drama filled with heart… and French Fancies.

Alex Oates has been shortlisted for The Old Vic 12 and Papatango Prize, and long listed for the Bruntwood Prize. His other theatre credits include Silk Road (How to Buy Drugs Online) (VAULT Festival/Live Theatre/Trafalgar Studios), Rules for Being a Man (UK tour), Pig (Hull Truck Theatre/New Diorama Theatre), Hansel (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Hull Truck Theatre), People Will See Me and Cry (Arcola Theatre), Time Warner Ignite (Old Vic Tunnels); and for television, Match Not Found and EastEnders: E20.

Dominic Shaw directs. His directing credits include Silk Road (How to Buy Drugs Online) (VAULT Festival/Live Theatre/Trafalgar Studios), Secret Garden (Barn Theatre), A Memory For Forgetting (Arcola Theatre), Get Got (Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Thirteen Days (The Other Palace). As an Associate Director his credits include Kinky Boots (Adelphi Theatre), Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy Theatre/UK tour) and Legally Blonde (Savoy Theatre/UK and international tour). As an actor his credits include Wicked (Apollo Victoria) and Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre).

ALL IN A ROW 

Listings

 

Southwark Playhouse

77-85 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BD

Nearest Tube: Borough/ Elephant and Castle

14 February – 9 March 2019

 

Box Office: 020 7407 0234

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

 

@swkplay

Tickets:

£22 (£18 concession)

Previews: £14

Sutton House – until 3 November

Reviewed by Claire Roderick

3***

Tea Break Theatre’s immersive Frankenstein at Sutton House is full of ambition but doesn’t hit the heights of its source material.

Sutton House, dimly lit after dark, is the main spook factor in this production. Writer/director Katharine Armitage’s feminist adaptation begins with a story sharing session sitting around the room on sleeping bags – a nod to the female squatters who saved Sutton House from demolition in the 1980s. There’s also a fabulous mix tape of 80s music that took me back to school discos. The audience are invited to share their stories – and sadly THAT is the scariest moment of the night. The looks of horror as people thought they had to contribute were something to behold. Luckily the cast begin to tell stories of a shared dream that gives the bare bones of how Elizabeth and Justine came to live with Victor Frankenstein before the cast lead the audience off to the Great Chamber in character.

After working with Justine (Katy Helps) on the theory of transplanting organs across blood groups, Victor (Jeff Scott) takes the work a step too far in his quest to reanimate the dead. The death of Victor’s mother looms large over Elizabeth (Jennifer Tyler) as well, with her bending over backwards to keep everyone in the house happy because of her guilt over causing the death. Armitage takes all the implicit facts about the two women in Mary Shelley’s novel and forces them into the play with a sledgehammer. Tyler and Helps do their best with the script, but Justine’s character is cold and strident while Elizabeth is overloaded with every cliché about women in destructive and abusive relationships you can think of. Victor is written as a pathetic, tormented genius while Henry (Chris Dobson) is basically the comic relief/expositional mouthpiece. I’ve seen female Creatures before, so that is nothing new – but Molly Small gives the Creature a less monstrous, more calculating feel in a sympathetic and measured performance (and in another wonderful 80s touch – she’s dressed like (a slightly conservative) Madonna in her Like A Virgin era).

The production involves the audience wearing coloured wristbands and following cast members holding the matching ribbons. Most of the time we are together but there are times when a small group is with each character or pair of characters. I’m not sure what was happening while we watched Victor playing video games, but I think Harry may have met the Creature, from their dialogue near the end of the play. It would have been nice to see what Small did with the Creature before she learned about humanity and to see her Creature evolve, but my group only saw her gasping her first breath (in a very low key, undramatic scene that had us reminiscing about the antiseptic aroma in the room rather than talking about the action) before seeing her again, fully coherent and meeting poor young William. The idea of moving around the house is excellent but would work better in a house with wider corridors, where some dialogue could continue as the audience move. As it is, there are stilted, awkward moments of silence as scenes begin and end, stretching what could be a promising short play into an unwieldy and snail-paced slog. The staging in the Great Chamber is problematic at times because of the need to filter the audience into the room. The big confrontation/intervention between Elizabeth, Henry and Victor, with the chairs in a row could have been fantastic, but – sitting in a row, with Victor sitting at the end, arms crossed and sulking – it was reminiscent of an episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show with Joanna Lumley as guest host.

The ending is a little woolly, but again has lots of promise, with Small’s Creature’s emotional berating of Victor becoming an admonition of the audience and society in general and our complicity in ostracising the “other”.

The cast give committed performances, and with a few tweaks, the script shows promise. Tea Break Theatre have used the tricky spaces and layout of Sutton House the best they could under the circumstances, and this is an entertaining night, even if there are no real thrills and chills.

Vulvarine: A New Musical

March 2nd – July 12th, UK Tour

Fat Rascal Theatre are proud to announce the UK tour of their hit Edinburgh show Vulvarine, as well as becoming the new musical theatre Associate Company of the King’s Head Theatre, where the tour stops off in June/July 2019.

***** “funny, silly and smart (…) catch it while you can” Funny Women

Bryony Buckle is astoundingly average. Her days are filled with mind numbing office work, thinking about lunch and lusting after Orson Bloom from IT. But following a dose of hormone therapy gone wrong and a well-timed bolt of lightning, Bryony gains superhero abilities and a brand-new persona: Vulvarine, saviour of womankind. Where is all the tampon tax going? Who is The Mansplainer, and what is his evil plan? Grab your tights, your spanx and your most supportive sports bra. It’s hero time.

***** “Fat Rascal Theatre are very quickly establishing themselves as a champion of British Comedy Musicals” DIVA Magazine

Following an outpouring of new superhero musicals with a male protagonist, Vulvarine is a tongue-in-cheek comedy with a feminist message; and after the release of superhero movies with a social and political focus such as Black Panther and Wonder Woman, Fat Rascal Theatre believe that now is the time for a new politically relevant superhero musical, combining pop culture and musical theatre with gender discussions to create a fresh, funny and relevant new show.

Winners of the Otherplace/Balkan Award, the Eddies Award, the VAULT festival ‘Festival Spirit’ Award and nominated for an Off West End Award, Fat Rascal Theatre has quickly become a home for new musical theatre, having written and produced 5 new musicals since its inception in 2016, including sell-out Edinburgh show Buzz: A New Musical. It is a company run by women, discussing social and political issues through an accessible and appealing format to engage a wider audience. They believe that theatre should aim to inspire, educate or liberate and should be available to everybody.

***** “sassy, outrageously silly, and full of heart”” Young Perspective

Adam Spreadbury-Maher, artistic director of the King’s Head Theatre, says: “We awarded Fat Rascal the Stella Wilkie Award in 2016, hosted their production of Beauty and the Beast in 2017, brought it back this November, and now see them return for Vulvarine next year. We are delighted to build on our relationship with the company in appointing them as our Associate Company, celebrating their specialism in new musical theatre. We’re proud to be their London home, and passionate about their work, which is high quality, entertaining and also has a strong political/social message. They will join our other Associate Companies , Atticist and Charles Court Opera, as we look forward to moving into our new theatre in Islington Square. Collaboration is vital at all levels of theatre production, and we’re proud to have such a diverse range of Associates that celebrate all of the values we are passionate about.”

 

Title Vulvarine: A New Musical

Producer Laura Elmes for Fat Rascal Theatre

Dates & Venues Theatre Severn, March 2nd

Theatre Deli, March 7th – 9th

Attenborough Arts Centre, March 10th

VAULT Festival, March 13th – 17th

The Civic, Stourport, March 19th

Old Joint Stock, Birmingham, March 20th – 23rd

Wardrobe Bristol, March 27th – 30th

Brewery Arts Centre, April 3rd

Komedia Brighton, May 27th – 29th

King’s Head Theatre, June 11th – July 6th

Cast Doncaster, July 10th

The Lowry Salford, July 11th – 12th

ENGLISH TOURING THEATRE AND PAPATANGO ANNOUNCE

UK TOUR OF THE FUNERAL DIRECTOR

 

English Touring Theatre and Papatango present

The Funeral Director
By Iman Qureshi 

UK tour: 7 – 30 March 2019

Director: Hannah Hauer-King; Designer: Amy Jane Cook; Lighting Designer: Jack Weir

Sound Designer: Max Pappenheim

 English Touring Theatre and Papatango today announce the UK tour of Iman Qureshi’s The Funeral Director,an exploration of a gay Muslim woman coming to terms with her identity. Winner of Papatango’s 10^th annual New Writing Prize from 1,384 entries, the production directed by Hannah Hauer-King will embark on a UK tour to Traverse Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, The North Wall and HOME Manchester in Spring 2019.

This follows Papatango’s world première run at Southwark Playhouse opening on 2 November, with previews from 31 October, running until 24 November.

 “I just thought it would be a secret I’d have to die with. And now – I think it’ll be what kills me.”

Life as the director of a Muslim funeral parlour isn’t always easy, but Ayesha has things pretty sorted. She and Zeyd share everything: a marriage, a business, a future.

Until Tom walks in to organise his boyfriend’s funeral. A snap moral decision, informed by the values of Ayesha’s community and faith, has profound consequences.

Forced to confront a secret she has hidden even from herself, Ayesha must decide who she is – no matter the cost.

The Funeral Director is an incisive and heartfelt story of sexuality, gender and religion in 21st-century Britain.

Richard Twyman, Artistic Director of English Touring Theatre, said today, “Iman Qureshi is an exciting and distinctive new voice in theatre today and I am delighted that her beautiful play will be shared with audiences across the UK. This production will tour to studio theatres and continues our commitment to championing extraordinary new writing and examining contemporary English identity.”

George Turvey, Artistic Director of Papatango, added, “Papatango are thrilled to be able to bring Iman’s important and utterly compelling play to audiences across the UK following our world premiere in London this autumn. The Funeral Director shines a light on communities and issues that seldom if ever reach our stages. That was why it won Papatango’s 10^th New Writing Prize. As the UK’s biggest playwriting award in terms of annual entries, with writers submitting from every region, it has long been our ambition to share the winning play as widely as possible. We are delighted that we realise this ambition with this exceptional story.”

Iman Qureshi will make her full-length debut with The Funeral Director. She has had short plays or limited runs commissioned or produced by Tamasha, Kalí Theatre, Purple Moon Drama and the BBC. As a member of Tamasha Playwrights and Soho Theatre’s Writers Lab her short play His and Hers was produced as part of Tamasha’s New Muslim Voices. Iman has also written for the Guardian, Independent, Time Out and the Huffington Post, been writer in residence at various schools, and been shortlisted for the Muslim Writer’s Award in 2011. She was shortlisted for the Tony Craze Award in 2017.

Hannah Hauer-King directs. She is the Artistic Director and co-founder of all-female theatre company Damsel Productions. Hauer-King started her London directing career acting as Resident AD at Soho Theatre in 2014. She now works as a freelance theatre director alongside directing for Damsel Productions, and as a theatre, comedy and cabaret programmer for Fane Productions. Recent productions include Fabric (Soho Theatre), The Swell (Hightide Festival), Grotty and Breathe (Bunker Theatre), Fury and Brute (Soho Theatre), Clay (Pleasance Theatre), Dry Land (Jermyn Street Theatre), Witt ‘n Camp (Assembly Studios, Edinburgh Fringe) andHypernormal (Vaults Festival). Associate/Assistant work includes Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe), Radiant Vermin (Soho Theatre) and Daytona (Theatre Royal Haymarket).

 

The Funeral Director

Listings

Southwark Playhouse

31 October – 24 November 2019

Box Office: 020 7407 0234 / www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

 

Tour Dates

Traverse Theatre 

7 – 9 March 2019

Box Office: 0131 228 1404 / www.traverse.co.uk

Nottingham Playhouse 

14 – 16 March 2019

Box Office: 0115 941 9419 / www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

The North Wall 

21 March 2019

Box Office: 01865 319450 / www.thenorthwall.com

HOME Manchester 

27 – 30 March 2019

Box Office: 0161 200 1500 / www.homemcr.org

Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Productions present
SWITZERLAND
By Joanna Murray-Smith
Directed by Lucy Bailey

• WEST END PRODUCTION ANNOUNCED STARRING PHYLLIS LOGAN AS PATRICIA HIGHSMITH
• AMBASSADORS THEATRE, LONDON FROM 10 NOVEMBER TO 5 JANUARY

• AWARD-WINNING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER BY JOANNA MURRAY-SMITH AND DIRECTED BY LUCY BAILEY

• THE SECOND WEST END TRANSFER TO BE CONFIRMED FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JONATHAN CHURCH’S 2018 SUMMER SEASON AT THEATRE ROYAL BATH

• TICKETS GO ON SALE TODAY, FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER 2018, VIAWWW.THEAMBASSADORSTHEATRE.CO.UK

A West End production has been announced for Switzerland starring Phyllis Logan as renowned author Patricia Highsmith with Calum Finlay as Edward Ridgeway. The award-winning psychological thriller is written by Joanna Murray-Smith and directed by Lucy Bailey and will run at the Ambassadors Theatre in London from Saturday 10 November 2018 until Saturday 5 January 2019.

This critically-acclaimed production ran at Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio earlier this year and marks the second production from Jonathan Church’s 2018 summer season to confirm a West End transfer.

Switzerland paints a portrait of one of the great writers of the 20th century, Patricia Highsmith, famed for writing The Talented Mr Ripley, Strangers On A Train and The Price of Salt. The play originally premiered in Australia in 2015 where it won Best New Australian Work at the Sydney Theatre Awards.

1995, the Swiss Alps. Patricia Highsmith, the queen of the thriller, now ageing and ailing, hides away in her study, surrounded by her collection of books and antique weaponry, finding solace in her seclusion, her cats and cigarettes. A polished young man turns up, sent by her New York publisher to persuade the great writer to pen one final instalment of her best-selling series featuring the master manipulator, Tom Ripley. But as day breaks over the mountains, it becomes clear that the charming stranger is set on a far more sinister mission.

Phyllis Logan (Patricia Highsmith) is well-known for her role as Mrs Hughes in ITV’s Downton Abbey and as Lady Jane Felsham in Lovejoy. Her extensive television credits include Girlfriends, The Good Karma Hospital, Bones, Wallander, Silent Witness and Vera. Her film appearances include Secrets & Lies and Another Time Another Place for which she won the BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer to Film and the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. Her theatre credits include Richard III (Crucible Theatre), The Case of David Anderson Q.C. (Traverse Theatre) and Marvin’s Room (Hampstead Theatre).

Calum Finlay (Edward Ridgeway) recently appeared on stage in Mary Stuart and Hamlet (Almeida / West End). He has performed regularly with the RSC in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth, The Mouse and His Child and Jubilee. Other theatre credits include The Ghost Train (Told By An Idiot / Manchester Royal Echange), Dunsinane (RSC / National Theatre Scotland / international tour) and Tartuffe (Birmingham REP).

Lucy Bailey was co-founder and co-artistic director of The Print Room (2009 – 2012) in Notting Hill Gate. Recent productions include Love From a Stranger (UK Tour), Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie (London County Hall), The Graduate (West Yorkshire Playhouse),Comus (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) and Kenny Morgan (Arcola Theatre). Opera/music theatre credits include Gudrun Fier Sang (Copenhagen Dry Dock), Jenufa (English National Opera) andPasolini’s Teorema (Maggio Musicale Florence/ Munich Biennale/ Queen Elizabeth Hall).

Joanna Murray-Smith’s work features the plays Honour, Ridge’s Love, Scenes from a Marriage, The Female of the Species, The Gift, Day One, a Hotel, Evening, True Minds, Fury, Switzerlandand Three Little Words as well as novels including Truce, Judgement Rock and Sunnyside. Among others, she won the 2004 Fringe First Award, Edinburgh Festival Fringe for Bombshells and co-winner New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards (Play Award) in 2012 for The Gift.

LISTINGS

Switzerland
By Joanna Murray-Smith
Directed by Lucy Bailey

Ambassadors Theatre
West Street
London WC2H 9ND

Saturday 10 November 2018 to Saturday 5 January 2019
Press Night: Monday 19 November 2018

Monday – Saturday at 7.45pm
Thursday at 3pm & Saturday at 4pm
See website for full Christmas schedule

Ticket Prices from £19.50

www.theambassadorstheatre.co.uk

Box Office: 020 7395 5405

WHATSONSTAGE ANNOUNCES WINNERS

OF BRAND NEW AWARDS – THE WHATSOFFSTAGE AWARDS

 

At a ceremony held at The May Fair Hotel, London, WhatsOnStage today announced the winners of the WhatsOffStage Awards – a brand new initiative recognising venues and their staff for the work they do off stage and celebrating their contribution to the industry and theatregoing experience. As with the WhatsOnStage Awards, nominees and winners for the WhatsOffStage Awards were voted for by the public.

 

This year sees the Hope Mill Theatre leading the pack across the 10 categories with two wins for Best Front of House Team and Favourite Theatre. Hull Truck Theatre received the Best Box Office Award, with Best Stage Door being won by the Prince Edward Theatre.

 

The National Theatre won Most Accessible Theatre, and Most Child Friendly went to the Unicorn Theatre, with Best Food and Drink being awarded to The Other Palace. Best Community Theatre was won by the Young Vic, Best Theatre Facilities by the newly refurbished Victoria Palace Theatre, and Best Theatre Website going to Shakespeare’s Globe.

 

WhatsOnStage’s Chief Operating Officer Sita McIntosh said today, “Theatre is so much more than what you see on stage – it’s also the culmination of so much hard work by dedicated teams behind the scenes who help lay the foundations for audiences wanting to come to the theatre. We’re thrilled today with the WhatsOffStage Awards which celebrate those brilliant people, giving them their moment in the spotlight.”

 

FULL LIST OF NOMINEES AND WINNERS

 

Best Front of House Team

Hope Mill Theatre WINNER

Hull Truck Theatre

Prince Edward Theatre

 

Best Box Office

Hope Mill Theatre

Hull Truck Theatre WINNER

Prince Edward Theatre

 

Best Stage Door

Dominion Theatre

National Theatre

Prince Edward Theatre WINNER

 

Best Food and Drink

The Bridge Theatre

National Theatre

The Other Palace WINNER

 

Most Accessible Theatre

Hull Truck Theatre

National Theatre WINNER

Shakespeare’s Globe

 

Most Child Friendly

Cambridge Theatre

Polka Theatre

Unicorn Theatre WINNER

 

Best Community Theatre

Arcola Theatre

Hope Mill Theatre

Young Vic WINNER

 

Best Theatre Facilities

National Theatre

Royal Exchange, Manchester

Victoria Palace Theatre WINNER

 

Best Theatre Website

National Theatre

The Old Vic

Shakespeare’s Globe WINNER

 

Favourite Theatre

Hope Mill Theatre WINNER

Hull Truck Theatre

Prince Edward Theatre

 

@WhatsOnStage

#WhatsOffStageAwards

A Christmas Carol
UK Tour: November – December 2018

Celebrating the 175th anniversary of the publication of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, European Arts Company return with their authentic and refreshing adaptation of this timeless tale.

Tom Paris’s design welcomes audiences into Dickens’s intimate study, a warm inviting environment full of festive cheer and hidden surprises. The set is based on Dickens’s own London rooms and takes inspiration from a rich tradition of Victorian illusion, imagination and early theatrical trickery.

Few people know that Charles Dickens originally wanted to be an actor and A Christmas Carol was the first public performance he gave of his own work. After his opening night he said The success was most wonderful and prodigious – perfectly overwhelming and astounding altogether! Dickens enacted the work over 150 times and the effect on the public was phenomenal; he had a magnetic stage presence, riveting eyes, expressive voice and wonderful powers of characterisation. Remarkably, Dickens made more money from his readings than all his novels and stories put together. This exciting production, adapted from Dickens’s own public reading scripts and eyewitness accounts of him on stage, recreates the spirit of Dickens’s original performances.

John O’Connor is an engaging and charismatic performer, slipping deftly between the characters,
aided by little more than some smartly used sound effects and tight direction from Peter Craze.
… O’Connor’s performance is a delight. A festive treat (The Stage). ★★★★

Actor, John O’Connor lives in Rochester where Dickens grew up and set many of his stories including Great Expectations, David Copperfield and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. O’Connor says, I’m delighted to be touring again in A Christmas Carol. Dickens himself toured all over the UK and America performing the tale and it is wonderful to follow in his legendary footsteps. He described his imagination as ‘a Magic Lantern’ and we use an original Victorian magic lantern in the show to help illuminate the story.

Dickens was passionately interested in the welfare of the poor and children in particular and many of his early readings were for charity. Doctor Thomas Barnardo was a contemporary of Dickens and was inspired to set up his first Ragged School partly as a result of Dickens’ writings and campaigning. This tour is in aid of the children’s charity Barnardo’s.

This Christmas, you can experience what it must have been like to be in the audience in the 1860s. Come and enjoy a seasonal treat in the spirit of Christmas past, present and future.

Performance Dates
12th November Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 8FT

27th – 28th November Greenwich Theatre Studio, London
Crooms Hill, London SE10 8ES

29th November Selby Town Hall, Yorkshire
York Street, Selby YO8 4AJ

30th November Stantonbury Theatre, Milton Keynes
Stantonbury, MK14 6BN

1st December Quay Theatre, Suffolk
Quay Ln, Sudbury CO10 2AN

3rd – 4th December Swindon Arts Centre
Devizes Rd, Swindon SN1 4BJ

5th December Rondo Theatre, Bath
St. Saviours Rd, Bath BA1 6RT

7th December Dugdale Centre, London
39 London Road, Enfield, London EN2 6DS

8th December Rochester Guildhall, Rochester
17 High Street, Rochester ME1 1PY
City of Rochester Society members only

10th December Mumford Theatre, Cambridge
Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT

11th – 12th December Loughborough Town Hall
Market Place, Loughborough LE11 3EB

13th December Rosehill Theatre, Cumbria
Moresby, Whitehaven CA28 6SE

14th December Helmsley Arts Centre, Yorkshire
Meeting House Court, Helmsley, York YO62 5DW

15th December Malton Dickensian Festival, Yorkshire

18th – 22nd December York Theatre Royal, The De Grey Rooms
St Leonard’s Place, York YO1 7HD

Monkhead Theatre presents COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE #1

The Interpretation of Dreams

“All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams”
– Elias Canetti

In 1900, Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams: a shocking piece of work in which he discovered the unconscious, the Oedipal complex, and the causes of anxiety and neurosis in repressed memories. Its impact on modern psychology is comparable to Darwin’s theory of evolution or Einstein’s relativity, as concepts like ‘the unconscious’ and ‘the ego’ infiltrated language itself and psychologists were no longer confined to psychiatric asylums.

Monkhead Theatre (‘definitely a name to look out for in the future’ – Fairy Powered) bring together ten of the best artists working in London to collectively adapt the classic text using a full spectrum of media. A rapid response night unprecedented in its ambition – the company of actors, writers, video artists and musicians provide a multi-sensory event that realises the experience of being ‘inside a mind’.

The theatre itself becomes consciousness. At night the repressed wishes, memories and desires banished to the unconscious (the bar outside) return to the conscious mind to roam semi-disguised in the form of dreams…

created by Chloë Myerson & Nico Pimparé

adapted by Chloë Myerson
directed by Nico Pimparé
sound and video by Josh Field
produced by Florence Bell

Praise for MONKHEAD’S most recent play, Dead Souls:

★★★★ ‘Astounding’ – Everything Theatre
★★★★ ‘Wild’ – The Spy in the Stalls
★★★★ ‘Inspired’ – Fairy Powered
★★★★ ‘Brilliant’ – London Pub Theatres
★★★★ ‘The hallmark of [Monkhead’s] highly considered and spirited production lies in the willingness to take risks’ – Act Drop

https://www.bunkertheatre.com/whats-on/collective-intelligence/about

PERFORMANCE DATES & TIME

Monday 12 November 2018
7.30pm

---

Running time: 90 minutes

Gielgud Theatre – booking until 30 March 2019

Reviewed by Claire Roderick

5*****

Company returns to the West End in a neon glow of stylish brilliance. Marianne Elliott’s gender-swapped production is contemporary, funny, smart and quite possibly genius. The naysayers who refuse to give this production a try as they bemoan “PC gone mad” are missing out on one of the best shows to open in London for years.

Working with Stephen Sondheim to create a show that has modern resonance, Marianne Elliott turns Bobby into Bobbie (the luminous Rosalie Craig), whose 35th birthday forces her to evaluate her life and her approach to relationships. Surrounded by married friends, Bobbie’s biological clock is ticking – visualised terrifyingly as she watches multiple versions of her possible future self with her boyfriends and babes in arms in Tick Tock. George Furth’s book is still instantly recognisable, with simple twists like the swapping of Jenny (Jennifer Saayeng) and David’s (Richard Henders) lines creating a more modern couple where the wife goes out to work and the husband is a stay-at-home dad. Changing the gender of best friend Amy to Jamie (Jonathan Bailey) also adds a more familiar and realistic dynamic to the group of friends in 2018.

The set is deceptively simple and stunning, with neon rooms fitting together below Joel Fram’s orchestra. There are shades of Alice in Wonderland as Bobbie feels the walls closing in on her trying to avoid her surprise birthday party, and crawls around the stage finding handy glasses of whisky.

Sondheim’s songs are sublime; this is one of those rare musicals that has no “filler” – every number is a wonder. The entire cast are phenomenal, and you may find it hard not to jump up and cheer after Every. Single. Number. Rosalie Craig is spiky, cynical, funny and vulnerable as Bobbie, and is an emotional powerhouse in Marry Me A Little and Being Alive. Patti LuPone is phenomenal as Joanne, prowling around the stage with an acerbic smirk and conveying more with an “Uh huh” than some actors can in seven verses. The Ladies Who Lunch is a masterclass in musical theatre – grabbing you by the throat and the heart and leaving you in a euphoric heap. Jonathan Bailey’s meltdown as groom-to-be Jamie is hysterically sweet and almost steals the show.

Company is proof that brilliant musicals can survive, and may need, changes to resonate even more with modern audiences. In Marianne Elliott’s hands, Company speaks to us all. And with a cast as good as this, Elliott has created theatrical perfection. This is THE must-see show of the year. Grab a ticket while you can.