Pay more attention to Brighton

Quick round-up of May as June is almost halfway through already. Life is pretty full when running a theatre, and it's so much fuller when running two theatres that I'm really worried I'm bad at it.

Anyway, let's rewind for a month and a bit. Started theatrical life on Friday 2nd May with the reading of It's Difficult by Wendy Fisher at Canada Water Theatre. Then straight to Southwark Playhouse to see Cockfosters, and hopefully we'll see Cockfosters again at Arches Lane Theatre.

On Wednesday 7 I went to a reading of three Eastern European plays at UAL Wimbledon, invited by Jozefina Komporaly. Global Plays in Translation. I really encourage the initiative and I hope there will be further iterations of this. 

Went to Brighton on 8 May. Got invited to about 8 plays at Brighton Fringe this year and actually managed to answer a few invitations. I was supposed to see at least two shows, but I was late for Gawa's Open Source Intelligence, so I got in to see Landlord's Wet Dream by Verity Sharpe. Missed United's thrashing of Bilbao at Old Trafford because pubs in Brighton seem to all be aimed at the LGBT+ community, and sports is not really on their agenda. But I wondered leisurely around city centre until 9 pm, when I got to see Dangerous to Know at Lantern Theatre. I was really happy to see the Lantern, lovely little basement theatre very reminiscent of Barons Court albeit bigger.

Sunday Fix on 11 June, which I count as half a show. Sunday Fix will go on in July and over the summer, but I feel a reform of the format is imminent.

Invited by Tim McArthur to see Eurovision Your Decision at RVT on 14 June, and really glad I did. Show of the month for me, and really good to have seen Tim's work.

Shelter at Barons Court was a nice surprise, a very solid show about trans love and about being othered.

Between women's FA Cup, the Europa League final and a very stressy producer, Shelter was the only show of the week, and the highlight of it, because both football and Roger have been shit.

I teched my last Speakeasy show for a while on 24 May, and there's some chagrin at leaving House of Burlesque after almost 4 years, and leaving the longest running show I worked on. But it's not a sad one, the relationship will continue and hopefully develop.

Due to difficult techs I missed shows in 3 Mondays in a row. Coronet, Riverside and Old Red Lion, but I did manage to see The Space's Season launch, and was impressed by some of the plays to come. Hopefully people will like Lobster Pot too. 

And Arches Lane is off and running, with Jen Tucker's Bog Body on 29 & 30, and The Electric Bill on 31 May. In between I've also rewatched Chop Chop on 30 May, bringing my total to 8 shows + 4 kind of shows (two readings, a scratch night and a season launch). I will count 10 for the month, 49 for the year, not including Mermaids Have no Tears which I saw 4 times, three more performances of Speakeasy and one more of Roxie does Chicago. Which I've seen twice more since.

Ramp up

April has been a really full month, so full that I feel I haven't had either the time or the energy to see some of the shows I've been invited to. And yet, there are 11+3 lines in the calendar, so we'll count them at around 12-13 shows, let's see how it goes. And no doubling, though I have seen two shows on two Saturdays, daytime while going to the HoB Speakeasy in the evening. But we've established we're not counting Speakeasy as shows seen, as that would add 16 performances to my total. I'm rambling.

First show seen was on 2 April, KDC's Do You Feel Anger?, an excellent new writing American dark comedy with a strong feminist note. Then on the 3rd, for my birthday, we went to see Magic Mike, which was an absolute revelation. Best show of the year by some distance.

That's me in the corner

4 April was the Arches Lane Theatre launch party. Now, there's a lot of talk about the grind and the thrill, about the massive amount of work you need to put into a career in theatre, or any artistic profession for that matter, and how it's all made to worth by moments of incredible high, in the same way in which climbing a mountain is rewarded by a superb view from the top. 4 April was such an exhilarating high, one that took me some two days to recover. I haven't taken two days to recover from something since the massive drink binges in uni. 200 people coming to see us, and coming to show support. Never ever had I thought I'd get to anything near this. Ay, but was it a show? Hard to say. Some of the people who were there seemed to believe so, and they're certainly saying so. It wasn't necessarily my intention. Rather, I had thought about putting some sort of a lineup together, of anything, and calling it entertainment, or maybe 'something to happen'. It seemed to go down well, and it seems there is nothing more to a 'show'. I've had a few people from upcoming shows at Barons Court reading bits of their show, Elena singing some Amy Winehouse, Maria reading in exclusivity an extract from her new show, and Gracie Disgrace gracing the stage with some burlesque. And me MC-ing. Not too different from a show, I suppose, the structure of the likes of Magic Mike or Paradise Under the Stars, albeit of vastly different quality. Meh. I had fun.

Sunday Fix on 6 April. Definitely half a show, and I narrowly avoided directing a piece. I have also missed Sisyphean Quick Fix at Riverside because of it but hey ho, shit happens. 

Suzette's scratch night on a Monday evening, the exact same scratch night I've seen last autumn. Much less entertaining second time around.

The Argument, show 2/4 for April at Barons Court, was a moment of wonderful madness, the like of which I'd like to transfer to Arches Line. Not gonna happen, one of the dudes lives in Liverpool.

My second visit ever to The Space happened on 11 April, to see Amalia's Incomplete. A very sweet love and loss story with Mark Keegan and Kathy Bates in an ensemble piece of 6. I like Amalia, I like Mark and Kathy, and this play is very sweet, but it should be shorter and way more daring, way grittier. Amalia is allergic to grit, though, and nothing can be done about that.

Sunday, 13 April I gave Paul Wasy a night of stand-up comedy, Neurohahaha. The concept is great, I hope they come back to do it again, and I hope they'll be more successful.

Poor week of theatre, the third one, but a trip to Manchester on Thursday and the biggest high so far at Old Trafford, with 4 goals against Lyon in the last 10 minutes of extra time. United's worst season in my lifetime, and we might end up with a European trophy. Not too shabby. Anyway, theatre.

Sabrina Simohamed's All the Worst Parts was the typical student masturbatory show with some genuine (acted) masturbation. But they did it over Easter Weekend, and they sold out two performances, who am I to complain?

Kelsey's It's Nothing Personal, It's Just Business was as personal a show as it can get. It was also the worst-reviewed show in our time at Barons Court, and hopefully, the lessons will be taken from this. There are positives to it, and I think technically Kelsey has done a great job.

Roxy Does Chicago at London Cabaret Club last Friday, a show I might see a lot more of. Twice a week at least, apparently.

Then Saturday, a trip to the deep south of Sidcup to see Mara Borsa's Departures as part of the Rose Bruford Graduation Showcase. The show made me late for the Speakeasy, but I'm really glad I discovered the young Romanian movement girl.

Tall Tales and Cocktails, second out of three, and hopefully the saddest, with three comedians on stage and 9 people in the audience. One more on 25 May.

And finally, Mermaids Have No Tears, a show with a lot more potential than it's showing at the minute, but there's a pregnant feeling it will get better. Almost saw it for the third time today, luckily United played and won at Bilbao away, a win as good as trophy. May might be a good month.

Let's count 14 for this month. 39 for the year at the end of April. And Brighton Fringe is coming up.

Come to Barons Court

March was the richest month yet in terms of shows, I have 10 lines and 3 half lines in my calendar, although those half lines have strong stories to tell too.

1 March was the third out of 5 House of Burlesque Speakeasy at The Hippodrome, and although it was a dream come true working in a place that has seen perform the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Liza Minelli, The Rat Pack or Harry Houdini, amongst others, I must say I struggled with the technical side of our 5 performances there and I'm not entirely happy with my work. We've also had the show in Neon 194 Piccadilly and Jack Solomon's this month, and I am excited about 194 Piccadilly becoming a long term home for the show, it's a great place. However, I'm not counting any of them 5 shows towards shows seen this month.

Apart from Speakeasy, my first was Down the Road at Playhouse East, Flick's treat. It fills my heart with joy to see Flick doing so well in her tech career, and she fully deserves the work coming her way. I also feel jealous and concerned about how hard it is to find people so good. Oh well, let's see what teh future holds.

Sunday 9 March Taichi finally had his Nightcap Quartet gig. More of a concert than a teatrical show, it was in a theatre, so I'll count it.

If I were to pick a favourite...

Second week of March was a bit insane with Hatch & Scratch at Riverside, The Silent Escape at Shaw, Paradise under the Stars at The Lost Estate and the Persever Scratch Night at Barons Court on Sunday. Add the dress rehearsal of Ragged Claws, and that's 5 shows in 7 days, plus a Speakeasy. We oversold Ragged Claws every night, so I didn't quite managed to see an actual performance of it, thought something tells me it will be back. Namely, the sold out 6 performances run.

Week 3 started with The Offie Awards at the Central Methodist Hall. Again, more award ceremony and less of a show, but hey, I've been in the same room with Robert Powell! So I'll count it. I then teched the three performances of I'm a Philosopher, Get me Out of Here at Riverside, and managed to see the Limitless showcase at Brixton Playhouse in-between. 

And last week, and last week of March, I saw Fool's Gold twice, The Bald Soprano at the RCI and Tall Tales & Cocktails. I then closed the month with Everleigh's reading of Null at the Norwegian Embassy, with Gine Cornelia Pedersen in the audience and involved in the Q&A.

I highlighted 14 and I'll go with 14, so let's say 25 for the year. Which is a quarter of 100 in a quarter of a year. Bang on when I say at least 100 shows, at least 200 performances.

A total Betty

February was a much richer month in terms of shows. I started the month in Bucharest and unfortunately I didn't see as much theatre as I would've liked there. I did manage to see Madame Butterfly at the National Opera on 2 February though, the second time ever I've been to the Bucharest National Opera, and the first time in more than 20 years.

Acid's Reign - a play for our times

Contrary to the vibe of the room, I was disappointed with the production. Madame Butterfly is a problematic piece as it is, so having European actors play Japanese characters only exacerbates its issues. Apparently, Italy and the English speaking world has switched to Japanese actors at least for the leads as far back as 1930s. Surely a thriving cultural metropolis as Bucharest desires to be can afford to get a Japanese star to play Cho Cho San. Or just stop doing the piece, Puccini has so many much better operas anyway.

Back in London, and the first show of the month was Acid's Reign in the main house at Pleasance Theatre. A camp drag extravaganza with a much more solid story than expected from a drag show. An environmental message in the background and seeing Gigi Zahir perform, Acid's Reign was really a great evening out. I hope the show goes further, it fully deserves.

Next up it was friends' week. Went to see Everleigh's J [A Working Title] for my first-ever visit to the Space Theatre. I'm glad people moan so much about how hard it is to get to the space - less competition for us, but I really enjoy the walk along the Isle of Dogs.

Thursday 13 February went to see the opening of Akin's Dating Whilst Black, and I had another great evening at the very friendly Libra Theatre Cafe. Closed the week with the sold ut show Exs & Ohs at Barons Court Theatre, which I'm really glad I got to see, as it was sold out more than a week in advance.

The show that counts for half this month is Youth in Flames, a work in progress that we did two showings of on Wednesday 19. I watched the 3 pm one, and I feel it unfair to call this half a show. Work in progress it might be, but what I saw was very close to a fully realised show, and not a bad one at that. Fully ready for Edinburgh, I hope it comes back to us some time.

Friday 21 I stayed for Avocado. Powered by goodwill more than anything else, Avocado are ploughing on, more than 2 years after their first Barons Court performance.

Then lastly, Tuesday 25 we had our first West End outing since before the pandemic. Clueless at Trafalgar Studios. I love the film, and the people who turned it into a musical probably do too, but we clearly understand it differently. I'm by no means sorry I've seen it, but it's not a show, it's a tribute act. And, hard act to follow as Clueless the film might be, it's worth deconstructing it and reconstructing it anew, thus creating an original piece of work, rather than just reenacting the best bits of the film, only with less interesting acting but perfect choreographies. Whatever!

So let's say 7.5 shows for February (Youth in Flames being the 0.5), plus obviously the 3 out of four Speakeasy, which I see every week. They alone account for 50 of my 100 shows, but I haven't yet decided how to count them for the purpose of this exercise.

100 shows a year

Earlier in 2024 I used to say I see about 100 shows a year. Then I realized I've seen just over 50 at Barons Court Theatre only. Plus about 20 in Edinburgh, that's 70 already. So I thought the number might actually be closer to 200. So this year I decided to start counting them, and hopefully I'll stick to a monthly round-up of what I've seen.

In previous years I'd also attempt a review, but there's no way I can do that without strong biases anymore, so this will be purely a round-up, and how I got to see the respective shows. And January is a slow start, with only 4 titles to add.

The first of the year was mine. Lobster Pot, by Nicky Osborn, at Barons Court Theatre. Saw 4 out of 5 performances, but I would do that, wouldn't I?

The second was an invitation from Anette at the Norwegian Embassy, Moby Dick at the Barbican. I really enjoyed this one. Not a perfect show, but intensely spectacular. The things it did well, it did very well. A solid 4/5, even for a harsh reviewer.

I then saw the opening night of Second Best at Riverside Studios. Opening night of Asa Butterfield's stage debut, a full house in Riverside's main space and a good, solid play, without anything particularly outstanding. A lukewarm 3/5 from me, Asa Butterfield is very good, but the script is a bit banal, and the direction fell in love with a lavish set design which I'm not sure served the story best.

That's it, but then I realized I also see a lot of readings, works in progress, and half-made or partially made stuff. So I decided to give myself a 0.5 for anything that could be a fully formed show, but it's not in the form I witnessed. The first one, a reading at the Italian Cultural Institute in London, a feminist Anglo-pleaser from CambiaScena. In The Pink by Irene Petra Zani, and I got there because I wanted to see Cambiascena's work, I wanted to see the Italian Institute and I wanted to see Francesca Fatichetti who I know from Psychonaut Theatre/WIG of Life.

The second one was a reading of Mihail Sebastian's Star Without a Name which I organized with the pupils of Richmond College. It won't go anywhere, but it was a good refresher to hear the play out loud.

And finally, a night of shorts at Barons Court Theatre, brought together by an environmental thread.

So really, 3 plays + 1.5. But let's stick to 4. I'll probably overtake this in February, already saw one and have a few more scheduled.

Everyone deserves the chance to fly

Wicked by Gregory Maguire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wicked the Musical is one of my favorites of the genre, and I really liked Wicked the movie. I've been wanting to read the book for years, but getting it as a gift last Christmas finally presented the opportunity.

From the off, finding out it's been written a few minutes away from my house made it endearing. But once the story gets going, the world we discover has little if anything to do with the world of the aforementioned visual mediums.

Gregory Maguire admits to creating a world much darker and much grittier than the one in the musical-turned-movie, and it takes a bit to accept it. The writing is beautiful though, especially in the beginning, and the time in Shiz is, in my opinion, the most successful part of the book.

There'll be spoilers ahead, so stop reading here if you don't want them.

The weird pornographic interlude in the middle is where the book goes astray, I feel. Fiyero has a much smaller part than I thought he would, he seems to exist merely to conceive Elphaba's son because after his death or presumed death, he is invoked a number of times but he cannot be held accountable for any course of affairs.

And I do feel that the second half of the book is weaker than the first. Every time jump makes Elphaba more inconsistent with herself, her behavior more erratic, the storyline in more need of reader's suspension of disbelief. Hence, when we finally get to merge its ending with the one from The Wizard of Oz, it doesn't click in nicely, it feels forced, and Elphaba is way out of character. In that sense, the musical has done a great job in leaving an open ending. Of course, the author has the excuse of all of the open possibilities in the half-decades that we skip, but these sudden turns make the story confusing, the message harder to decipher. It's all good and swell setting out to create a world, and in terms of world-creation the book is a monumental and admirable effort, but to what end? What do we do with the world, once created?

I suppose we'll see, Wicked is, at the end of the day, the first in a series of four, and in the great tradition of the Victorian novel, the next books will be concerned with future generations.

But if I'm completely honest, for all the expectation, Wicked left me a bit deflated and at the end of it I don't feel a desire to read book 2 of the series. I feel like taking another look at The Wizard of Oz.

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Edinburgh 2025 - Have you seen anything good?

Sinead O'Brien - Hero/Banlaoch

I kept saying I didn't see as many shows this year as I'd usually see, and while that's true, I still ended up seeing 21 shows in the 5 days I was up in Edinburgh.

But I did have a bit of a weird festival, in that it was a lot more about people than it was about shows. Not only the meetings, though I greatly enjoyed meeting Flavia and Rob of Brassica Productions and seeing the city through their eyes as locals and as theatre-makers, but the way I picked the show had to do with the people making them more than anything else. Is this as it should be? Who knows? There are no right answers.

For various reasons I will not rate/review the shows, but I do list them here to have a record of them. In terms of recommendation for the last week of the festival, things are simple: see as much as you can. See all of the ones below if you can. So, in order of watching them:

Reuben Kaye: Live and Intimidating (Assembly George Square, 8.05 pm)

*

In the Lady Garden (Pleasance Courtyard, 2.15 pm)

If Only I Could (The Space on the Mile, 5.05 pm)

Girlhood (Greenside Riddles Court, 6.30 pm)

Ulysses in Babel (C Venues - C Alto, 21.30 pm)

It's Ok, I Still Think You're Great (The Space on the Mile, 22.55 pm)

*

Love me Like a Chai Tea Latte (Lighthouse Bookshop, 8 pm)

Corpse Flower (C Venues, 21.55 pm)

Per-Verse (C Venues, 23.10 pm)

*

Funny Guy (Greenside @ George Street, 5.20 pm)

An Evening Without Kate Bush (Assembly Checkpoint, 7.20 pm)

Hallo (Hoots @ Potterrow, 21.25 pm)

*

The Book of Joan (The Space on the Mile, 4.40 pm)

Maria Telnikoff: All the Men Are Going to Hate Me (Underbelly Bristo Square 15.45 pm)

Hero / Banlaoch (Scottish Storytelling Centre, 17.30 pm)

Outwith Words: Tinderbox Orchestra and Loud Poets  (Edinburgh Central Library, 8 pm)

The Kids Might Die (Greenside @ George Street, 23.15 pm)

*

The Christening of Prince Imogene (The Space @ Surgeons Hall, 11 am)

Grape Culture (The Space @ Surgeons Hall, 12 pm)

Shake It Up: The Improvised Shakespeare Show (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, 1 pm)

Sarah Hester Ross is What? (Just the Tonic Nucleus, 2.30 pm)

Reuben's show is still phenomenal, yet I found this one somewhat diluted down from his usual flamboyance. For TV, apparently. I hope it works.

Some really strong writing for In the Lady Garden and Girlhood, a great Weimar republic/kafkian aesthetic for Corpse Flower, Maria Telnikoff is going from strength to strength and she will soon become a Fringe staple.

Finally saw An Evening Without Kate Bush after some three years of trying and, although Sarah is an amazing performer and she puts on a great show, I'd say it's hard to enjoy it without some previous admiration of Kate Bush, which I do not posses.

Hero/Banlaoch is the highlight of my fringe this year. A phenomenal show by a phenomenal storyteller. I'm really glad I discovered Sinead and looking forward to seeing more of her work!

I'm really glad to have met two people in person as well: the other Leo Bacica, and I find it amazing that both of us are in the same country and activating in the same field. Though I wish I was as good an artist as he is! The second one is Calliope Weissman, and I couldn't believe what a sweet, engaging and enjoyable presence Calliope is. I hope to meet her again soon for sure.

And even my last day, when I left at 4 pm, was interesting: I got to meet China Forbes' nephew with a great show about the trans experience, and I got to meet Maya Forbes as well, China's sister, whose film The Polka King I really enjoyed. 

Very happy to have finally seen Silvia's Shakespeare improvisation troupe as well, and looking forward to seeing them again!

Olga Koch comes from money? What about Sarah Hester Ross? She invited me to her show after I shared a photo with Reuben, and I went. A cabaret show at 2.30 pm in a room that seats 300? That's a tall order and I think where Sarah got it wrong. Nothing wrong with doing a smaller room, but in a late evening slot, when the audience expects cabaret and indeed, it might be the most appropriate form of entertainment. I hope I'll see her in better circumstances next year. Otherwise, I'm absolutely impressed by the high production value of both her production and her online content. It's the kind of production value you have to invest heavily in, and kudos to her for being able to afford it.

But, the really important thing this year is the I really felt there is such a thing as 'the Barons Court Theatre fringe'. It was last year as well, with Maria's show and the two US previews, but this year we've had no less than nine shows that have been or will be at Barons Court Theatre, including the now multi-award winning Son of a Bitch by Anna Morris: Funny Guy, It's Ok, Son of a Bitch, Gang Bang, Marriage with Benfits, Ulysses in Babel, Forgiving my Mother, Eccentrics Assemble, Any Day Now. In addition, Reuben, Maria, Stephen and his three Threedumb shows, Flick and Threepenny Collective, are all performers close to us in one way or another. Which... is impressive. We could run a festival with these shows alone, and it would be a good one. And that makes me quite proud of the work we're doing. I hope we can continue.