Points of view: theatre, comedy and news
Have you ever wondered how sea creatures must feel about the destruction of their ecosystems? Well, Zoë Bullock’s Gracie and the Start of the End of The World (Again) might just answer that question. It’s a creative and funny story that balances the humour and devastating throughout.
The journey of self-discovery and realization that Alexis Gay’s Unprofessional tries to takes us on is instead a forced show that tries to be more interesting than it actually is. Underlying Gay's main narrative of her time working in Silicon Valley and the professional culture that she experienced, is a an exploration of the correlation between self-worth and outside approval through the lens .
Going into the theater, we're all vaguely familiar with the fundamentals ingrained in British institutions, but our exposure to it is usually quite abstract and at a distance. Tom Greaves’ FUDGEY is a comment on the problem at the heart of British private schools and so brings an immediacy and additional layer of understanding to the flawed system within these institutions.
Titi Lee’s Good Girl Gone Baddie plays with the stand-up art form in ways that we’re perhaps not so familiar with, piling on material that aren’t necessarily relevant or substantive to push Lee’s overall throughline, which because of everything else going on, isn’t particularly clear either.
Death and the afterlife are quite unlikely topics or sources of humour for a stand-up comedy show, just from the juxtaposition alone. Rich Spalding’s debut hour Gather Your Skeletons not only proves that this is a false premise - or at least the exception to the rule - throughout the rest of the hour, that is full to the brim of good-natured humour and amusement.
Chris Weir’s Well-Flung is a nice story of self-exploration, but it isn’t much more than that. He is so concerned with getting through the narrative, that he doesn’t really stop to consider how it affects the comedy, and we can often go for long-stretches without any humorous break in the story.
Kemah Bob’s Miss Fortunate is a romantic’s journey into reality, that plays with different established norms and tropes to create a completely unique experience for us as an audience. This is also just a very fun - if slightly concerning- high-energy show where Bob uses different forms of comedy in order to craft this wild narrative.
I Got Some Dope Ass Memories With People That I’ll Never F*ck With Again is the latest hour by Erika Ehler where, using her own experiences as a basis, she deconstructs the concept of friendship break-ups in a meandering, careful reflection of a show.
MC Hammersmith’s The MC Stands for Middle Class is just about as good as it gets in terms of improvisation, music and comedy. It’s difficult to go back to listening just rap after this show, because what MC Hammersmith does is a lot more impressive than anything out there. Even Hamilton appears less ground-breaking after seeing this show.
Xhloe and Natasha have achieved a kind of legendary status; they are remarkable performers and writers who create such curious and dynamic storylines and relationships within their theatre pieces, combining elements of clowning, physical theater in order to explore broader themes, building and improving on the strength of their previous shows. Their latest work A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson or God (Whoever Reads This First) is no different, as with this show they break their own record of imaginative storytelling yet again.
Pepper & Salt 