Tezza's Theatre Place

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/170523/review-shit-faced-shakespeare-much-ado-about-nothing/ Shit-faced Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing Alcohol and the theatre have always gone together. Normally, its some member of the audience having one too many pre-show drinks then being a nuisance during the show – or even worse, falling asleep and snoring sat next to you. However, it is always assumed that though a first night and a last night cast party may get a bit raucous, the actors themselves tend to be sober for the duration of the performance. Now imagine a scenario where a group of highly trained actors sit around before curtain up and deliberately get one of their number drunk, then send them out to perform one of The Bard’s Classics. Welcome to Shit-faced Shakespeare’s presentation of  Much Ado About Nothing  at the Leicester Square Theatre. Now, normally in a review, I would write an opening paragraph like the one above then this paragraph would give you a synop...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/170476/review-2-become-1-kings-head-theatre/ 2 Become 1 (c) The Other Richard Everyone has their favourite musical age. For me, as a child of the sixties and being a bit of a late starter, popular music reached its zenith in 1984 and has been going downhill ever since. For the newer generation then the nineties were where the music happened and, if you fancy learning about love, girl power and the music of the nineties then I would heartily recommend you get yourself along to the King’s Head Theatre and see  2 Becomes 1 Jess (Natasha Granger) is in her old dressing gown and crying like there is no tomorrow. In fact, for Jess, it feels like there really will be no tomorrow as she has just split from her boyfriend. Luckily, rather like Bridget Jones, Jess has a strong support network round her and after leaving countless supportive messages on her answerphone, the gang decide it’s time to do something about her situation. Jess’ friends make a...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/170222/review-the-elephant-girls-draper-hall/ The Elephant Girls (Credit Andrew Alexander) Given the size and diversity of life in London, there has always been a lot of crime in the old city. In fact, in the early years of the twentieth century, you could draw a map of London showing how it was split up into different fiefdoms among the various gangs who operated there. As with pretty much all commercial activity at the time, the gangs were all made up of men. Well nearly all. In fact, down in SE1, there was an all-female gang running amok, and it is their story that forms the basis of Margo Macdonald’s one-woman show  The Elephant Girls  at Draper Hall. In a nondescript public house a couple of years before the start of WWII, a flashy man enters. Everything about his attire is perfect. From his three-piece suit, matching tie and handkerchief in the top pocket, to his trilby hat, this chap is immaculately dressed and out to be notice...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/170188/review-expensive-shit-soho-theatre/ Expensive Shit 2017 Photo credit Eoin Carey Ever look at the title of a show and wonder not only what it means but also why those particular words had been chosen? For example, ‘Urinetown’ is such a bad title for a musical that it’s even referred to in the opening number. Another show with an intriguing title is Adura Onashile’s  Expensive Shit  which has just opened at the Soho Theatre. The play tells the story of Tolu (Kiza Deen) and revolves around two toilets. The first is in ‘The Shrine’ nightclub, Lagos 1974 and the second is an unnamed club in Glasgow in 2013. In Lagos, Tolu and her female friends (Veronica Lewis, Jamie Marie Leary, and Maria Yarjah) practice their dancing, then they practice again. Tolu is relentless in getting them to practice dancing to Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat music. The reason for all this practicing? Like many of their contemporaries, the girls want to get noticed a...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/170145/review-the-goat-or-who-is-sylvia-theatre-royal-haymarket/ Edward Albee’s The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia – Sophie Okonedo (Stevie), Damian Lewis (Martin) Credit Johan Persson Not being married myself, this next paragraph is going to be pure conjecture. As a happily married woman, I would imagine that the worst thing that can hit you is finding out that your husband is having an affair. Now, and again I’m speculating, it must be pretty horrendous if his affair is with another woman but just imagine if he is with something else entirely. Well, now you can find out as Edward Albee’s  The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?  opens at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Martin (Damian Lewis) has got it all. He’s an architect who was recently awarded the Pritzker Prize and has won a job to design a multi-billion dollar city. On a personal level, he looks younger than his fifty years, has a loving wife, Stevie (Sophie Okonedo) and the two of them have one ch...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169948/posh-review-pleasance-theatre/ Posh – Photos by Darren Bell Societies and clubs abound all over the place. Most universities have a plethora of clubs available to provide somewhere for like-minded folk to congregate and cogitate. Clubs can be based on a shared interest – The Dr Who Appreciation Society for example – or on a common connection. Indeed, at Oxford University there is a club that is exclusively aimed at those with wealth, potential power and connections. Known as the Bullingdon Club which, although being ultra exclusive, has become quite notorious over the last few years. So notorious in fact, that Laura Wade wrote a play based on its supposed exploits in 2010. The play is called  Posh  and a new version has just opened at the Pleasance Theatre, It is a pleasant afternoon in a private club in Westminster and Guy Bellingfield (Amani Zardoe) has popped in to have a word with his Godfather, Jeremy (Sarah Thom) an MP an...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169857/review-natives-glenn-waldron-southwark-playhouse/ Boundless at Southwark Playhouse. Fionn Whitehead and Ella Purnell. Photo credit Richard Davenport Do you remember your fourteenth birthday? Funnily enough, I do remember mine. It was my last birthday in Essex before heading off to start a new life in Lancashire. For the three teenagers in Glenn Waldron’s new play Natives premiering at the Southwark Playhouse, their fourteenth birthday will be something they never forget. Never identified by name, three characters celebrate their birthday in completely different ways. For A (Ella Purnell) this means hanging out with her fashionable girlfriends shopping for an outfit for someone else’s birthday party. A’s life is about designer labels, who’s in and who’s out and how many ‘hearts’ every post on social media achieves. She and her friends are shallow, superficial socialites and would ultimately turn on each other faster than rats trapped in ...

http://www.carnstheatrepassion.com/review-honk-union-theatre/ Hans Christian Andersen first published “The Ugly Duckling” on the 11 November 1843 and in 1952, Danny Kaye appeared on-screen singing the story of the Ugly Duckling in the movie of Hans’ life. In 1993, songwriting duo Anthony Drewe and George Stiles produced a musical version of the story and now, in 2017, their show, Honk! Has returned to London and taken up residence in the Union Theatre. Synopsis It is springtime and in a rural farm, the feathered inhabitants are getting ready to meet the new generation. For Ida (Ellie Nunn) this means sitting for hours on end on the nest while her partner Drake (Leon Scott) wanders about enjoying himself. However, everything in the nest is not rosy as, along with the normal looking eggs, there is a larger one that definitely doesn’t look like the others. Drake is convinced it’s a Turkey egg but as far as Ida is concerned, the egg is a duck – just a slightly odd one. Eventually ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169841/collide-theatre-tejas-verdes-review/ Tejas Verdes – Photo credit: Konstantinos N. Papaoikonomou Over the last couple of years, Collide Theatre have produced some quite fascinating and surprising work that I have been lucky enough to review. So it will come as no surprise that I jumped at the chance to review their latest production  Tejas Verdes  at the Ugly Duck. Tejas Verdes is an old hotel in Chile that was one of the locations used by The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) to hold and torture ‘enemies’ of the Pinochet regime. The narrative by Fermín Cabal – translated by Robert Shaw – follows the story of a young girl by the name of Colorina arrested for being a Marxist. Told with a series of monologues, we meet Colorina herself, a cellmate, the person who betrayed her to the authorities, an army doctor and a UK lawyer defending Pinochet. Each has their story to tell, and their version of events to recount and e...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169787/lucy-mccormick-triple-threat-soho-theatre-review/ According to the Collins English Dictionary, the word ‘gobsmacked’ means astounded and astonished. Personally I think this is too simplistic as we all know when we’ve been gobsmacked don’t we? Well, if you’re not too sure what it means then I would suggest you get yourself along to the Soho Theatre to see  Lucy McCormick: Triple Threat  and roughly an hour after the show starts, you will be 100% certain that you were gobsmacked. Lucy and her backing team present a show that is, in effect, the New Testament, or at least the story of Jesus. Playing all the major roles herself, Lucy takes the story of the Son of God from conception, through birth, adoration, betrayal, crucifixion and finally to ascension. How she does this, I can’t tell you for two very good reasons. Firstly,  Lucy McCormick: Triple Threat  is definitely one of those shows that needs to be seen to be belie...