Tezza's Theatre Place

Sex Crime – Photo by Matt Spike According to Oscar Wilde, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in many ways that’s true. Even an unflattering parody means that you have arrived and been noticed. I say this because this form of flattery is taken to an extreme length in Alexis Gregory’s play  Sex/Crime  at the Soho Theatre. Two men stand in a dark room with plastic covered walls. There is not much to see. A large red sofa and a metal stand, both also covered in plastic, are the room’s only furnishings. The two men – no names, so let’s call then A (Jonny Woo) and B (Alexis Gregory) – are, in fact customer and client. The service offered is to recreate the killings of a gay serial killer. On offer are various gruesome scenarios. All of which emulate the work carried out by ‘Him’ as they refer to the real killer. Both men have their own role in the ‘game’ but, as things progress, the lines between client, customer, killer and client become blurred leading to a final...

Alexandra Doar (The Narrator) and Mark McMullan (Joseph) – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Photo Credit Pamela Raith. Back in the mists of time – well 1968 – before  Evita  and before  Jesus Christ Superstar , a young and ambitious pair of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote and presented a little musical show. Since then, the show has become a firm favourite, with audiences world-wide and especially with Schools and amateur groups with over 20,000 of them staging productions. The show is, of course  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , and I caught the latest touring production during its visit to the New Wimbledon Theatre. Now, according to the narrator (Alexandra Doar), way, way back many centuries ago, not long after the bible began, and old man by the name of Jacob (Henry Metcalfe) had a large family of wives and sons. In fact, he had 12 sons – Reuben (Paul Brangan), Simeon (Robert Bardsley), Levi (Tom Bainbridge), Naphtali (Ale...

Can one ever choose where the heart leads one? That is the problem for the protagonist in Tim Fraser’s  Candy  at the King’s Head theatre. Will (Michael Waller) is an ordinary northern lad. He’s young, OK looking and reasonably well educated. He lives at home with his mum and Great Aunt, has a pretty good job that he is good at and enjoys nights out with the lads. One of the lads is his old mate from school, Billy. Who has returned home from London. Billy has a band, and really wants Will to go and see them. Reluctantly, Will agrees and goes along. An action that will have a profound effect on his life. For the lead singer in Billy’s band is a lady called Candy, when Will sees her, it is love at first sight. Candy epitomises everything Will thinks of as the perfect woman and he is smitten from the moment the spotlight picks her out. There is only one problem, Candy is actually Billy in drag. Whilst Will knows this, and has no feelings – aside from friendship for Billy – h...

PBGSTUDIOS: Ashley Byam, Keeran Blessie, Declan Spaine. People go to university for many reasons. For the majority, the main one is to get a degree and, following that, a good job. However, along with the educational aspects, university is also a place to make life-long friendships and maybe even meet your one true love. But what happens afterwards? A question that is addressed in Jake Brunger’s  Four Play  at the Above the Stag Theatre. Seven and a half years after having met, and fallen in love, at university, Pete (Keeran Blessie) and Rafe (Ashley Byam) are still together and still in love. They have a lovely apartment and live the perfect DINK life – wearing designer clothes, shopping at Sainsbury’s, drinking Chablis and enjoying snacks containing sun dried tomatoes. Life couldn’t be any better for these two. But there is a niggling doubt that has wormed its way into their relationship. After over seven years together, Rafe and Peter couldn’t have a firmer relationshi...

Falling In Love Again – Ramona Von Pusch (Marlene Dietrich) Ashton Spear (King Edward VIII) – Photo Phil Swallow. What would you give up for love? I know people that have given up their job, the family and their friends, even moving to another country all in the name of love. But few people would give up everything they have worked and been trained for since birth. However, in the early part of the twentieth century, one man did, and his story forms the backbone of Ron Elisha’s play  Falling in Love Again  at the King’s Head Theatre. It is the 10th December 1936 and King Edward VIII (Ashton Spear) is in his study contemplating his future. Tomorrow he is due to sign the Act of Abdication, renouncing his throne forever. Tonight though, he is still king and, because of this, he has an unexpected but very welcome visitor to his Fort Belvedere home. The visitor is Hollywood screen goddess Marlene Dietrich (Ramona Von Pusch) who has taken a break from filming in London and come...

My first show of 2020 sees me, once again Islington bound, to the fabled King’s Head for Unleash the Llama’s production   JEW…ish . This is the story of TJ (Edie Newman) and Max (Saul Boyer) two millennials that met at university, were members of the polyamory society and shared many experiences together. Now they have left Uni and are in the real world – Max is a not very successful stand-up comic (and part time barista) whilst TJ is a performer who expresses herself through the world of creative interpretive dance. They are still together – sort of – and probably have as many differences with each other as they do things in common. For example, Max is Jewish, and has the stereotypically large overbearing family to go with it, whilst TJ is definitely a Gentile and firmly believes that Max’s family hates her. Given their history can, and indeed should, these two try and make a go of things, or should, and indeed can, they let each other go their separate ways? What a great sta...

For reasons associated with the “Day Job”, I was only able to get to 69 shows this year for London Theatre 1 and the Offies .  However, it has still been a pretty good year for me theatrically, with 24 productions receiving 5 stars. This either means I am getting softer in my old age, or there are some pretty impressive shows out there.  Let’s delve into the top 10 of these and see what we think. No 10 - Operation Black Antler at the Southbank Centre This is the first of two immersive theatre shows in the top 10, and was a real surprise.  To quote the blurb I received - “In Operation Black Antler you are given a new identity as part of a small team; you are briefed and then sent into an undercover operation. You must meet, build empathy with and ultimately try to win the trust of someone whose political and moral views may be the polar opposite of our own. What will you do when the power is in your hands?” - and they weren’t kidding.  Like most immersive th...