Tezza's Theatre Place

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/191652/thark-drayton-arms-theatre-review/ Thark I’m a great fan of the 1920s. OK, I’m not old enough to remember them but thanks to books like the Jeeves and Wooster series, I do feel that I know the era pretty well. I’m also a fan of farce as a theatrical genre and a combination of both seemed too good to miss. So off I toottled to the Drayton Arms to see a performance of Ben Travers’ quintessentially English farce  Thark. At the home of Sir Hector Benbow (Mathijs Swarte) his butler Hook (Daniel Casper) has just received some news. He has become a father – admittedly of a girl but he can cope with that. As he tries to head off to go and see his wife and child, he gives instructions to Warner (Sophia Lorenti) the maid as to what to do when a female visitor arrives. Sir Hector is out at the races with his nephew Ronny (Robin Blell) while his wife Lady Benbow (Charlotte Vassell) is away, so it is up to the servants to ensure that Sir Hector’s...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/172465/5-guys-chillin-kings-head-theatre-review-2/ 5 Guys Chillin’ (c) Laura Marie Linck Chemsex is apparently prevalent in the gay community, and every week, there are lots of gay men attending chillin’ sessions where drugs and sex are the order of the day and hang the consequences. Unfortunately, the consequences can be quite dramatic and there has been a large rise in STDs and a lot of broken dreams as the pursuit of hedonism at any price takes its toll. There have been various books and plays written about chemsex parties and one of the most powerful is Peter Darney’s award-winning verbatim play 5 Guys Chillin’ which is back at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington. There isn’t really a story to speak of in reality as there is no clear narrative, just five men (David Palmstrom, Gareth Watkins, George Bull, George Fletcher and Tom Ratcliffe) meeting in an apartment with the intention of taking drugs and having sex with each other. Over the co...

http://www.carnstheatrepassion.com/review-thats-jewish-entertainment/ Did you know, in the early 1940’s all the major movie studios – bar one – had one thing in common, any idea what that was? They were all headed up by a Jewish man. Now you may wonder how this came about. If you do, then get yourself along to Upstairs at the Gatehouse where Aria Entertainments are staging That’s Jewish Entertainment. This lovely revue show takes its audience on a journey spanning over a hundred years. From the mass migration of Jews in the 19th Century, from the shtetl or Eastern Europe. Onto a new dawn in the United States of America. As they travelled, the jews took their culture with them. That culture has always been steeped in music and drama. For many of the dispossessed jews arriving in the USA, entertainment became more than just a cultural thing – It became a career. From the stages of Vaudeville they exported their skill in entertainment. Fully embracing the commercial side of show busi...