Tezza's Theatre Place

Matthew Baldwin Queereteria TV – Credit PBG STUDIOS Ever had a night at the theatre where, by the end, you’ve thoroughly enjoyed the show but ultimately are totally confused about what you have seen? Well, I had just such a night at the Above the Stag theatre which is currently playing host to  Queereteria TV . Thanks to an accident whilst doing something interesting with a senior member of the royal family, Lady Domina Bizarre (Matthew Baldwin) has caused the planet to be pretty much decimated. Now, thanks to her actions, there is only one television channel available, funnily enough, run by and starring Lady Dominina. The channel comes from an old gay cruising club called Queereteria. Lady Domina’s show is called ‘Club Bizarre’ and, as well as the lady herself is presented by people she is control of including Rupert (Peter Straker) and the former celebrity singer Torsten (Andy Bell) now over 100 and locked in a cryogenic chamber as the show’s resident feature. But the Lady’...

Urinetown, The Musical There are some words that just go together. For example, ham and eggs, fish and chips, gin and tonic, etc and if you are a writer of theatrical pieces, then two words that have to go together are dystopian and future. I can’t think of a single show I’ve seen where the future looks bright. Still, it makes for good theatre and one of my favourite dystopian future shows is currently being put on by one of my favourite production companies. Welcome then to the SEDOS production of  Urinetown: The Musical  at the Bridewell Theatre. In a dystopian future, water shortages have become so bad that in a bid to conserve the limited supply, all private toilets are forbidden by law and if you need to spend a penny, then you need to have a penny (or more) to give to the custodian of the official toilets run by UGC. The laws are rigorously enforced by the police, personified in Officer Lockstock (Luke Leahy) and his sidekick Officer Barrel (Stephen Kellett) who ensu...

Left to Right: Eleri Jones, Isaura Barbé-Brown The concept of robots has been around for thousands of years. Basically, since humans first learned how to work, they started thinking about ways of getting out of it by having some device do the work for them. Since then, technology has moved on and these days, either directly or indirectly, robots are a part of our lives. Already, there is a hotel in Japan staffed with robots and how long will it be before we get our automated friends to do everything that we would rather not? A question that is examined in Nessah Muthy’s one-act play  Sex With Robots and Other Devices , part of the Sex Season at the King’s Head Theatre. The show – performed by Isaura Barbé-Brown, Deshaye Gale and Eleri Jones – sees a future where ordering a totally realistic sex robot is as easy as getting a takeaway delivered. Each scene shows the interaction of human or humans with their own personal robot, and we get an idea as to why they have decided to go ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/197709/review-the-tower-theatre-companys-1984/ 1984 – Photography by Robert Piwko Some books never leave you. Even though you are forced to read them at school, they stay with you for the rest of your life. If they then get turned into a TV show, film or play, then they have a real uphill struggle trying to get over your original thoughts on reading the book. A case in point is George Orwell’s 1984 which has been adapted to every medium short of musical theatre – that’s isn’t a challenge – and I’ve seen the lot. Today, I added to my list with a visit to TheatroTechnis in Camden. It is 1984 and London is the capital city of Airstrip One (formerly Great Britain) of Oceania, one of the three great powers in the world. Following a revolution years before, Oceania is ruled by the omnipresent Party and the principles of Ingsoc (English Socialism). There are three strata to life in Oceania – the Inner Party, the Outer Party and The Proles. Party membe...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/186923/review-antigone-greenwich-theatre-london/ You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family the saying goes. Given the number of dysfunctional families that seem to inhabit the plays of the ancient Greek writers, I can really empathise with this. To give an example, take the tale of  Antigone  which is currently on a UK tour and which I saw recently at the Greenwich Theatre. The battle for Thebes is over and, as the dust settles the cost is counted. As well as the loss of lives in general, the leaders of the two opposing forces – Eteocles and Polyneices – are also among the dead, having fought and killed each other. This would be a tragedy in normal circumstances but, what makes it worse is that these two were brothers – cursed sons of Oedipus and Jocasta – and with their death, it is now up to their uncle Creon (Nicholas Cass-Beggs) to take up the mantle of ruler of Thebes. One of his first moves is to declare Polyne...