Tezza's Theatre Place

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...

LtoR Emily Cairns, Matthew Kellett & Meriel Cunningham in THE NATIVITY PANTO. Credit Bill Knight. One of the highlights of the festive season is the annual trip to Islington to the King’s Head Theatre for the latest Charles Court Opera Christmas production. This year, CCO present their thirteenth festive boutique pantomime and have decided to pull out all the stops by tackling the story that started it all with  The Nativity Panto . I’m not going to go into too much detail but the story concerns a couple – Joseph (Matthew Kellett) and Mary (Meriel Cunningham) Christmas, who have slightly different goals in life. Joseph is trying to invent a substance that will get his sleigh, pulled by Rudolph the reindeer (Emily Cairns), to fly and Mary wants a baby. It sounds simple enough, but, in the hands of John Savournin (director and scriptwriter) and David Eaton (original songs and Musical Director), a simple tale becomes something spectacular. The addition of a good old pantomim...

Fiona Marr as Grace Lancaster in SOUTHERN BELLES. Credit Scott Rylander. Tennessee Williams was an outstanding playwright whose shows have become hits the world over. However, there is one of his plays ( And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens ) which is not only rarely performed but, due to its subject matter was never performed during Williams’ own lifetime. Luckily, the King’s Head Theatre has decided to bring the play out of the theatrical closet as part of its Queer Season in a production of two of Williams’ one-act plays joined together under the title  Southern Belles . First up was  Something Unspoken . Miss Cornelia Scott (Annabel Leventon) is an ageing spinster and daughter of the south who lives in a wonderful house that she shares with her servants and her secretary/companion of 15 years Grace (Fiona Marr). The two ladies have cohabited for so long that you would think there are no secrets between them but, today, there is tension in the air. Not only is C...

Crystal Clear – CREDIT Lidia Crisafulli. Every so often there will be a quiz or a dinner party topic around the subject of which of our senses we would be OK with losing. Safe in the knowledge it’s unlikely to happen, we will plummet for a sense we think is superfluous, such as smell. The reality is that should we lose a sense we will not get a choice as to which one goes. We are so used to having all five that the loss of any one of them would have a devastating effect on our lives. This is the fate that awaits one of the characters in Phil Young’s play  Crystal Clear  which is making a long-awaited return to Islington’s Red Lion Theatre. Picture dealer Richard (Gareth Kennerley) has recently moved into a small flat. It’s not much but it’s his and although there is not really room to swing a cat, there is space for his futon, his favourite chair and his bookshelf filled to overflowing with knick-knacks and objets d’art that he has picked up. Tonight is a special night fo...

Vulvarine (c) Lidia Crisafulli I’m not really much of a comic book fan. Having said that, I do know many of the characters that inhabit the Marvel and DC worlds. In fact, I could probably put together an alphabet of superheroes from Captain America, through to Professor X. But, how many on that list would be female? Probably not a lot. There is definitely a higher ratio of male to female superheroes in the comic book universe. However, that ratio has now changed thanks to Fat Rascal Theatre and their creation  Vulvarine , who has flown into the King’s Head Theatre this week. High Wycombe is a boring town where nothing ever happens. This is particularly true for tax clerk Bryony Buckle (Allie Munro) who, after saying goodbye to her cat, Elton, spends her working day at the desk she shares with her best friend Poppy (Katie Wells) thinking about lunch and dreaming about her co-worker Orson Bloom (Jamie Mawson). Then two events happen to change Bryony’s life. First, Orson asks her...

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(c) Nick Rutter. From left to right_ Freddie Hogan, Lewis Brown What does the word ‘undetectable’ mean to you? If you were a fan of detective stories, it’s a crime that cannot be solved. If you are a reader of some of our more right-wing papers, then we are talking about illegal aliens living in the country under the radar. If you are a gay man, then it is something far more serious that will affect your life forever.  Undetectable is also the title of Tom Wright’s new one-act play which is receiving its world premiere at the King’s Head Theatre. As far as gay relationships go, Bradley (Lewis Brown) and Lex (Freddie Hogan) are very unusual. Despite dating for three months, this twenty-something couple have not actually slept together yet. And their relationship is going from strength to strength. For instance, this very night, Lex has introduced Bradley to his, rather judgy, housemates, something he has been loathe to do with other men that he has gone out with. So, tonight is...

Bizet’s opera  Carmen  holds a special place in my heart.  Not only was it the first opera I saw, but Matthew Bourne’s danced version –  The Car Man  – was the first time I really understood how a story could be told so well only by movement. So, when I heard that the King’s Head were presenting a new version of the story, I leapt at the chance to go. This new English version, with libretto by Mary Franklin – who also directs – and Ashley Pearson, brings  Carmen  solidly into the twenty-first century. The action starts here in the UK. where we meet Jose (Mike Bradley/Roger Paterson) a nurse fed up with his lot. He hates his life, consisting of a job he dislikes, a very sick mother being looked after by his wife, and his unrequited love for hospital cleaner Carmen (Ellie Edmonds/Jane Monart). Then one day fate, and Carmen’s naivety changes their relationship and enables Jose to both assist Carmen and get her into his debt. Months later, now work...

Brexit – photo by Steve Ullathorne Back in 2016, the then Prime Minister thought it would be a good idea to ask the British public the following question “ Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union? ” After a hard fought battle, 52% (of the electorate that voted) voted to leave the EU and this has dominated everyone’s life ever since. I have seen a couple of plays about the effects of the referendum, and most of them are very slanted in one particular way. So, when I was asked to go and see Robert Khan and Tom Salinsk’s  Brexit  at the King’s Head, I set off prepared for a seventy-five-minute ear bashing on how the UK was going to hell in a handcart because of the referendum. It’s been six years since the referendum and the country is still in the Brexit transition period. The conservative government have jettisoned their leader and Adam Masters (Timothy Bentinck) is the new Prime Minister charged with completing the EU wi...

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 ...

A sockful of custard Between 1951 and 1960, once a week virtually every radio set was tuned to the BBC Home Service and families would sit around listening to the madcap stories being transmitted on The Goon Show. At the heart of the show was one man, a comic genius by the name of Spike Milligan. For many youngsters, this name may not instantly draw gasps of recognition, but Spike was a comic genius of the first order and it was a sad day when he died in 2002. However, if you missed him, there is a chance to get a feel for the man with  A Sockful of Custard  at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington. A Sockful of Custard  is the work of Chris Larner and Jeremy Stockwell, two men who definitely know their Milligan. It is not a documentary by any means, but takes the audience from Spike’s early life in India, through to the family moving to the UK, his part in World War II – or as Spike memorably called in in his autobiography “Hitler, my part in his Downfall” – and on t...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/196487/really-want-to-hurt-me-at-the-old-red-lion-theatre-review/ When you were a kid, did virtually every adult you ever met tell you ‘ ah yes, schooldays, best years of your life ’? I know I got told that a few times. Of course, for some people, the days at school are easy, fun and enjoyable. For others, those that may be a little bit different, they can be your worst nightmare come true. A fact that is at the heart of Ben SantaMaria’s play  Do You Really Want to Hurt Me , at the Old Red Lion, Islington Performed by Ryan Price,  Do You Really Want to Hurt Me  is a one-act monologue of a gay boy’s time at senior school in Exeter in the mid-1980s. Starting in 1984, we follow the boy’s story as he tries to come to terms with his sexuality and becoming a man at a time when homophobia was rampant and the AIDS virus had become newsworthy, with media outlets talking about the ‘Gay Plague’. Fortunately the boy has a Walkman and, thanks ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/194968/moments-and-empty-beds-hope-theatre-review/ Moments and Empty Beds – Credit: Nick Reed Having two separate one-act plays on the same night is a bit of a gamble really. You never know what the audience are going to do. Are the two plays complementary or do they clash against each other thematically? What about the set, the actors needed? Yes, it’s a brave Artistic Director that goes for a two-show performance. Luckily, Matthew Parker at The Hope Theatre laughs in the face of danger and has brought a great double bill –  Moments and Empty Beds  – by Julia Cranney to Islington. Moments  is a two-hander about Ava (Julia Cranney) and Daniel (Simon Mattacks), two single people living in London who occasionally see each other on the bus to work. Ava is a young lady working in a call centre, while Daniel is a middle-aged security guard at a car park. One thing they do have in common is that they are both on their own. Daniel is es...