Tezza's Theatre Place

Operation Black Antler. Deep swimming in a murky world – Image Credit Blast Theory I love immersive theatre. In my time writing reviews, I have experienced many immersive theatre shows. I’ve survived a zombie apocalypse, hunted for Jack the Ripper, lost my sense of sight and trained as a WWII spy. But of all the immersive shows I’ve been involved with,  Operation Black Antler  is the most unusual and thought-provoking production so far. For obvious reasons, I can’t go into detail about  Operation Black Antler , but I can give you an idea of what happens taken from the production company – Blast Theory – website. “ 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? ” Having taken p...

An Honourable Man The problem with politics at the moment is that there is just far too much of it about and if we take the human element out, it makes rather good theatre. With Brexit, Trump and questions as to who will be PM this time next week, do we really need another political play? Well, let’s find out with a visit to the White Bear Theatre for Michael McManus’ play  An Honourable Man . It’s by-election time in Teesside Central and, against all the odds, the incumbent MP, Joe Newman (Timothy Harker) has won a famous victory and increased his majority. The reason for the surprise is that Joe is standing as an independent rather than as the Labour candidate he had previously been. His constituency party has been infiltrated by Momentum and tried to have him deselected. After a battle with the activists, particularly the young Josh Phillips (Thomas Mahy), Joe gave in, resigned his seat and forced the by-election that he has now won. Now, the problem facing Joe and his t...

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...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/181577/review-coriolanus-the-rose-playhouse/ Coriolanus at The Rose Theatre Many societies live exist under the delusion that they are run by men. Yes, the male segment may earn more and be in more positions of power than their female counterparts but, as the song says ‘behind every great man stands a woman’. Shakespeare knew this to be true and demonstrated the effect in great style in his play Coriolanus which has just returned home to Southwark’s Rose Playhouse. Ancient Rome is in uproar. The ordinary folk of the city, the plebeians, are upset that they are hungry as their rulers, the patricians, are holding back grain. Chief among those hated by the plebeians is General Caius Marcius (Chris Royle) who, being from Rome’s upper classes, makes no secret of his loathing of ‘the many headed’. The plebeians have two Tribunes, Sicinius Velutus and Junius Brutus (Jack Fairley and Sam Perry), who represent them in government, and these two figure...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/174739/my-country-a-work-in-progress-theatre-royal-stratford-east/ My Country, Penny Layden (Britannia) and the company by Sarah Lee It’s only been a year, but the effects of the Brexit referendum are still being felt by the country. In fact, whatever your opinion of the outcome, Brexit is going to drag on for years to come. So, you might think this is an opportune time for the National Theatre to go on tour with their Brexit play My Country; a work in progress which I caught at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. June 2016 and Britannia (Penny Layden) has called an emergency meeting of the six parts of the United Kingdom – Caledonia (Stuart McQuarrie), The North East (Laura Elphinstone), Northern Ireland (Cavan Clarke), Cymru (Christian Patterson), The East Midlands (Seema Bowri) and the South West (Adam Ewan) – to discuss the Brexit referendum. Britannia represents Westminster and the ruling heart of England and the other parts represent variou...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/172829/review-lottery-pleasance-theatre/ There is a problem with democracy in this country. The problem is the great British public. First, you can’t rely on them to vote the right way – for instance Brexit. Second, even when the vote is over, nobody is happy. So, in the case of Brexit, the Remainers are feeling left out and ignored and the Leavers are split between those that think Brexit will be too hard and those that think it will be too soft – see, nobody is happy. There has to be a better way. Whilst I agree, I’m not entirely sure that the answer lies in Sam Paris’ one-act play  Lottery  at the Pleasance Theatre, Islington. In the future, the state is pretty all powerful. For example, couples get matched by a computer and have to go to a state-run facility – using the purple bus – and do their bit to bring on the next generation, if you get my drift. On the bus, going to the centre, two people (Ava Pickett and Elliott Bornemann) ...

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...

http://www.lastminutetheatretickets.com/londonwestend/review-handbagged-brockley-jack-theatre/ Ever wanted to be The Queen? not a Queen but The Queen? It can’t be a bad life really. You get to travel around for free, everyone does whatever you tell them and it’s a job for life. Of course, there are snakes as well as ladders in the monarchy game. As Queen you have no actual power, can’t vote and every Tuesday you have to spend some time with the current Prime Minister – someone you may not personally like or respect – and listen to them whitter on about how great things are. In the UK, for an eleven year period, the roles of Monarch and Prime Minister were both held by women. Nobody knows what passed between them at their weekly meetings, but playwright Moira Buffini has come up with some ideas and her award-winning play  Handbagged , currently running at the Jack Studio Theatre, is the fruition of her thoughts. Unusually for a play about the monarch and her PM,  Handb...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/153624/this-house-garrick-theatre-review/ Ever thought about being an MP? I have to admit there have been times when I have. After all, the salary isn’t bad – nor is the pension – you get a nice office in central London, subsidised meals and bars, free travel to your constituency and back – first class naturally – and the work can’t be that hard can it? Well if you had been an honorable or right honourable member during the mid to late seventies, then you would have found the work very hard going indeed and nobody in parliament worked harder than the party Whips, who were trying to either prop up or destroy a government permanently on the edge of failure. Turbulent times which have been fantastically recreated in James Graham’s political drama  This House  which has just opened in the West End’s Garrick Theatre. Set in the turbulent political period between 1974 and 1979  This House  looks at the events of that time from the p...