Little Lark of London

“I love my mom, I love my country, but I feel I can only love them from a distance.” Kuan-wen Huang: Ilha Formosa begins with an introductory video to Taiwan, illustrating how propaganda works to try to convince people that Taiwan is Chinese. When he enters the stage, Huang throws a balloon into the audience,…

“The story that I’m about to tell you is so sad. There will be tears.” Nearly Lear, written and performed by Susanna Hamnett, is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear told from the perspective of Lear’s fool, who in the play is not given a name, but in Hamnett’s work is given not only a…

“If you pull the threads apart, it’ll fray” Hamnet, Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, tells a story of love and grief through the eyes of Agnes Hathawy and William Shakespeare as they struggle with growing up in abusive households, falling in love, having children and losing their son, Hamnet. Madeleine Mantock stars…

“There’s a right way and a wrong way” Written by Jack Thorne and directed by Sam Mendes, The Motive and the Cue is a dramatic interpretation of the rehearsal process for Broadway’s iconic 1964 Hamlet, directed by Sir John Gielgud and starring Richard Burton. What made the show so fascinating is that it was created…

“Are we ready to be buried ourselves?” When entering the theatre for Bury Me, written and directed by Mina Moniri, you are greeted with a projection of a clementine projected onto the backwall, rotating and shining line the sun. Once the audience is seated, we are immediately thrown into a funeral, a sharp and dark…

“A bit Fleabag, isn’t it?” Walking into Dazzling, you are greeted with a large white backdrop covered in sayings, with a spotlight shining on the word “dazzling.” On the stage itself, things are haphazardly strewn around and an actor is messing around with them, trying to throw straws into glass bottles, switching lights on and…

“It’s not the same . . . Having things and caring for them” Dickless is a one-hander written by Aisha Josiah, directed by Emily Aboud and performed by Rosaleen Cox. The show follows the lives of Saph and Oli, two young adults living in a small town in Dunningham. We begin with Saph, who is…

“There’s life in this mud.” Glastonbury tells the story of four older adults who have an annual tradition of traveling to the Glastonbury Festival, a five-day “contemporary performing arts” festival in Somserset, England. Staying in the yurt accommodations on the campsite, Dorian, Dave, Matt and Sue (There was no programme so I am unable to…

“Everything we do this evening is completely made up on the spot” In case you couldn’t tell by the name or the opening quote, Shoot From the Hip is an improvisational group who tours the world playing games and putting on plays entirely made up during that performance. The group is made up of Tom…

“Ooh, that’s good for comedy” According to Santoro herself, Lindsey Santoro: Pink Tinge is a show in which she is going to “shout about [her] bumhole for 55 minutes,” an interesting start to a comedy show! The show actually begins with her poking fun at the classic Fringe show that has a complicated narrative and…