Goner @ Battersea Arts Centre

Goner is a solo dance and theatre piece which mingles cultural references to Black culture in Britain with a horror story. There is music and dance, but also murder. Repetitive dance choreography creates a hypnotic state, and the choices of when we are fully lit vs when we’re plunged into darkness are quite interesting, coupled with overloud sound effects, and lights which are at times so blinding the audience needed to cover their eyes. These choices were intentional, creating a discomfort for the audience and calling attention to our complicity as viewers of the act of performance.

Overall, the piece creates some compelling images and thoughts as it progresses, and in many was is quite aggressive in its overall aesthetic, which is thought provoking, however falls short of quite landing its message. If I’m honest, I can’t quite place my finger on what it was that I felt it was missing to achieve this. That said, it was incredibly well considered and masterfully performed.

Cabaret @ The Kit Kat Club

So first things first — I didn’t get to see Billy Porter. Just my luck to spend a shocking amount on tickets, and it happens to be for his day off.

Now that we’re past that — there is much to like about this production, and in particular, I feel as though having seen Marisha Wallace’s stunning turn as Sally Bowles, I have witness a moment in theatre history.

The production positions itself as immersive, with the renovated Playhouse theatre repositioned as the Kit Kat Club. Audience members enter via the old stage door, into the depths of a basement club where they’re given stickers for their phones (like one does at any good German club…. ) and offered shots of Schnapps as you wander up a dimly lit hallway and find yourself immersed in the club. There are a company of Prelude performers throughout the building, there as you explore the various bars and the renovation of the building to look less like a traditional West End theatre and more like an in-the-round cabaret theatre. The mood is exceptional; it is playful and fun, and really creates a delightful atmosphere.

The first act begins, and what stands out is the willingness of the production to not sanitise the story — to allow this late-Weimar Republic club filled with gender and sexually fluid humans seeking escape, to be its grimy and delightful self. There is a sinister mood, with the Emcee looming, lurking over every moment. When we finally meet Marisha Wallace’s Sally, we’re struck by the pain she is clearly hiding barely below the surface. It is clear she is running, and as the plot progresses she is only running faster, yet going nowhere…stuck in the hedonism and everything that comes with it.

Unfortunately, this incredible setup and the equisite performances are let down by the very artifice that set them up; we break for intermission, and it is just like any other west-end play. The ambience of the bars is gone, the feeling of truly being at the Kit Kat Club dissipated. Throughout the setup and first act I found myself wondering how the production would deal with the end of the play (don’t worry, no actual spoilers in case you somehow haven’t seen it). As we broke for the interval, and then returned for act 2, I hoped that the end would somehow reinvigorate this immersion. Sadly, it did not — in fact, the choices around the final number were almost underwhelming, lacking the bite that it could have had, particularly in light of the rise of fascism in the US.

This all sounds like I was disappointed — I was not, but only for the quality of the performances from the cast, and in particular, Marisha Wallace’s outstanding performance. Her performance of Cabaret could (and should?!) have stopped the show; the agony her character is feeling was chilling, breathtaking.

I just really wanted a production which is lauded for its innovation amongst West End productions to see it through. I’m not asking for it to have anything truly innovative (indeed, Immersive theatre was new and innovative 13+ years ago…..if not longer) but to really stick with the intention would have achieved it. Alas, it was just another well produced and well performed play, stopping short of achieving something really and truly memorable and different.

When The Cloud Catches Colours @ Barbican

This multilingual verbatim play examines the experience of homosexuals in Singapore before and after the law change which made it legal to be homosexual. Exploring the changes legally and their conflict with social changes, the deep seeded beliefs held particularly by older generations. It primarily takes the form of two monologues which overlap one another and speak with one another - although only rarely do the two performers interact. Instead, they interact with the web of semi transparent fabric which pulls up, is propped up, and creates different spaces to explore, almost revealing what is beneath.

There were a number of really great ideas in the piece and its direction, but it never quite realised the momentum or revelation that could have been. That said, it was a very interesting and engaging piece — I just would like to see it have another round of work and some adaptations to the production to see them fully realised.

Igloos Don't Melt @ Camden People's Theatre

Igloos Don’t Melt is a new piece of experimental performance art which explores the experience of nostalgia, memory, and sense of place through the metaphor of literal blocks of ice. There is a complete lack of performativeness to the production; a folding banquet table and a small freezer are all that fill the space, yet it is captivating to watch blocks of ice be removed from the freezer, moved, stacked, and then dismantled through various means and methods. The audience are part of the performance; delivered through direct address, with moments of interaction it is almost like an oddly reflective and convivial stand up show. There is no narrative per se, I would classify the production as post-dramatic — which is really what makes it work. Ideas fill the space, yet we’re given the space to apply meaning to them as the audience, with minimal intervention. There are moments that don’t work as well as others, in particular a longer monologue toward the end about nostalgia could benefit from further integration with the physical elements of the performance. Yet many moments are thought provoking and really sit with you. 

This was a piece steeped in theatrical innovation. The ideas within the show and their manifestation through the performance are truly innovative and push the edges of theatre and semiotics. In particular, the  many ways to interact with ice — which literally melts and is smashed up, changing form and shape, causing us to see “reality” change before our eyes — is quite magical, and incredibly powerful.