by Diana Miranda As we enter the space, playwright and performer Nick Cohen greets us as if we’re special guests at a private screening. He’s wearing a black suit, and has a polite if fidgety demeanour. When the studio’s doors close, he expresses a mild disappointment that Ryan Gosling hasn’t shown up. Part bittersweet memoir, part unabashed satire, Life with Oscar follows Cohen’s journey as he travels from London to Los Angeles. He’s an aspiring filmmaker from London who wants to mingle with Hollywood big shots who might bring him closer to his ultimate career goal: winning an Academy Award ..read more

by Stewart Robson For five performances only (sadly this not a full run), Dragonboy Productions have produced this adventurous adaption of five Chekov short stories: The Lady with the Little Dog, The Chemist’s Wife, At a Summer Villa, An Avenger and The Bear. Eliot Giuralarocca has skilfully adapted and directed these five stories. A brilliant cast of five, including Giuralarocca himself, give the stories a dynamic, farcical structure which plays brilliantly in the large space at Southwark Playhouse. The stage is sparse. The premise is that this is a group of Russian travelling performers. No ..read more

by Laura Kressly Best friends Noa and Nina are 17 and have the world at their feet. They are bright, articulate, young women with busy, privileged lives. Despite this, they agonise over the possibility of the world passing them by and whether or not they might actually be quite boring. To manage their worries, they project them – and their queerness – onto a high-conflict romance of their own creation. Set on a contemporary American ranch, scenes from their heightened fiction intersect with the real in entertaining and touching ways. Playwright Billie Esplen uses contrasting styles to good ef ..read more

by Maria Majewska Paweł Pawlikowski’s 2018 film Cold War is a profound account of Polish identity, cultural homogenisation, politicisation of folklore and the trauma of migration from the Soviet bloc. As a Polish migrant with a deep connection to this story, I was keen to see how this masterful, nuanced film would translate to the stage. Tragically, the Almeida’s production is an insulting missed opportunity.  A reverential, faithful representation was clearly not the production’s objective, and much has already been said about its exclusion of first-generation Polish migrant actors and ..read more

by Laura Kressly In the Stanley Arts bar, Kassi, Ali, and Daphne hype up the audience for the arrival of a group of refugees. They’ve organised a welcoming party but plans change when only one person, Zain, arrives. He’s initially unenthusiastic about being the centre of attention. With some coaxing after hiding the main performance space, he shares his journey from Sudan using puppetry, dance, and narration. The promenade family show is inclusively crafted with striking design, but doesn’t romanticise his journey or patronise family audiences. The ensemble cast of four – Adi Detemo, Kassicha ..read more

by Laura Kressly Even if our relationships with our parents aren’t fraught, they’re often complicated. In the case of the unnamed character in this solo show, his father never accepted his deafness and refused to learn sign language. He rehashes and reckons with this resentment as he ritually washes his father’s body, but other memories show he and his father loved each other. Using movement, creative captioning and projections, the production dives deep into the emotional landscape of a parent’s death to immensely moving effect. Ramesh Meyyappan plays the protagonist at varying ages througho ..read more

by Laura Kressly Revolutions are rarely peaceful. The queer one that unfolds in Charlie Josephine’s expansive new play is no different. Yet, heaps of trans and queer joy contrast this violence. Combined, they make a well-balanced celebration and act of resistance. Set in an isolated mountain town’s saloon during the American Gold Rush, the story is immensely ambitious and imaginative in scope but would benefit from further narrative focusing and addressing a couple of the more difficult themes that arise. Like in their remarkable play I, Joan, Josephine boldly combines past and present to rei ..read more

by Euan Vincent Last night, I scribbled something in my notebook: ‘all guards; all refugees.’ The thought occurred to me as I was sitting in the darkened stalls of the National Theatre, taking-in Amit Lahav’s latest production, Kin. Two groups of refugees traverse dusty landscapes, naked hostilities, and heartless bureaucracy in the pursuit of safety. This is experiential theatre at its best told through beautiful movement, an exquisite soundtrack, and intelligent lighting. The production’s ability to highlight the dissonance between the everyday of border guard life and the emotional swell o ..read more

by Zahid Fayyaz Winner of Drag Race UK this year, Lancaster’s Ginger Johnson celebrates her victory with a Christmas residency for most of December and the first week of January. Ably accompanied by the wonderful Sarah Rose on the keys, this is a technicolour riot of music, comedy and fabulous costumes. Having been performing for almost 20 years, Ginger has the crowd patter down. It’s an art. She also has no problem keeping the show moving and deftly deals with any technical issues or interruptions from the crowd. The songs are a particular highlight of the show; obviously they have a Christm ..read more

by Zahid Fayyaz Fresh from a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe, Cassie Workman brings her lyrical 55-minute poem to the intimate upstairs space at the Soho Theatre. A spoken-word performance of uncommon intensity, it tells the fictional and fantastical story of the narrator traveling back in time to try to save Kurt Cobain from committing suicide. It touches on additional, more universal themes and issues however, so it isn’t just for the Kurt Cobain fans to enjoy. This is a stark departure from Workman’s normal stand-up comedy performances, and is clearly deeply personal. Within this fr ..read more