Gulbenkian theatre, CanterburyActions speak louder than words as a talented cast take a guided tour of our most intimate relations Didy Veldman’s @Home grew around the idea of being “at home”, but to think of it as a dance about that idea would be a mi…
Antigone review – gender switch sparks striking take on Sophocles
Mercury theatre, ColchesterWendy Kweh plays Creon as a politically minded queen in Merlynn Tong’s adaptation steeped in grief and decayThe chorus has been banished, the cast of five has no room for Eurydice and, most strikingly, Creon is a queen in Mer…
The Long Song review – a vivid, harrowing staging of Andrea Levy’s novel
Chichester Festival theatreTara Tijani and Llewella Gideon are superb in this unblinking portrait of dignity amid moral horror, which follows a Jamaican woman looking back on her lifeAn additional sting in the tragedy of the death of Andrea Levy at the…
Ballerina Georgina Pazcoguin: ‘We owe it to younger dancers not to stay silent’
In her new memoir, New York City Ballet’s first Asian-American soloist speaks out about racism and sexual bullying in ballet. Now she wants to overhaul the industry from withinWhen Georgina Pazcoguin was 19 years old, she went to see a doctor about her…
Athena review – teenage duellists take a hesitant stab at friendship
Yard theatre, LondonTwo vividly portrayed fencers shuffle towards a climactic battle in this smart, galvanising coming-of-age drama The verbal sparring is sharp and pointed in Gracie Gardner’s quick-witted play about two American high-schoolers trainin…
We Are As Gods review – big-time sensuality
Battersea Arts Centre, LondonSome 70 dancers reacquaint audiences with the BAC building in a sumptuous feast from James Cousins CompanyThough it features some 70 dancers, James Cousins’ We Are As Gods is not only, perhaps not even mainly, a dance perfo…
Metamorphoses review – riotous night of vice, profanity and shocks
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonAncient Greek myths are retold with stripped-back simplicity and no little bloodshed in a hugely enjoyable show“Welcome in,” calls Irfan Shamji as latecomers shuffle into the tight space. “We’re about to start a banger.” …
The Mirror and the Light review – Cromwell’s spell is finally broken
Gielgud theatre, LondonThe climactic play based on Hilary Mantel’s magisterial trilogy has wit and grace but no great dramatic releaseIt’s a truism all too well known to Thomas Cromwell that history is written by the victors. By the final volume in Hil…
Dave Chappelle: The Closer review – aggressive gags and feeble protests
NetflixRather than explore the blind spots within modern gender and racial thinking, the comedian’s latest special triples down on the phobia‘I’m going all the way,” is Dave Chappelle’s refrain through this last in his run of Netflix specials. It’s a b…
Actor Renu Arora: ‘I saw my leg go under the bus and thought I was dead and gone’
Four years ago, she was involved in a horrific accident. Little did she know it would leave her uniquely prepared to play a noblewoman hit by a falling elephant in the RSC’s new Christmas musicalOne Wednesday evening in March 2017, everything changed f…