site-specific
We're Still Here, National Theatre Wales review - powerful protest and heartfelt theatre-makingWednesday, 20 September 2017
Port Talbot (population 38,000) is a town on the south Wales coast famous for two things: steel and actors. The birthplace of Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Sheen made a rare foray into the national consciousness at the beginning of... Read more... |
Crude, Shed 36, Port of DundeeThursday, 13 October 2016
It’s not often you need a passport to get into a theatre show. But then the journey required to get to Scottish site-specific experts Grid Iron’s Crude does feel like something of a pilgrimage – first get yourself to Dundee, then find the Science... Read more... |
First Person: 'Leaving the house can feel like walking into battle'Monday, 19 September 2016
On a sunny afternoon in April four young women pile themselves into a toilet at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. They lock the door. They have come here to make some intimate recordings. Awkward giggles develop into discussion and... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Venice: Shylock comes homeWednesday, 10 August 2016
"In such a night as this..." begins Lorenzo's beautiful speech in Act V of The Merchant of Venice. Watching Shakespeare's play in the Campo del Ghetto Nuovo on a balmy evening under a darkening navy blue sky, with cicadas providing a busy background... Read more... |
Handle with Care, Urban LockerSunday, 12 June 2016
Storage space units are not a nice place to hang out. Chilly and quiet, vaguely depressing and horribly lit, they bring on a desire to leave almost immediately. The same impulse is palpable in Dante or Die’s site-specific show, Handle With Care,... Read more... |
Preview: International Dance Festival Birmingham 2016Monday, 11 April 2016
International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB) is one of the unsung heroes not just of dance in Britain, but of festivals. It treats anyone within striking distance of the West Midlands to an exciting range of performers and public dance events over... Read more... |
Twelfth Night, French Protestant Church, SohoFriday, 25 March 2016
This is set in “a world midway between Elizabethan pageant and haute-couture catwalk”, a programme note for Scena Mundi's production says, and the initial signs certainly point to that. The aisle of the glorious Grade I-listed French Protestant... Read more... |
{150}, National Theatre Wales/Theatr Genedlaethol CymruWednesday, 01 July 2015
The brackets around {150} are ambiguous, almost apologetic. The 150th anniversary of Y Wladfa (The Colony), the semi-legendary "oasis of Welshness" in the Patagonian wilderness has given occasion in Wales for the celebration of a most unlikely story... Read more... |
Gallery: The Drowned Man of PunchdrunkMonday, 15 June 2015
Punchdrunk entered the world of theatre through a side door in the basement. The company navigated a strange path around abandoned warehouses on the edge of town, via the odd wrong turn and sundry culs de sac, and fetched up two years ago at an old... Read more... |
James Turrell: Lightscape, Houghton HallMonday, 08 June 2015
Enzo Green, Shirim, Raethro Red, Raemar Magenta. Everything has a name. But beyond the meaningless but musical sounds of their titles, the light projections and installations on view at Houghton Hall by the leading American light, land and skyscape... Read more... |
The Armour, The Langham HotelSaturday, 07 March 2015
The Langham has marked its 150th anniversary in theatrical fashion by commissioning an original drama spanning several decades – and floors – from emerging company Defibrillator, whose Tennessee Williams trio at this venue impressed last year. Now... Read more... |
Mametz, National Theatre WalesSaturday, 28 June 2014
Mametz Wood was the objective of the 38th Welsh Division during the First Battle of the Somme in World War One. Numerous failed attempts to capture the wood were made, during which much Welsh blood was spilt. Mametz therefore holds a great deal of... Read more... |
