Author: The Reviews Hub - London

Writer: Paul Aitchison Director: Owen Lewis We should get it out of the way first: magic shows are cool and that is essentially a fact. However, for some unfathomable reason, there are those who (while having good judgement in other areas) refuse to see the light and unfairly put the whole artistic genre in the shade because of poor memories of their uncle failing to complete a card trick. In all fairness to those who criticise this art form, there is a powerful level of naffness to most magic shows. The earnestness with which the performers approach their jobs can…

Writer: Kieran Dee Director:  Grace Millie Among the multitude of mostly pink faces surging through London on World Cup Day this summer, there may well be more than a few characters like Kerry Matthews. As a crowd they might seem boisterous, even threatening; as individuals they may be lonely, damaged and vulnerable. Kieran Dee performs his own work, with spirited direction by Grace Millie. He creates a likeable Everyman character who gets into familiar messes – his phone goes off at a funeral, he puts a precious business card in the washing machine – and doesn’t intervene in a racist…

Writer and Director: Ross McGregor In a pair of plays (currently running in rep until 19th February at the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre,) playwright Ross McGregor explores the lives and achievements of, first, Gustav Holst, composer of The Planets, and second, in Payne: the Stars Are Fire, the pioneering work of Cecelia Payne. Cecelia Payne was a student at Cambridge in 1919, but Cambridge didn’t give degrees to women until 1948, so she was forced to take a position at the Harvard College Observatory. Obviously, women couldn’t be trusted to actually use the Observatory’s telescope, so she was employed as…

Writer: Temi Majekodunmi Director: Jessica Mensah Olu is a typical teenager – nervous around girls, exasperated by his family’s rules and facing the everyday dilemma of what snack to buy at the local shop. Writer and performer Temi Majekodunmi takes the audience on a journey through a day in The Life of Olu. Growing up in North West London, he invites the audience into a glimpse of Olu’s counselling sessions, conversations with his mother and interactions with his classmates. But while some teenagers have a relatively easy ride through life, Olu has experienced life-changing events and heart-breaking moments. But while…

 Creator and Director: Matthew Lenton Of all the shows at this year’s London International Mime Festival, Vanishing Point’s Interiors corresponds most closely to what we think of as traditional mime. Behind glass windows we watch seven people at a dinner party eating, drinking and dancing. With only the barest spoken narrative, their meal is fraught with emotions that we recognise too easily. Sergio and his granddaughter Lola entertain guests on the Winter Solstice to celebrate the passing of the shortest day and, symbolically, their survival. Their cabin in the snow is Kai Fischer’s handsome set that would be quite at…

Writer: Sonja Ferdinand Director:  Sofi Orem Skoglund There are two unforgettable images at either end of Sonja Ferdinand’s swiftly paced radio play. One is the perimeter fence of an African airport; the other is a sunny suburban garden, complete with dahlia beds. They illustrate starkly the different experiences of desperate migrants, and of us, the fortunate ones who can listen to podcasts. As we later learn, it’s hard to charge your device when you’re on the run. The Dream Machine is a double-stranded story, told by two voices, intricately woven by director Sofi Orem Skoglund.  In one strand, where the…

Writers: Georgina Thomas & Cassie Symes Georgie and Cassie have their worlds turned upside down when an email from the United Nations lands in their inbox. Stuck in dead-end jobs, feeling underappreciated and overworked, they initially brush it off as spam, but when the KGB and CIA get in touch, they realise it’s their ticket out of administrative hell. Thrust into their new roles as world leaders they have to think quick to solve pressing world problems. Can climate change be solved by creating a buzzy new bee-themed cryptocurrency? Will an orgasm tax help to abolish tax evasion? And most…

Creators: Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Maillet With the cancellation of major festivals and on-going disruption to theatrical performance, it is heartening to see that incredible creativity and expression can still thrive as Stereoptik’s Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Maillet return to the Barbican for their latest show Stellaire ,showing for only six performances as part of the London International Mime Festival. It’s an ingenious piece that combines the story of the universe and the love of one couple with live painting, digital design, puppetry and musical composition. Running at just 60-minutes, Bermond and Maillet take the audience through space by creating…