Tag Archives: Barbican

Concept: Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante Director: Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Hip-hop is having a moment. Increasingly fusion hip-hop is being seen more and more on renowned dance stages, and while Pierre Rigal’s new piece which premiered at Sadler’s Wells was disappointing, fans of the genre have a second chance to see the Olivier-nominated ...

Composer:  Donnacha Dennehy Writer and Director:  Enda Walsh Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Premiering in Galway last summer, The Second Violinist comes to the Barbican trailing accolades in its wake, but after viewing this modern opera it is hard to justify all the praise. It’s a multi-media mess. Co-produced by Landmark and Irish National Opera it’s surprising that things are such a ...

Writer: Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, and Hannah Maxwell. Director: Lois Weaver. Reviewer: Hannah Powell Unexploded Ordnances; old relics from wars past buried just beneath the surface of the ground, a small possibility of them destructing ever present. Maybe in a minute, a day, a week, a month… Split Britchesencourage us to explore the topics of ageing, anxiety, and desire through ...

Created and performed by FC Bergman Reviewer: Richard Maguire When you think you’ve seen it all, along comes FC Bergman. It is not a football team, but it has the verve and swagger of one in the Premier League. Instead, FC Bergman is a Belgian theatre company specialising in the experimental and with 300 el x 50 el x 30 ...

Creator: Peeping Tom Director: Gabriela Carrizo Reviewer: Richard Maguire Nightmares have never looked so beautiful than in Mother, the new show by Peeping Tom, the cult dance company from Belgium. On the wide stage of the Barbican, dancers are staccato lightning-bolts electrified by grief and unrequited love; they come together to produce wondrous and shocking tableaux of loss. In the ...

Creators and Directors: Laurent Cabrol and Elsa de Witte Reviewer: Richard Maguire Playing as part of the London International Mime Festival, Bêtes de Foire, at the Barbican’s Pit theatre, doesn’t exceed anyone’s expectations of what mime entails, but this small circus show from France is executed with such old-world charm that it’s hard not to be swept away. The London ...

Adaptors: Simon McBurney, James Yeatman, Maja Zade and the Ensemble Director: Simon McBurney Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Pity is one of the most complicated emotions; on one hand, it speaks of compassion and thoughtfulness for others while, at the other extreme, it can be patronising or give the recipient false hope. Based on a novel by Stefan Zweig, theatre company Complicite ...

Writer: Tony McBride, adapted from the teleplay by Jeremy Sandford Director: Tony McBride Choreographer: Sarah Levinsky Reviewer: Scott Matthewman In the 50 years since it was first broadcast, the BBC play Cathy Come Home has come to be seen as the archetypal polemical drama. Its story of a couple who found themselves drawn into homelessness chimed with the viewing public, ...