Review by Iman Boujelouah

The Bunker auditorium fills to the actors of this two-hander, (Ben Nathan and the vibrant Lara Sawalha,) asking audience members to take off their shoes. The shoes are then placed in a row downstage as the actors casually converse with the audience – an atmospheric sense of home is instantly created. On a bare stage, the actors recount the verbatim testimonies from Israelis and Palestinians, that Nathan, who also conceived the play, gathered on location. Both actors are adept at putting on varying shades of the Semitic accents, and transforming rapidly with impressive characterisations. Through clever direction (Daniel Goldman,) the actors place the audiences’ shoes across the stage, before pretending to stand in their shoes, as they perform each testimony. The masterful lighting design (Richard Williamson) tightly holds this illusion in place. The idea that the audiences’ shoes have now become those of the Semites, is heart-warming and already hits home the need for unconditional empathy to each testimony.

>>>

Meet Alexander Wolfe and James Seager of Les Enfants Terribles

>>>

Two Gents Productions’ upcoming show The Moors, at Tara Arts from November 7, is a playful amalgamation of South African workshop theatre and Shakespearean story structure, meditating on race, immigration, and art. The writer and actor of this two-hander show, Tonderai Munyevu speaks to us about the conception of the show, collaborating with Tunji Lucas and his interests in Shakespeare fused with South African performance and culture.

>>>

Meet MKEC Productions’ Producers Marc Kelly and Liz Chadwick

>>>

Chivaree Circus’s show, CRASH is a love story with thrilling acrobatics, aerial dance and gothic balletic pieces to an electronic score. Its creative producer, Edward Gosling speaks to us about the show, which shall be showing at Clapham Common’s Winterville Festival this year, and discusses his love for the circus, the inspiration behind CRASH and why the circus genre is becoming more popular.

>>>

Tea Break Theatre’s thrilling immersive production of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is now showing at the National Trust’s Sutton House this Halloween. This bold production encourages the audience to reflect on female identity and the role of women in society as Tea Break Theatre puts an exciting feminist twist on the classic novel. Here, its director Katharine Armitage discusses the challenges of putting on this production, her love for female writers and where she feels the voices of females are slowly making more strides in the theatre world.

>>>

The National Youth Theatre REP Company have revived the thought-provoking and critically acclaimed play by Evan Placey (Writers’ Guild Award winner), Consensual, for the first time. Now showing at the Soho Theatre, its associate director Anna Niland talks to us about the play and its connection to sex, consent, the #metoo movement and sex education in the UK.

>>>

Meet writer and creator Lilac Yosiphon>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>