Helena Jackson is the Artistic Director at Sleepless Theatre Company, an inclusive company that has committed to always having at least 50% of its performers and creatives identify as D/deaf, disabled or neurodiverse and that is currently developing its interaction with access technologies for audiences. At the moment Sleepless Theatre have programmed with Alex Wood’s debut play, Nine Foot Nine at the Bunker Theatre as part of their Breaking Out season in June before heading up to Assembly for the entirety of the Edinburgh Fringe. Helena shares with us the inspiration behind Nine Foot Nine, a sci-fi feminist piece shortlisted for the 2018 LET Award as well as having a showcase at the Royal Court earlier this year, the current climate of inclusive and accessible theatre, and reminds people that disability is an important part of intersectional feminism.

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The Loch Ness monster, the Enfield Haunting, Jack the Ripper… these mysteries remain unresolved. Some say they are hoaxes, myths or unsolvable events, but, either way, there are the likes of Olive Bacon and Dr. Teddy Tyrell who will go where no human has ever gone before to demystify some of Britain’s greatest mysteries.

Having sold-out in Edinburgh Fringe, 2017, Great British Mysteries? has arrived at the Soho Theatre where Olive and Teddy share their curious and nonsensical findings with the London audience. But it doesn’t really matter how ridiculous their findings may sound. Whatever answer they come to it’s bound to be shockingly hilarious and irrelevant.

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Review by Tony Watts

The relationship of totalitarian regimes to the arts is malign, politicos wanting to neuter them, fearing freedom of expression as a direct threat to their control of the populace and its communal thought process. Censorship of  work, persecution of its creators and campaigns branding it as degenerate are as common in contemporary dictatorships as they had been previously in the dark days of Nazi Germany. The cabaret scene in the Weimar Republic was anathema to the German reactionaries of the time, as Stefan Zweig observed: ‘amid the general collapse of values, a kind of insanity took hold of precisely those middle-class circles which had hitherto been unshakeable in their order.’ Young ladies proudly boasted that they were perverted; to be suspected of virginity at sixteen would have been considered a disgrace in every school in Berlin.’ A 1938 exhibition, Entartate Musik, was mounted by propagandist Hans Severus Ziegler to demonstrate how necessary it was to ban this music, describing it  as ‘Un-German’ as it was Jazz-influenced and written by Jewish and black composers: ‘Effigies of wickedness’. It was in this atmosphere of repression that a body of work was created which is explored in a lively collaboration between English National Opera (ENO) and the Gate Theatre, currently enjoying a run at the tiny West London venue until June 9.

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American abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko didn’t just paint in red. He painted in delicate golds, cobalt, tangerine and shades of greens, pinks, blues, and dazzling yellows. He produced abstract paintings five to six feet tall, often fuelled by high intensity and historical commentary of socio-political events – the atom bomb, WWII and death camps. He believed that a painting had to measure up the tragic trajectory of human history.

Returning back to the West End – after a successful run at the Donmar Warehouse in 2009 and winning six Tony Awards at Broadway – is John Logan’s Red, with director Michael Grandage and legendary actor Alfred Molina. There’s real bite in this 90-minute play – a splash of witty, delicately woven dialogue between the ‘serious’ artist and his young, bright-eyed assistant, Ken (tremendously performed by Alfred Enoch). Red spills the truth on Rothko’s chilling occupation with the art world during a crucial period of the 20th century, while musing, unapologetically, against his assistant on deep ontological questions, such as ‘what is art?’

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Nightfall is the part of the day when the sun goes down and the stars begin to appear. Young new writer Barney Norris has created a work that pinpoints a major crisis that has swept the nation. He writes the piece, ‘Ransom Note’ in the Bridge Theatre’s programme notes, which has tropes of a socio-political manifesto, that I deeply relate with. ‘We live in a country that has been stolen from its people.’ ‘The hijacked.’

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Following from George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s marvelous production, Written on Skin – which was performed at the Royal Opera House in 2017 – their third opera, Lessons in Love and Violence carries the duo’s (composer and librettist) signature trademark: transcending compelling storytelling with exquisite sound worlds.

Working together, again, with director, Katie Mitchell and set designer, Vicki Mortimer Lessons in Love and Violence conveys a contemporary adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s harrowing play on the reign of Edward II. Written on Skin (see my 2017 review here) has a rich landowner who forces his wife to eat the heart of her secret lover without knowing it. Here the cruelty and abuse ensue when the King’s cold-blooded wife, Isabel (outstandingly performed by Barbara Hannigan) drops a priceless pearl in a glass of vinegar and dangles it, like a carrot, in front of a group of impoverished people.

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Molly Chesworth is currently at the Vaults Theatre performing the role of Josie in Teddy. Directed by Eleanor Rhode, written by Tristan Bernays with music by Dougal Irvine, the musical play teleports audiences back into 1950s London where the Teddy culture began. With original songs and performances, Teddy brings to life the post-war energy and celebrates the era with a post-show live-gig. I got to speak to Molly about her journey on Teddy‘s UK tour: how she manages to keep up with the fast-pace demands of her role and how special it is to perform in front of originals Teds. (Read my four-star review of the show here.)

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I don’t know if audience reactions are contagious but it certainly felt like that tonight. This shall teach me to believe 5-star reviews. Seriously, what the hell did I just watch? I feel completely fooled here, and I’m not the only one. Sitting in the dark at the packed out Almeida Theatre, I spent most of my evening with my mouth open gesturing ‘eh?’ That’s exactly how I felt, and at least 20 people around me upstairs in the circle.

The Writer, written by Ella Hickson and directed by Blanche McIntyre, is complicated. I get that. Its complexity, multiple scene changes and lapse between a play-within-a-play terrain can throw off the audience a little, but, even still, somehow it holds your gaze. (Sorry but this isn’t a spoiler-free write-up, so move off if you genuinely want to see this play because what I have to say may encourage you to return your ticket pronto if you’ve got a ticket already.)

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For Chess obsessives, who have known ABBA songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’s musical ever since 1986, the London Coliseum’s brand new production was worth the wait. (I’m not one of those fans. I was too young when it came out.) In the UK, besides the 32 year old performance at Prince Edward Theatre, only the Royal Albert Hall offered the chance to see Chess performed, again, as a concert event in 2008. But each time Chess was performed it was never the same. Andersson, Ulvaeus and its lyricists, Tim Rice constantly altered and edited the music which goes back to its original recording in 1981. Two of their songs ‘One Night in Bangkok’ and I Know Him So Well’ received much acclaim as chart singles. Music pop stars such as Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston sang notable variations of ‘I Know Him So Well.’

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