Stage: We are world beating

Ali in Wonder(Eng)land
direction & dramaturgy Lara Parmiani
with Abdollah Aljohi, Adela Belekova, Arlind Daullja, Raquel Diaz, Malgorzata Fronc, Jean-Marie Kalambak, Maria Carmen, Jesus Leon, Wen Yueh Lu, Anna Marsden, Cristina Martinez, Julius Morie, Wilson Ringda, Hamed Vojoudzadeh
musicians Selim Guzel
set & costumes Isabella Van Braeckel  • lighting Chris McDonnell
Jacksons Lane, Highgate • 14-15.Jul.26 ★★★★

An ensemble of 16 migrants created this show with director Lara Parmiani, playfully infusing the Alice in Wonderland narrative with their own life experiences. The idea is simple: navigating Britain's immigration system feels like entering an absurd parallel universe where rules of logic don't apply. Loose and scrappy, this is a hugely imaginative show, played with boundless energy and a real depth of feeling. And because the performers are so honest about their stories and feelings, the show is both engaging and important.

Almost all of them take a turn as the title character Ali, who falls into a rabbit hole of confusion as they try to find a safe home in the UK. Some are refugees, others arrive from European countries for work, but all of them face an arrogant, nonsensical system that continually contradicts itself and shifts dramatically with each change in government. Sometimes they feel tiny, cruelly taunted by both officials and the public. At other times, they make helpful friends and find inner power in their presence.

All of this is played for laughs, but of course repercussions are serious, and emotions are darkly resonant. Alongside Selim Guzel's live on-stage music, this diverse bunch of actors is dressed in dungarees with white, red or blue T-shirts, interacting with a lively sense of humour. They often speak directly to the audience or don Ali's hoodie to take that role as the story moves through various recognisable chapters, including a mad tea party, a friendly caterpillar and a kangaroo court. The Home Office interview plays like a deranged, unwinnable episode of Who Wants to Be an Englishperson. As one person observes, this blindingly messy system is exactly how the officials want it to be.

This is a bracing piece of physical theatre that is made riveting by broad-but-grounded performers who have lived these experiences. It continually reflects situations any immigrant can identify with, from language barriers to learning British social cues ("Do I smile too much?") to facing a wide range of subtle, and not-so-subtle, bigotry. They're accused of stealing both jobs and benefits, as if it were possible to do both at the same time. And the most salient point is that multi-culturalism has defined the richness of British culture for centuries. So while we are smiling at the optimistic attitudes and warm camaraderie, the show's jabs are hitting their target with razor-sharp accuracy.

For information, LEGALALIENS THEATRE > 

photos courtesy LegalAliens • 15.Jul.26

Critical Week: Smile for the camera

It's been a busy week for me, running around town watching movies and stage shows. It was fun to catch up with the hugely engaging characters for Heartstopper Forever, a strongly involving movie that caps the TV series with a nicely grown-up story, even if the writing is a little cute. Joe Locke, Kit Connor and friends are terrific. But basically this entire week has been about Christopher Nolan's massive adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey. I watched it on the huge BFI Imax screen, and it's thunderously entertaining, carrying a powerful thematic kick. The cast is also excellent, particularly Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo and Samantha Morton.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Last First Time • The Odyssey
Heartstopper Forever
ALL REVIEWS >

There were also two superbly made big-budget biopics. From France, De Gaulle: Resistance is the first of two films about the iconic general-turned-politician, and it's a thrilling account of 1940-42 from an angle I'd never seen before. From Romania, The Yellow Tie traces the life of composer-conductor Sergiu Celibidache, another involving story I'd never heard. 

There was also a filmed version of Hadestown: The Musical, a terrific stage production (the original Broadway cast performing in London's West End) based on the myth of Orpheus, with catchy soulful songs. The British romance A Year in London is enjoyable but overwritten. From Nigeria, the action thriller Son of the Soil is rather chaotic, but also very watchable as it dives into a nasty underworld. From Mexico, the beautifully shot Last First Time is an inventive, provocative coming-of-age drama. There were two docs: Synthetic Sincerity is a playful look at the limits of AI, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary is essentially a lavishly produced two-hour advert for the Bruno Cucinelli fashion brand. And I saw two live stage performances: Blue Mist at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and Ali in Wonder(Eng)land at Jackson's Lane.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Hannah Einbinder in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Corey Feldman in Sour Party, the animated adventure Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog and two docs: Ask E Jean and Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie.

Stage: A place to call home

Blue Mist
by Mohamed-Zain Dada
director Milli Bhatia • designer Tomás Palmer
with Omar Bynon, Azan Ahmed, Kashif Ghole, Sanjeev Bhaskar
Theatre Royal Stratford East • 10-14.Jul.26
national tour 17.Jun-30.Jul.26 ★★★★

Carrying a very strong punch, this topical play is written with serious intent by Mohamed-Zain Dada, exploring issues that swirl around Muslims living in present-day Britain, specifically men with a Pakistani heritage. It's an energetic piece, bristling with life and culture, and packed with larger questions about identity and ambition. Quite a bit of the writing is very on-the-nose, but the points it makes about British society are important. And the larger themes have a wider resonance.

It's set around Chunkyz Shisha Lounge, a hang-out spot for young men looking for an alternative to pub culture. Three friends have found a home here: Jihad (Omar Bynon) is an aspiring journalist, Rashid (Azan Ahmed) is full of ideas to earn a living, and Asif (Kashif Ghole) is loyally in their corner. As they share gossip about the community and tease each other mercilessly, Jihad reveals that he is entering a competition to make a radio documentary. And when he wins, he decides to explore shisha culture. But the news media group mentoring him wants a juicier angle that plays up dodgy behaviour and racial divisions. Will Jihad betray his friends' secrets in order to launch his career?

This moral conundrum is powerful, and indeed it echoes far beyond the setting of this particular play. Like many first-time artists, Jihad thinks that compromising on this doc will allow him to be more honest in future work. And the context highlights an urgent aspect of a media agenda that deliberately politicises ethnicity, exploiting people to gain attention, oblivious to any harm caused. The way this plays out is darkly involving and also entertaining, largely because these three guys are so much fun to watch, with their hilarious wordplay, lively banter and close friendship. The terrific actors also give these men a superb physicality in eye-catching dance and fight choreography.

The stage is eye-catchingly simple: a shisha lounge with a neon backdrop. Lighting and smoke effects add clever touches, as does a major transformation in the final act. Sound is also used inventively, as Jihad makes audio recordings for his report (Chunky is voiced by iconic actor-comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar). All of this builds a sharp depiction of a subculture while focussing on three young men who simply want to pursue their careers and find happiness in life. The decisions they make create some powerfully emotional moments, leading to a final sequence that hits us right between the eyes. So even if the show is a bit too aware of its importance, it's still vivid and urgent.

For information, BOUNDLESS THEATRE >

photos by Ali Wright • 10.Jul.26

Stage: Naked villany

Richard III
by William Shakespeare
director Nicolás Pérez Costa
with Nicolás Pérez Costa, Marta Carvalho, Tricia Hitchcock, Juliet Prew, Hugo Coello, Mathew Miles, Julia Rose Lisa, Tom Longmire, Oliver Broad, Nabhan Uddin, Germán Martins
The Cockpit Theatre, London • 8-11.Jul.26 ★★★

Shakespeare's most florid villain gets a highly amped-up staging in this adaptation by Madrid-based Argentine actor-director Nicolás Pérez Costa. Performed in the round, the production emphasises physicality, using striking choreography and on-stage percussion to drive the action. And it also cleverly deploys sound and light to create a visceral experience for the audience. So perhaps we can forgive the rather overworked tatty New Romantic costumes (black lace by the mile) and literally on-the-nose cracked China-doll makeup.

Using the original text, which has been carefully trimmed, Pérez Costa presents Richard as a twisted, twitching monster who has somehow made himself look like a hero to the court. Walking with crutches, he regales the audience with his tormented ideas, devious plans and murderous thoughts, conniving to steal the throne after the death of his brother Edward IV (Mathew Miles). Oozing paranoia, he seduces Edward's widow Anne (Julia Rose Lisa) and kills her sons. Always with someone else to blame, he delights in doing away with anyone who even hints that they might go against his ambition.

Watching this brutal plan unfold is properly intense, played to the hilt by a gifted ensemble of players. Even when they're not in the spotlight, they lurk around the stage space, which features several steel drums that offer both height and noise. Light, sound and musical effects add motion and violence in several key sequences, such as a billowing sheet encompassing Richard's feverish nightmare in which he confronts his victims. And the climactic war sequence is superbly staged, from Richard's triumphant arrival on horseback to his final moments on the battlefield.

Throughout the story, Pérez Costa growls and snarls his dialog with menacing relish, magnetically commanding the attention. And the up-for-it cast around him equally commit their whole bodies to this extremely physical production. It's loud and abrasive, as this narrative should be. And the story has a fiendish power that pulls us in even as we are repulsed by the violent machinations of this unapologetically power-hungry man. And of course, they thankfully don't need to highlight the parallels with present-day politics.

For information, THE COCKPIT > 

photos courtesy of the production • 9.Jul.26

Critical Week: Bump in the night

It's been the third heatwave of the summer already, and I've been seeking refuge in air conditioned cinemas. There have been a few big screenings this week. We had a properly blood-soaked screening of the super-violent Evil Dead Burn, which kind of sidesteps the franchise for some gory horror. The live-action remake of Moana, is exactly like the 2016 animated original, but it helps to have actors Catherine Laga'aia and Dwayne Johnson on screen. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Shoot the People
The Last One for the Road
ALL REVIEWS >

As for movies outside the mainstream, Willem Dafoe gets a fantastic lead role in the smart, funny, moving drama Late Fame, costarring a scene-stealing Greta Lee. Sean Bean menaces Mackenzie Foy in the atmospheric, wintry Western The Isolate Thief. Finn Whittrock confronts his past in the thoughtful drama Westhampton. Summer campers get very silly, but also find some deeper meaning in The Floaters. And the doc Shoot the People is a bracing look at the work of British photographer Misan Harriman. 

Meanwhile, I also finally caught up with the brightly lit, extremely creepy Backrooms, complete with the Everything Must Go extra footage. And I finally watched the superb doc Marty: Life Is Short, celebrating the extraordinary life and career of Martin Short. Finally, there was a live performance of a bold Spanish-produced take on Shakespeare's Richard III at the Cockpit.

Coming up this next rather busy week, I'll be watching Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, teen romance Heartstopper Forever, the biopic De Gaulle: Resistance, a film of Hadestown: The Musical, action thriller Son of the Soil, British romance A Year in London, Mexican drama Last First Time, the AI doc Synthetic Sincerity, the designer doc Brunello: The Gracious Visionary and a live performance of Blue Mist at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Stage: Myth, memory and other bad ideas

–320°F
Minus Three Twenty Fahrenheit
written & directed by Hideki Noda
with Sadawo Abe, Suzu Hirose, Eri Fukatsu, Koji Ohkura, Shoko Takada, Yuri Kawakami, Satoshi Hashimoto, Hideki Noda, Isao Hashizume
choreography Shigehiro Ide
sets Yukio Horio • costumes Kodue Hibino
music Marihiko Hara • sound Raku Nakahara
lighting Motoi Hattori, Makoto Kitazawa
Sadler's Wells, London • 2-11.Jul.26 ★★★★

Following a run at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Japanese theatre company Noda Map brings a cast of 25 fully committed performers to London to stage this outrageously energetic epic play. Mixing various styles of theatre, this is a sparky mix of comedy, physical theatre, existential debate and absurd nuttiness. At 2 hours 20 minutes with subtitles and without an interval, it's not for the faint-hearted, but the bonkers storytelling and big ideas catch the imagination.

It's difficult, and perhaps pointless, to describe the Faustian narrative. But a brightly comical tone runs through the show, with constant sight gags, witty wordplay and cheeky characters who refuse to behave themselves. It opens with God (Isao Hashizume) making a wager with the Angel of Light (Suzu Hirose) about human desire. Then we're in the present day, as Professor Kyuri (Eri Fukatsu) is excavating for angel bones, the key to health, desire and longevity. She discovers that Help (Sadawo Abe) vibrates on the angelic frequency, so sends him into his genetic memories to both medieval and ancient times, seeking answers. And he's easily bribed with bananas.

All of this is set in a Tower of Babel that shifts through the eras, ruled by priests, monarchs or chief executives. There's a lot going on visually, with constant action as scenes shift using inventive trickery with light, sheets, screens, trap doors, steam vents and colourful costumes. It's dazzling to watch, thankfully directed with enough clarity to reveal exactly where to look. Each performer invests enormous personality and attitude into multiple roles, bringing them to life in ways that are continually surprising.

Along the way, the script tackles enormous questions, such as why humans are always running (to get away from metaphorical dinosaurs, of course). There's a Pied Piper who leads liberated lab mice or angels who have been frozen to –320°F to preserve them. But not all mice (or angels) follow the crowd. Conversations explore how our bones hold the memories of everything that has gone before, while fossilised bones communicate with the future. The show is a blinding mix of playful dialog, eye-catching choreography and heart-stopping insight. "When I had youth, I had nothing and I lacked nothing." "Beauty isn't an achievement."

Writer-director Hideki Noda, who performs as Kyuri's lively Assistant Stalwart, says that this play is designed to be something different for everyone who watches it, depending on how willing they are to connect with its more personal layers. Intriguingly, he acknowledges some will dismiss the show due to its excessive goofiness. But he clearly has these people in mind when he makes us laugh at something absurd or stops us with a profound observation. And in the end, this is a strikingly beautiful depiction of the folly of seeking eternal youth or trying to understand the meaning of humanity. Or of love itself.

For details, SADLER'S WELLS > • NODA MAP >

photos by Takashi Okamoto • 2.Jul.26

Critical Week: It's my party

It's my birthday week, so I decided to go see a guilty pleasure movie (I'd missed the press screening while I was in France), namely Jackass: Best and Last. It was as ridiculous as expected, not quite as funny as the joke has been stretched to the breaking point. But these guys evoke an intriguing stream of nostalgia that's engaging. Then the week's best surprise was the Canadian comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, an absurd time-travel adventure that's riotously funny and also hugely likeable thanks to actor-filmmakers Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
Minions & Monsters
ALL REVIEWS >

Rather a lot darker, My Father's Island is a gorgeously shot drama set in a remote corner of Norway starring the excellent Swann Arlaud and Woody Norman. Nathan Grubbs stars in and directs the involving drama Cowboy, worth a look even when it goes a bit off the rails. And Amanda Richards stars in and directs the likeable and deliberately rude musical romp Whiskey Dixie and the Big Wet Country. I also saw Hideki Noda's −320°F at Sadler's Wells.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching the live-action remake of Moana, the reboot Evil Dead Burn, Willem Dafoe in Late Fame, Sean Bean in The Isolate Thief and the doc Shoot the People. There's also a live performance of Richard III at the Cockpit.