Stage: Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out

King Lear
presented by Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio
with Cecilia Yip, Lindzay Chan, Amanda Leung, Cassandra Tang, Peggy Chow, Ting-Kwan Lau, Ki-yan Ko, Corina Druc, Costinela Ungureanu
director Shu-wing Tang
sets and costumes Hon-wai Yuen • music Billy Ng
sound Anthony Yeung • lighting Tsz-yan Yeung
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith • 2-12.May.24 ★★★★

Strikingly visual and unnervingly visceral, this all-female performance piece reinterprets Shakespeare's masterpiece using movement, light, sound and fiercely expressive acting, but no words at all. It requires some knowledge of the play, although even that won't make everything clear. Instead, this is an impressionist piece that mixes comedy and drama with echoes of chilling horror, like a Lynchian fever dream about the corrupting effect of power in both families and politics.

Performances are remarkably controlled, as the actors wear emotions on their faces like expressive masks while moving in deliberate, choreographed interaction. In the demanding role as Lear, Cecilia Yip uses her full physicality to reveal compassion and yearning, as well as madness and fury. A monarch trying to find an heir to the kingdom, Lear's feelings move like a storm across the stage, pushing and pulling other characters while also having an impact on the sound and lighting around them. The sneering false love from eldest daughters Goneril and Regan (Lau and Chow) and their husbands (Ko and Ungureanu) is heartbreaking, as is the much more darkly intense connection with the younger Cordelia (Tang). Even those loyal to Lear, like Gloucester (Chan) and Kent (Leung), are unusually complex.

Each role requires an intensity that locks us in our seats, with a flurry of forceful glances, vicious attacks and desperately warm hugs. As Lear spirals around, trying to figure out who to trust, the situation itself pulls us in, and it doesn't really matter that we're not quite sure who's who. The staging is continually eye-catching, with an inventive use of costumes, sound, light and props that bring each moment to vivid life. This includes some startlingly violent sequences, with red laser pointers creating a scary counterpoint to the audible gunfire and swinging samurai sword. But the shadows visible in these characters' souls are what's most harrowing.

While Shakespeare's play can easily run to four hours, this 90-minute adaptation is remarkable for the way it conveys the underlying story using moods and intentionality. Facial expressions, gestures and movement create powerful feelings, while the audio and visual effects add atmosphere. So even if it's difficult to make clear sense of what we're seeing on-stage, or to decipher the symbolism that is cleverly woven into the simple but often dazzling sets and costumes, this is an exhilarating piece of physical theatre, performed by an astonishingly focussed cast.

For details, RIVERSIDE STUDIOS >

photos by Tik Hang Cedric Yip • 3.May.24

Stage: Past the wit of man to say what dream it was

FLABBERGAST THEATRE’S
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by William Shakespeare
director/designer Henry Maynard
with Lennie Longworth, Reanne Black, Krystian Godlewski, Simon Gleave, Elliot Pritchard, Vyte Garriga, Nadav Burstein, Paulina Krzeczkowska
music Nick Hart • lighting Rachel Shipp
Wilton's Music Hall, London • 9-20.Apr.24 ★★

As with last year's staging of The Tragedy of MacBeth, Flabbergast presents Shakespeare's oft-performed comedy in a blindingly impenetrable flurry of lavish costumes, masks, puppets and outrageous physicality. There are moments of genius along the way, with a playful play on gender and clever touches that are hilarious, moving and strikingly visual. Those who know the play well will find plenty to enjoy. Others will struggle to understand much of the over-performed dialog, which makes it impossible to get involved in the story. So the farce begins to feel like it will never end.

Set in Athens, this is the lively multi-strand story of four lovelorn young people lost in a forest where fairies are manipulating their emotions. Hermia and Lysander (Krzeczkowska and Pritchard) are trying to run away together, while Hermia's best friend Helena (Garriga) wants to capture her crush Demetrius (Burstein). Fairy Queen Titania and King Oberon (Black and Godlewski) use the sprite Puck (Longworth) to manipulate their affections, but get tricked themselves. Meanwhile, a troupe of actors led by the preening Bottom (Gleave) gets entangled in the chaos.

The lushly cluttered set features a large carriage, as if a theatre company stopped alongside the road to perform for us. This gives the show an intriguing timeless feel, and we can almost imagine the play being put on like this 400 years ago. With colourful costumes and props, and a clever use of the venue, the actors invest their full bodies into these roles, creating sparky personalities, big emotions and pointed interaction. Standout turns from the clownishly gifted Godlewski and the fearlessly silly Gleave keep us laughing; they and others provide a few moments of pathos. The entire cast has such a big stage presence, overflowing with cheeky energy, that it's fun to watch, even if we can only rarely make out the words spoken in such a range of accents amid constant physical movement.

Punctuated by group sing-songs, wildly energetic action and of course an entire play within the play, there's plenty here to hold the attention, even if the incomprehensible delivery makes it feel like it drags on far too long. What's most surprising is that there's nothing particularly new or enlightening about this production, which for all its irreverence is slavishly respectful toward both Shakespeare's play and traditional performances of it. Perhaps Flabbergast needs to more inventively adapt their approach to their audience, because this production feels like it's only made to please themselves.

For details, WILTON'S MUSIC HALL >

photos by Michael Lynch • 10.Apr.24

Stage: As merry as the day is long

SH!T-FACED SHAKESPEARE
Much Ado About Nothing
by William Shakespeare
adaptation Lewis Ironside
director Stacey Norris
with Beth-Louise Priestley, Flora Sowerby, Holly Durkin, Stacey Norris, John Mitton, Matthew Seager, Chris Lane
Leicester Square Theatre, London • 5.Jul-9.Sep.23

The Sh!t-faced Shakespeare gang returns to London, taking on Shakespeare's beloved romantic-comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Their unique selling point is that one cast member has consumed quite a lot of alcohol before the curtain rises, which so fellow actors are required to improvise their way through scenes that have been thrown into chaos.

Priestley is the host for the evening, rushing around with an airhorn trying to keep things from going too far off the rails. To some success. She also gives a few audience members noise makers, which they can sound to give the inebriated actor another drink. For this performance, Sowerby is the wobbly one, and she's playing the lead role of Beatrice, whose antagonism for the charming Benedick (Mitton) sets off various rivalries, mistaken identities and love at first sight for Beatrice's aunt Leonata (Norris) and cousin Hero (Durkin), plus Benedick's pals, the lovelorn Claudio (Seager) and snaky Don John (Lane).

Of course, having a drunken Beatrice creates all manner of mayhem on-stage, sparking both inside jokes between the actors and running gags about sexually transmitted diseases, all while everyone tries to keep the story moving forward. The show's co-creator Lewis Ironside has trimmed Shakespeare's text down considerably, and the actors know it so well that they're able to keep the plot moving even when it begins to feel amusingly unrecoverable.

With the electricity of live performance, this generally out of control approach is hilarious to watch, as the performers tease each other and the audience, trying to both sabotage and rescue the production at the same time. Their quick wit is riotously funny, and the generally silly atmosphere is infectious. This isn't the deepest of Shakespeare's comedies, so turning it into such a ridiculously absurd farce isn't much of a problem. Indeed, it's pure escapist joy.

And because the cast members swap roles from night to night, including the one who's drunk, this is the kind of show that would be a lot of fun to revisit over and over again. 

For information, visit SH!TFACED SHOWS >

photos by AB Photography • 12.Jul.23