Tag Archives: Hoxton Hall

The Hive

The Hive

★★★

Hoxton Hall

The Hive

The Hive

Hoxton Hall

Reviewed – 7th July 2022

★★

 

“Harvey Brough’s score is delightfully off-kilter, full of long lush dissonances and juxtaposing peppy beats”

 

A verbatim opera about serial killers is a mad idea. But it’s just the sort of mad idea that, with the right creative team, could be gloriously mad.

Indeed, we’re treated to a chorus of the finest operatic talent, and a carefully curated ensemble of two violins, a viola, cello, flute, piano, (perfectly gentle) percussionist, and harp. Harvey Brough’s score is delightfully off-kilter, full of long lush dissonances and juxtaposing peppy beats, and Hoxton Hall- with the help of evidence bags hanging from the ceiling, and police tape criss-crossing around the theatre- feels haunted and full of secrets: the ideal back-drop for a scary story.

But the script, the thing that one would hope had inspired all this brilliance, is staggeringly muddled, to the point that one wonders how all this talent came to be involved.

Beginning at a Royal Forensic Psychiatrists’ Conference, one doctor takes centre stage to discuss psychopaths, in particular female psychopaths. As an example, he relays the case of a killing duo, Hansel and Gretel, which is then acted out for us. But it’s not entirely obvious who did what to whom or why, and further than a feeling that this is indeed a sinister story, the audience is left desperately trying to catch a phrase here or there that might explain the narrative in more detail.

The humour is off- it feels frumpy, and gives the impression of a poor attempt at modernising an old story, when this is, in fact, new writing. There seem to be multiple perspectives but it’s never really explained who they are, and, combined with the fact it’s quite hard to hear sometimes (as is tradition in opera, they’ve opted for no mics), it’s easier to just cling to the main plot and hope we gain a bit of clarity later.

The second half is tangled up with a bizarre fairy-tale adaptation: Red Riding Hood is kidnapped by Hansel, who is also the Wolf, and taken back to the home he shares with Gretel. The huntsman turns up and thinks about intervening, but changes his mind, and then at some point we’re back in the courtroom of the earlier story. It feels like filler, which is absolutely not necessary when a show is already running at 2 hours and 20 minutes. Why not just keep it short and sweet with one act?

The fairy-tale names are confusing from the get. The choices of Hansel and Gretel, a fictional brother and sister, are bizarre, along with their daughter Rapunzel, one of their victims named Beauty and her sister Maid Marian. I don’t get it. And, assuming these aren’t their real names, how can this be verbatim?

There are occasional moments in the script that hint at what this show might have been. A chorus singing and harmonising, “Drown the bitch, the dirty witch. Dunk her again, she’s still breathing” is piercingly warped, and Gretel’s simpering defence of “they said I was like a mother to them, I brought them cups of tea”, repeated to the point of mockery, is deliciously dark.

But for the most part, you would be better off just enjoying the vivid, strange and tormenting score, and the masterful musicianship. In fact, it is totally worth it for this alone. You just have to ignore what they’re saying.

 

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

 

The Hive

One night only – work in progress production

Hoxton Hall

 

Recently reviewed by Miriam:
Two Billion Beats | ★★★½ | Orange Tree Theatre | February 2022
Anyone Can Whistle | ★★★★ | Southwark Playhouse | April 2022
For Black Boys … | ★★★★★ | Royal Court Theatre | April 2022
Project Dictator | ★★½ | New Diorama Theatre | April 2022
Witness For The Prosecution | ★★★★★ | London County Hall | April 2022
100 Paintings | ★★ | Hope Theatre | May 2022
La Bohème | ★★★½ | King’s Head Theatre | May 2022
Y’Mam | ★★★★ | Soho Theatre | May 2022
The Fellowship | ★★★ | Hampstead Theatre | June 2022
I Can’t Hear You | ★★★★ | Theatre503 | July 2022

 

Click here to see our most recent reviews

 

Ms Paolini Phantasmagoria Cabaret
★★★

Hoxton Hall

Ms Paolini Phantasmagoria Cabaret

Ms Paolini Phantasmagoria Cabaret

Hoxton Hall

Reviewed – 26th July 2019

★★★

 

“Ms Paolini’s charming and comedic patter bestows a delightfully nonsensical quality on the evening”

 

I am very confused about my feelings on this show. On the one hand, the chaos and slap-dash feel seem to be deliberate – it might even be the whole point, and that being the case, it’s very effective. Not to sound intolerably pretentious, but it smacks a little of the Dada movement’s Cabaret Voltaire, which prided itself on chaos, anarchy and experimentation.

Ms Paolini herself is very endearing. Beginning the show in black bicycle shorts, net tights and a fascinator, she announces proudly, “I’m fifty two, I’m a woman, and I’m fine with that, thank you very much.” Moving from one digression to the next for the first twenty minutes or so, I genuinely have no idea what she’s talking about. But maybe that’s the point? Regardless, she has the audience on side, everyone trying desperately to follow what she’s saying.

She is joined on stage by her two co-hosts- a young woman sporting a corset and matching fascinator, and a gentleman in his fifties who starts off wearing a suit, but who quickly strips off to match the women (in a fashion) in tighty-whities, a vest, and a silk red tie. The three remain on stage throughout as a visible audience for the other performers.

The patchwork of acts includes some who are purposefully subverting the usual cabaret performance: Irie Feather, for example, conducts an incredibly depressing strip-tease whilst singing a very ropey version of ‘Feeling Good’. She then decides she’s not feeling that good actually, rips off her nipple tassels to reveal gaffer tape crosses, and proceeds to finger-paint herself black to a heavy rock accompaniment.

There are other acts, however, that aren’t quite subversive but just a bit mediocre. It’s hard to know whether this is a choice, to keep everything rough around the edges, to steer away from anything too polished – the show describes itself as “deconstructed cabaret” after all. But the final performance is multi-percussionist Beibei Wang whose act is very polished, and quite amazing to watch. The contrast in quality between her and some of the previous acts is a little stark…

Between the acts, however, Ms Paolini and her co-hosts maintain an absurdist quality, performing often inexplicably funny sketches – dressed in ballgowns, for example, sniffing around the stage to ‘Mission Impossible’ style music which occasionally cuts out, for them to wail, “I need a boyfriend!”

Regardless of the individual acts, Ms Paolini’s charming and comedic patter bestows a delightfully nonsensical quality on the evening, bringing together a family of misfits, where the audience feels more like a community. Granted this is by no means a traditional cabaret, but it doesn’t want to be. Expect plenty of provocation, explorations of the ridiculous, and a good dose of confusion.

 

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Ms Paolini Phantasmagoria Cabaret

Hoxton Hall

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Oranges & Elephants | ★★★ | January 2018
Don Juan | ★★★★ | April 2018
Arabian Nights | ★★★★ | September 2018

 

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