Lidia Crisafulli Archives - Page 10 of 15

Eigengrau

Waterloo East Theatre

Reviewed – 13th September 2019

★★★★

“Georgie Staight’s no-frills revival is powerful and chilling”

Penelope Skinner’s Eigengrau, originally produced in London in 2010, follows the intersecting lives of four young people struggling to get by in London. Cassie works for a feminist organisation that lobbies parliament. Rose believes in fairies and star signs and true love. Mark is a womanising marketing bro. Tim, suffering from depression, barely manages his shifts at a fast food takeaway. Their lives intertwine with devastating consequences in this modern-day Grimm’s fairytale.

Director Georgie Staight’s no-frills revival is powerful and chilling. With a sparse, efficient set (Bex Kemp) – just a few wooden boxes used as benches and tables – Staight boldly strips the show down to its leanest form. Fast-paced and highly entertaining, there isn’t a dull moment in its nearly two-hour runtime.

Staight’s faith in the strength of her cast to carry the show barefaced, without the padding of excessive design, is not misplaced. Four well-selected actors deliver accomplished performances. George Fletcher is easily convincing as the cocky, manipulative Mark. Callum Sharp is subtle yet nuanced as the harmless – but perhaps not quite – Tim Muffin. Isabel Della-Porta wholly owns her role as the strong but still immature feminist Cassie. And Katie Buchholz shines, earning her place as the star of the show, with an exceptional performance as the idealistic, desperate Rose. Buchholz is captivating: fluttery and electric with madness at all of her edges. She effortlessly draws focus and holds it for the duration she’s on stage. Like a violin string wound too tight, she keeps us on edge, uneasily wondering when she’ll snap. Cassie says she’s a little bit afraid of Rose. We are too.

Although there are moments of the play that feel dated – in the post-Metoo era, a ‘feminist’ is no longer a curiosity – Staight is smart in realising the many ways Eigengrau is immediately relevant. Men pretending to be woke (or worse, believing they are), while demeaning and manipulating women, are still sharks in 2019 waters. And the overall feminist message still rings true: Rose embodies the damage done by years of consuming misogynist ideology packaged as fairytales and rom-coms. Disinterest from men means she’s deficient. There’s no relationship that can’t be fixed by the right dress and a grand gesture. It’s no wonder her optimism, at the age of twenty-seven, is beginning to take on a manic quality. Cassie wants Rose to see the world for what it is: cruel and oppressive, full of untrustworthy people. But Rose shuts her eyes to any evidence that contradicts her belief the world is a good place. If the world is hideous, isn’t it better to be blind?

Eigengrau is the name for the shade of black seen by the eye in perfect darkness. With this revival, Staight is shrewd asking the woke generation of 2019 – who see, daily, the harsh realities of a sinister society no longer bothering to disguise its hate – how tempting, how soothing, must eigengrau be? To shut your eyes, shut it all out, even for a moment? But while eigengrau may seem like a safe haven, Skinner’s story reminds us of the danger in seeking it. No progress can be made in darkness. There’s no going back to sleep, now that we’re awake.

With this production of Eigengrau, Staight is asking feminist questions that, nine years later, audiences still need to hear. Don’t miss the opportunity to see Skinner’s enthralling, razor sharp play revived by a strong cast.

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Lidia Crisafulli

Eigengrau

Waterloo East Theatre until 22nd September

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Doodle – The Musical | ★½ | January 2018

Unburied | ★★★★★ | March 2018

Romeo & Juliet | ★★ | June 2018

Liberty Rides Forth! | ★★★★★ | October 2018

A Christmas Story | ★★★½ | November 2018

The Greater Game | ★★ | November 2018

Summer Street | ★★★ | May 2019

Click here to see our most recent reviews

A Great Big Sigh

Hen & Chickens Theatre

Reviewed – 5th September 2019

★★★

“a lot of the audience roared with laughter at his antics and I would be foolish to ignore this feedback”

Formed just last year, ‘Moose & Noodle Soup’ theatre company follow up an earlier run at The Hope Theatre with this two handed show.

As we enter the theatre, we are presented by a man and a woman, both gagged and tied to a chair and sitting facing each other in a basement. It soon becomes apparent that this pair have been kidnapped and they discover that they have a set amount of time to solve some clues, each of which has a number as its answer, these numbers being the code to a safe from which they can retrieve a key and escape. Failure to do this in the time limit and we are led to believe that the room will explode.

A fairly bare stage with just the two pieces of furniture, a small suspended window, a hotel like small safe and a few books. The action takes place in real time and occasionally a voiceover informs the characters how long they have left to complete their task. A little like watching an episode of The Crystal Maze, although the cryptic clues are not exactly Times crossword level.

A Great Big Sigh is not a drama though, it is very definitely a comedy. Walter (Riley Marinelli) has the majority of the humorous moments. Dressed a little like Rupert Bear in green checks and red trousers and bizarrely sporting roller blades, he is a wacky, hyperactive, hugely frustrating character who will not focus on the task in hand for more than a few seconds. On the other hand, Tina (Maryhee Yoon) is a calm, focussed, delightfully normal young lady who you would be quite happy to spend an hour of your time in a basement with. This is a very physical show. Walter expertly manoeuvres himself around the stage whilst tied to a fallen chair and one moment where he lifts Tina, almost drops her which then ends in a perfect handstand, is so expertly and casually done that I wanted to leap out of my chair with a scorecard of ten.

But for all the noise, irritation and over the top acting from Walter, occasionally the tempo slows and we discover the characters’ back stories. Tina’s, so worryingly commonplace in this day and age, you wondered how such a strong character emerged. Walter’s so tragic, so poignant, that you suddenly wanted to buy him a beer and give him a big hug.

“You make stronger friendships when you go through adversity together” was a line from Walter that tied the whole plot together for me. Walter’s character is not my type of humour, but a lot of the audience roared with laughter at his antics and I would be foolish to ignore this feedback.

Moose & Noodle Soup’s mission statement is to transport audiences into ridiculous scenarios and they certainly achieved that in A Great Big Sigh. I left the theatre thinking of loneliness, friendship and how poor my long division is. I couldn’t help thinking that however extrovert a person may be, however outrageous their behaviour is, there is often a little cry for help beneath the surface which is extremely dangerous to ignore.

Waterloo East Theatre

Reviewed – 13th September 2019

★★★★

“Georgie Staight’s no-frills revival is powerful and chilling”

With this production of Eigengrau, Staight is asking feminist questions that, nine years later, audiences still need to hear. Don’t miss the opportunity to see Skinner’s enthralling, razor sharp play revived by a strong cast.

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Lidia Crisafulli

Eigengrau

Waterloo East Theatre until 22nd September

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Hen & Chickens Theatre

Reviewed – 5th September 2019

★★★

“a lot of the audience roared with laughter at his antics and I would be foolish to ignore this feedback”

Formed just last year, ‘Moose & Noodle Soup’ theatre company follow up an earlier run at The Hope Theatre with this two handed show.

“You make stronger friendships when you go through adversity together” was a line from Walter that tied the whole plot together for me. Walter’s character is not my type of humour, but a lot of the audience roared with laughter at his antics and I would be foolish to ignore this feedback.

Reviewed by Chris White

Photography by Lidia Crisafulli

A Great Big Sigh

Hen and Chickens Theatre until 8th September

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: