Ragtime

“In Adult Film's adaptation of Georg Büchner's unfinished 1836 play, WOYZECK, an accordion is a human baby and a crosshatched light fixture, a coursing, hazardous river. Josh Barilla’s production design is among the most creative and efficient I’ve seen. Staged at Ridgewood's Sweater Factory—the site of a literal former sweater factory—no set piece goes unused, and no square inch, unpopulated. There is the lighting, which dims and fluoresces above the audience, simulating a brutal, post-industrial nightmare. There is also the music, traditionally folkish but in this case, ceded cleverly by interludes of female grunge and alternative rock (PJ Harvey, Fiona Apple, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) to march in step with the misogyny and violence endured by the female characters. WOYZECK, in short, is about a poor soldier (Ryan Czerwonko)—forced to subsist on peas as the subject of cruel experiments—who kills his mistress, Marie (Madeline Bernhard) after a stretch of jealous contemplation. Czerwonko and Bernhard are precise, striking, and perfectly neurotic in their performances. Had they just been a touch more or less unhinged, it would have been an entirely different, and probably worse, play. In the sway between weird and eerie, Adult Film’s WOYZECK toggles both. “Sometimes the world goes so black your eyes are no use […] And you’re afraid that it will turn into a spiderweb. What you’re touching,” as Woyzeck says in the play, “That’s when you get yes and no at the same time.””

“The Old Vic production was performed in the round, on a revolve, the lines of the stage floor moving in opposing directions mimicking the rotation of ancient puzzle maps that might reveal some hidden astrological pathway. The staging felt understated, elegant, and utterly absorbing, evoking the cosmic magic of the theories aired within the text. The show is worth seeing for the chemistry and performances from Isis Hainsworth and Seamus Dillane alone, they are remarkable – utterly compelling, coy, and charismatic performances that carried the play off the page. What awaits is a show that handles complicated topics with dexterity, dynamism, and joy.”

“Looking to escape the heat dome that is currently suffocating London? Head to the Noël Coward Theatre where the air conditioning is nearly as effective as their current show: Cyrano de Bergerac. Having studied Cyrano at an impressionable age, it has a special place in my heart; a place that was elevated by this production. For those unfamiliar with the story, originally written by Edmond Rostand in the late 19th century, I offer a short summary: Cyrano loves language and Roxanne, Roxanne loves language and Christian, Christian loves Roxanne but is no lover, nor master, of language. Chrisitan is hot, Cyrano is not and they decide that the latter will write letters on behalf of the former to Roxanne to secure her affections. Watching Adrian Lester as Cyrano alongside Susannah Fielding as Roxanne, I was struck by the following thought: Cyrano is the original catfish, and this play is THE love story for our times. All adolescents and twentysomethings should watch it. All who have a dating app on their phone should watch it. All who have judged someone by a picture of them should watch it. The rhythms of Cyrano’s sparkling word and sword play are hypnotic: yes, his nose rivals The Shard in scale, but it’s the lady’s loss who overlooks or swipes past him. Directed by Simon Evans and co-adapted with Debris Stevenson (I implore you to read her play Poet in Da Corner) this version of Cyrano fizzes and flickers with rhyme and romance. Exquisite set and costume design by Grace Smart not only enhance the show, but they also made me realise that my preferred style of dress is a contemporary take on French soldiers’ uniforms during Thirty Years’ War: where can I buy a patterned, sleeveless doublet?”