The Riddler’s Stage: May
Be it insightful off-Broadway imports or political, provocative theatre, as ever, London has something for all
Preview by Geoffrey Leadwell
There are some great shows on in London at the moment. The National Theatre is hosting Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize winning piece The Flick. Imported from the Barrow Street Theatre, New York, the play details the lives of three employees of an ailing film theatre in Massachusetts. For a play running at over three hours very little happens; the characters mop the aisles and sweep between the seats, often in silence. They discuss films. But as the play progresses they also begin to pick at each other, unravelling small but fascinating details that grow into something both gripping and profound.
Over at the Almedia, eagle-eyed writer Leo Butler returns to the London stage with Boy. Directed by Sasha Wares and designed by Miriam Buether (the partnership who brought the high-concept piece Game to the same theatre with Mike Bartlett last year), the play details twenty-four hours in the life of a young member of London’s underclass, exploring how we treat society’s most vulnerable, whilst the set features a long, winding travellator, capturing the flow of city life. Reviews have been excellent and the show runs until 28th May.
At the Royal Court, David Ireland’s incredible play Cyprus Avenue is running for another week. If you can catch it before it closes on May 7th then do. Set in Northern Ireland, the play tells the story of Eric Miller, a staunch Irish Protestant who comes to believe that his granddaughter is in fact Gerry Adams. Ireland takes this idea and runs with it, creating a genuinely thrilling satire about identity with tragic consequences. Brilliant, brutal, funny and deeply political— possibly the best new play on in London at the moment. Artistic Director Vicki Featherstone directs.
In the same theatre, downstairs, enfant terrible Katie Mitchell opens her newest work, Ophelias Zimmer, with a design by Chloe Lamford (Headlong’s 1984) and a text by Alice Birch (Little Light, 2015). A collaboration between the Royal Court and the Schaubühne Berlin, the show is a feminist exploration of Ophelia, ‘freed from Hamlet’, empowering ‘one of the most side-lined women in English literature’. Mitchell is not one to shy away from difficult ideas or complex themes, so expect a dense but richly satisfying work, with strong and focused imagery driving the story.
Finally, to the West End, where Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places and Things transfer is doing incredibly well. A sharply political, but deeply human play about addiction and recovery, the whole thing is held together by a brilliant, witty and emotionally raw performance from Denise Gough, as well as purposeful, focused direction from Headlong Artistic Director Jeremy Herrin. Tickets are going from £15. Grab on stage seats for the best view. 