What if….the Bible isn’t fact? The story of Genesis not completely true. And some theatre company decided to turn the whole Adam & Eve thing on its head, and introduce – Steve? That’s what writer Chandler Warren and director Francesca Goodridge have done in Adam & Eve….and Steve makes its London debut at the Kings Head, Islington after a hugely successful Edinburgh Fringe Festival run last August. This eclectic and glitzy musical comedy explores what happens when Beezlebub interferes with God’s creation plans, and Steve is created instead of Eve. Things seem ok, Adam is delighted with Steve (who thinks he is a woman called St. Eve) and all is well…until the two new BFFs are confronted by a jealous Eve. A love triangle for the modern era – but one in which the future of humanity hangs precariously. Sing and smile your way through that one.

Running at the King’s Head Theatre, London until Saturday 29th April 2017. Tickets start at £10.

Born out of love for Charlotte (and Kate Bush), We Are Bronte is an irreverent deconstruction both challenges the Bronte story as it reflects it back. Slipping in and out of character, bickering between themselves and speaking to the audience, they intertwine scenes from family’s lives on bleak moors with the scenes and character from their novels. The stage is lit as they explain, and plunges into darkness as they perform.

Symbols and tropes of gothic fiction are well known and familiar, and with only a handful of props and few words they tell tales of woe, tears and resilience, all wrapped up in wind, whips and madness. With creative use of pieces of cloth and cellophane they engage in an absurd extension of the emotion, metaphor and meaning that pervades the sisters’ fiction. An early ‘embodiment of wind’ for example plays with the notion of pathetic fallacy. As usual the rumbles of trains enhance performance in the Vaults, particularly when strange noises play such a role in fiction. Combining physical slapstick, mime, with random quotes and atmospheric music they execute themes rather than particulars.

The pair are not here to tell a story, or play a character, but instead their episodic production sees them play an amalgam of characters that owes as much to the reverence paid to the family’s nineteenth century existence as it does to twentieth century gothic horror movies and set school texts. In its episodic portrayal we see Cathy searching for Heathcliff on wild and windswept moors, stoic Jane asserting that she is no bird, us questioning who is the mad woman, and everyone wet from rain and dying from tuberculosis.

This isn’t a biographical retelling, and certainly not for purists, but then you don’t tend to come to the Vault Festival or fringe theatre if that is what you are seeking. Instead, this is playful, exploratory, and fun – something you wonder whether the Brontes themselves may have been missing at times.

The story of a London teenager who finds that suddenly and inexplicably she has become an alien in her own country. Shala Nyx plays five versions of the same girl, after finding out that her world has changed, and she has no house, no home, and what feels like no hope. To start with she’s a familiar teenager on her mobile phone, worried about boys and shoes and arguing with her mum. But then things change, and we move to the stages of discovering that your world is falling down, needing to flee, travelling and being ‘processed’ – quite literally as a number.

As her image and accent shifts from Londoner to Arabic to Scottish, it’s startling how differently the situation portrayed appears. What seems unthinkable becomes a potential reality; what seems incomprehensible becomes identifiable. Terraced houses and bombed shelters all mingle, and the audience does feel a sense of collective identity, even from the safety of this beautiful venue. Although shooting and shadows replace loud music and youthful vigour for all, it may well be hardest for females. We see the girl forces and degraded in order to access basic needs, and ‘be less than I am.’ Independence and identity are irrelevant, and shame and judgement pervade.

Director Dominic Hingorani and designer and illustrator Rachana Jadhav have used the resources well, and Nyx risen to the challenge. Doors open and close and the screen action reaches into the live. In one poignant moment the familiar streets become coated in blood, and when in a café and call centre, being lured to finding a sense of belonging once again freedom fighting group the scene is surrounded by sinister tentacles. When so much has happened, for soldiers and refugees, the need to survive outweighs ideals, and some ‘turn on my truth.’

Half Moon is local venue that supports and provides for young people in the community, and the performance of her an important one to show. Engaging the audience and showing a hint of the struggle that some go through, whilst also capturing their attention and provoking debate is hugely important – for all generations. After every show there’s a question and answer session with the cast and team, as well as a day of workshops planned. Whilst I’m not sure that I could say I enjoyed her, I did absolutely love it. Creative activism certainly has a role to play in influencing  the future, and her is a wonderful step towards that change.

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Evocative and moving night this week spent at the Bunker Theatre to see a new British musical Muted. It was the Bunker itself which first  made me catch my breath – looking for a classic street level auditorium I nearly walked past the wide carpark like ramp (next to The Menier  Chocolate Factory) leading down and away from the road. Bunker by name…. At the

At the bottom a square box of a performance space initially seemed undistinguished except for a triangle of neon on the backdrop and a simple swing hanging above a pool of water whose boundaries formed the stage. Intriguing. The 6 actors used these minimal props beautifully….swinging, circling, splashing…. and of course singing. The words British and musical in the same sentence don’t generally provoke a good reaction in

Intriguing.

The 6 actors used these minimal props beautifully….swinging, circling, splashing…. and of course singing. The words British and musical in the same sentence don’t generally provoke a good reaction in me. Especially in such a small space without a zillion showpeople prancing around. But this was great drama: a story of lost love, silenced talent and family disaster set around the battle for the heart of a girl between two former band members.

But this was great drama: a story of lost love, silenced talent and family disaster set around the battle for the heart of a girl between two former band members.

All the cast were good but the stunning voice and subtle ambiguity that Tori Allen-Martin gave to the role of Lauren caught between the two musicians stood out, as did the manipulative and sneeringly abusive performance of Jos Slovick as bad boy Jake. And the part of an uncle torn between caring and money making which could have descended into parody or irrelevance was given real depth and meaning by Mark Hawkins.  Go see it – it’s worth it to get your assumptions challenged about where and how musical theatre should take place.

Go see it – it’s worth it to get your assumptions challenged about where and how musical theatre should take place.

Muted is on at the Bunker Theatre, Southwark until January 7^th 2017

It was then, back in June 2015, that she decided to write a show about online dating. Swipe, now performing at the Camden Fringe festival, is an hour long performance of sketches and vignettes exploring dating in the modern world, and how choice can be paralysing, communication confusing, and the whole experience of finding love very much in flux.

‘All the scenarios derive from real experiences, and it contains a lot of my dating trials and triumphs. It’s a very real play that is swimming in the experiences of so many women.’ she says, but it spans the sexes. The tales are drawn from over one hundred interviews with women around the world, and whilst originally intending to be a cast of men and women, in the writing Alyssa realised  that she ‘only had a voice for women this time.’ This doesn’t stop it resonating with both sexes though. The small theatre was filled equally with men and women, and the nods and laughter came from both.

Corny chat up lines are nothing new of course, but the ease with which someone can disappear when you only know them from through your phone – ‘ghosting’ they call it; the simplicity of sending a dick pic, wanted or not; the disconnect between the persona you portray on and offline; and the temptation of simply moving on with only a swipe are all very much modern dilemmas.

Love’s not easy. New Match Collective have assembled dating horrors and highs through the lens of technology and modernity to create an hour’s entertainment that’s amusing, entertaining and utterly identifiable.

Running 18th -21st August at The Hen & Chickens Theatre, London, as part of The Camden Fringe. Tickets available here.

A gender reversed version, where females play males and vice versa, it’s a little difficult to get your head around the characters to begin with, and not only because of how they look. Helena (Matthew McFetridge) is a red bearded man, and a man has ‘duty’ to his mother.  ‘A scandal on my sex’ feels different when spoken by a man, and it’s almost uncomfortable to see him on his knees begging. All of this just proves how stereotyped our perceptions are and how gendered norms infiltrate everywhere. I never noticed before how Helena’s words ‘Two lovely berries moulded on one stem’ are so phallic until spoken by a man, or how a gentleman fearing a Bottom’s (Ailis Duff) lion is even more ludicrous than women. Charlotte Mulliner plays a brilliant Lysander, and Matt Maltby as Hermia brings out the indignation of being ‘low’ brilliantly.

Super fastpaced (just under two hours with an interval) it’s a bold performance that manages to be entertaining and provoke thoughts to consider. Sometimes confusing and certainly irreverent, a small cast where actors double up makes things even trickier. But it’s worth persevering, especially in a setting where chaos reigns. In fact, it’s a really brilliant way to raise the issue of gender roles and the power of the sexes, without overtly pressing it home. One small change to casting and the rest is in the power of the audience as they engage with the story.

Comedic and physical, touching and delicate, it’s a brilliantly executed performance that feels magical. Raising issues relevant to the era in which it’s performed, and exploring emotions and experiences universal to time and place, it is feels like it is exactly what Shakespeare intended.

Directed by Laura Jasper, tickets are selling out fast so head here as soon as you can. If you miss out you can find out about future productions on the Reversed Shakespeare Company’s website.