Wednesday 30 January 2013

Soho Theatre: Season 2013


Looking over the season for Soho Theatre, I continue to ponder the mechanics of programming. Having watched Tim Nunn build Tramway's latest season Rip It Up, and admired the aesthetic vision of both Svend Brown for Minimal  and Simon Hart at manipulate, Soho Theatre's artistic director Steve Marmion seems to be another programmer who is exploring the idea that a venue's identity can be consolidated by the nature of the artists who perform there, rather than its location.

Rather like the Tron in Glasgow, which is currently occupied by Celtic Connections and has frequent visits from comedians, or The Arches which is comprehensively used by multiple art forms, Soho Theatre does a nice mixed bill. They have also got a deal going on with the nearby restaurant, Quo Vadis, so there's probably a nice mixed grill too

They do comedy - of a more interesting bent, as my ventriloquist hero Nina Conti is turning up this season, next to Doctor Brown, the man who made mime cool (and slightly disturbing) in 2012. They have a competition for emerging writers - the Verity Bathgate Award, which has provided Pastoral for this season (winner 2011, by Thomas Eccleshare), suggesting a commitment to the future of scripted drama, and plenty of cabaret - Lady Rizo, a Fringe hit, is making her London debut.

There's supposed to be a trend for socially and politically engaged theatre going on at the moment - in Scotland, that often takes the line of being about national identity. A few pieces in the programme back this up - God's Property (Arinze Kene) homes on the tribulations of mixed race brothers, Pastoral has a city turning feral, My Daughter's Trial is all about a Muslim barrister. And Man 1 Bank 0 is all about the nasty businessmen taking a beating.

Certainly, there are a different set of assumptions in these works about what important issues are ripe to be tackled in the theatre. Another entry - Glory Daze draws parallels with Blackwatch, but matters of race and urban life are far more present than in Scottish works.

There are, however, plenty of pieces honing in on identity politics - Bitch Boxer has some fun with gender stereotypes while still being a gritty slice of life. There's a coming of age tale, Bottleneck, and A Dirty Great Love Story

In traditional Vile format, I shall now revert to the press release and add comments. 



BITCH BOXER
By Charlotte Josephine
Tue 19 February – Sat 9 March, 7pm

A SNUFFBOX THEATRE PRODUCTION IN COLLABORATION WITH RICHARD JORDAN PRODUCTIONS PRESENT
SOHO YOUNG WRITERS AWARD WINNER
OLD VIC NEW VOICES EDINBURGH 2012 SEASON AWARD WINNER

2012 in Britain was the year of the Olympics, and for the first time in history, women were allowed to compete in the sport of boxing. As one woman trains for the fight of her life – a chance to represent her country in the sport she loves – she is left winded by two life-changing events. In a man’s world, can she still prove she’s worth the title?

Charlotte Josephine is a writer and actor. She began working in the Soho Theatre Bar and got involved in Soho Theatre Writers’ Centre workshops, developing Bitch Boxer at our writer’s clinics, subsequently winning the Soho Young Writers Award. She took the play to Edinburgh and received fantastic reviews and sell-out shows. Charlotte trains at Islington Boxing Club and has fresh ambitions to be fighting fit for this season of ABA bouts.

Charlotte is one third of Snuff Box Theatre, a bold new theatre company dedicated to telling good stories on stage. Snuff Box have recently been appointed the Apprentice Company of the Redbridge Drama Centre and are developing their new piece Altitude Brothers.

As reviewed in The Skinny by the ever marvelous Rebecca Paul. 



BOTTLENECK
By Luke Barnes
Starring James Cooney I Directed by Steven Atkinson
Tue 19 February – Sat 9 March, 8.30pm

                                                            
A HIGHTIDE FESTIVAL THEATRE PRODUCTION
Am I a virgin? I think I am. I mean it went in her but it was floppy and it wasn’t very nice so I think I’m a virgin. I’m going to say I am. Will look better on my uni applications.

Liverpool, 1989. Greg is fourteen. He has just started secondary school. He earns pocket money sweeping up hair in a barbers. Girls are aliens. Liverpool FC is everything.

Bottleneck is a vibrant coming-of-age story about becoming a man through adventures both big and small. It is about a notorious city; Liverpool. How the outside world views it, and how it views the outside world.

From the production company that brought Ella Hickson’s hugely successful play Boys to Soho Theatre.

Recent LIPA graduate James Cooney performs following his acclaimed breakthrough performance in Island at the National Theatre.

Luke Barnes is a northern-born emerging playwright; both a unique and exciting wordsmith. His first play Chapel Street was selected as one of the top 5 new plays off the West End in 2011 by The Stage and he was shortlisted for an OffWestEnd award for most promising playwright.

Steven Atkinson directs. His previous productions for HighTide at the Edinburgh Festival include Dusk Rings A Bell by Stephen Belber (Assembly) and Lidless by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig (Underbelly, Fringe First 2010 winner).

GOD’S PROPERTY
By Arinze Kene
Directed by Michael Buffong
Tue 26 February – Sat 23 March, 7.30pm


A TALAWA THEATRE COMPANY, SOHO THEATRE AND THE ALBANY CO-PRODUCTION

It’s 1982. London is restless, gripped by spiralling unemployment and inner city riots, Ska beats dominate the airwaves and in a flat in Deptford, South London two brothers are re-united unexpectedly. But notions of family and belonging are put to the test when a pack of hostile neighbours gather outside to deliver some rough justice.

In 2011 Arinze Kene was one of the inaugural Soho Six; a selected group of six writers who are commissioned and are in residency for a six month period to work on a new play for Soho Theatre. During his residency at Soho Theatre, Arinze wrote God’s Property, which was given a rehearsed reading in October 2011 at the end of the Soho Six residency period. The piece was taken to full commission with dramaturgical support from Soho Theatre Associate Director Nina Steiger.

Talawa Theatre Company is one of the UK's foremost black-led theatre companies.
Led by Artistic Director Michael Buffong, the company creates work informed by the wealth and diversity of the Black British experience, with the mission to invest in talent, build audiences and inspire dialogue with and within communities across Britain.

DIRTY GREAT LOVE STORY
Written and Rhymed by Richard Marsh and Katie Bonna
Directed by Pia Furtado


POLLY INGHAM PRODUCTION
FRINGE FIRST 2012 AWARD WINNER

Two hopeful, hapless romantics get drunk, get it on and then get the hell away from each other.

In her eyes, he’s a mistake. A mistake who keeps turning up at parties. In his eyes, she’s perfect. He’s short-sighted. This achingly funny romantic catastrophe fuses poetry and prose to ask - can a one night stand last a lifetime? A very human tale of good intentions and bad timing.

Richard Marsh Plays include: Dirty Great Love Story (Pleasance Edinburgh & Soho); Skittles (BAC & Pleasance, Edinburgh); Nicked (HighTide & Criterion); Westminster Side Story (Coalition at Theatre503); Khaliq’s Story / 2007 (Decade at Theatre503); Fairytale of New Cross (Theatre503); Dad’s Money (Pleasance Edinburgh & London, also directed).  Richard was one of the inaugural 503/5 writers-in-residence at Theatre503.

Katie Bonna is an actor, writer and performance poet. Acting credits include: Lucia in Underlay (nabokov at Soho Theatre); Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, Ginny in Relatively Speaking, Hazel in Up ’n’ Under (Chesterfield Pomegranate); Lucy in The London Merchant, Elizabeth in The Celebrated Mrs Inchbald (Bury St Edmunds and on tour) and Helen in Trojan Women (Actors Of Dionysus).

Pia Furtado – Director Pia directs theatre, opera and multi-disciplinary work. She adapted and directed Hillaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales with composer Errollyn Wallen, for Opera North (revived and toured in spring 2012). She also devised and directed the 2012 Scottish Opera Highlights tour, revived a musical with nabokov at BAC composed by Arthur Darvill and directed a monologue for an evening curated by Eve Ensler at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue for V day.

Before they won their Fringe First, I interviewed them. Always there before anyone else, it's the Vile Blog. 

15TH OAK
THE LIFE AND SORT OF DEATH OF ERIC ARGYLE
Mon 01 Apr - Sat 20 April, 7.15pm (Sat matinees 3.30pm)

Nominated for ‘Best New Play’ at the Irish Theatre Awards and off the back of a hugely successful Edinburgh and Dublin run, Fringe First-winning Irish theatre company 15th Oak are delighted to present The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle, a play about a man who barely lived enough to have regrets. Developed and directed by Soho Theatre Associate Artist Dan Heard.


KALI THEATRE IN ASSOCIATION WITH SOHO THEATRE PRESENTS
MY DAUGHTER’S TRIAL
By Gulshana Choudri
Mon 08 – Wed 24 April, 7.30pm
Browns Courtrooms (above Browns Restaurant) 82 St Martin’s Lane  Covent Garden  WC2N 4AG
Tickets £10 - £20
Parveen, an ambitious young Muslim barrister faces her own trial when she must decide whether to section her mentally ill mother against her family’s wishes. This compelling and humorous new play moves rapidly from courtroom battle to domestic turmoil as Parveen juggles her professional and personal responsibilities. These become even more complicated when her opponent in court turns out to be the love of her life...

My Daughter’s Trial will be presented in the atmospheric former Westminster County Court above Brown’s Restaurant with the audience acting as jury and public gallery as they judge both the defendant and Parveen.

Award winning Kali Theatre presents ground breaking new theatre writing by South Asian women.  They have earned rave reviews, sell-out performances and inspired audiences all over the UK with work that reflects and comments on our lives today.

SECOND SHOT PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS
GLORY DAZED
Tue 23 April – Sat 11 May, 7.15pm

Tickets £15
I’ve seen people whose whole lives are about tryin’ to put food in their gobs and tryin’ not to get blown up… How d’yer go from that to watchin’ X Factor with a plate of Chinese on yer knee?

Ray’s been fucked up since Afghanistan but tonight at the pub, he’s going to win his ex-wife back. A darkly comic and acerbic look at the impact of war upon returning soldiers, developed with ex-servicemen prisoners at HMP & YOI Doncaster.

Glory Dazed is produced by Second Shot Productions, a theatre and film company based within the walls of HMP & YOI Doncaster.


PASTORAL
By Thomas Eccleshare
Directed by Steve Marmion

SOHO THEATRE AND HIGHTIDE FESTIVAL THEATRE CO-PRODUCTION

Moll thinks she's going on holiday but something more sinister is afoot. As menacing cats and strutting voles advance, a dangerously fertile countryside just keeps on growing - humanity is on the brink. A darkly funny, powerful and highly original first play by Thomas Eccleshare, the winner of the Verity Bargate Award, starring Anna Calder-Marshall (In The Republic of Happiness, Royal Court Theatre; Salt, Root & Rose, Trafalgar Studios; The House of Bernarda Alba, The Royal Exchange).

The Verity Bargate Award is Soho Theatre’s national competition for the best new play by an emerging writer.

Directed by Soho Theatre Artistic Director Steve Marmion.

COMEDY AND CABARET LISTINGS

LADY RIZO
Mon 18 Feb – Sat 9 Mar, 9.45pm

TO&ST Cabaret Award Winner 2012 and New York star Lady Rizo makes her London debut. Rizo, the cabaret superstar, comedienne and chanteuse revives the genre by combining vintage arrangements and theatrical explorations of pop songs from every decade with original material. Revel in the luscious vocals of this Grammy-winning diva as she combines glamour, wit and insane charm.

MAN 1, BANK 0
Mon 4 Mar – Sat 16 Mar, 7.15pm

Amazing, hilarious and true. Patrick Coombs deposited a fake $ 95,093.35 junk mail cheque into his bank account as a joke.  It cleared.  This outrageously funny David and Goliath tale of Man vs Bank is told by the man it actually happened to and it's a must-see comedy adventure that will appeal to anyone who has ever wanted to get one over on the bankers.

ANDREW LAWRENCE IS COMING TO GET YOU
Mon 11 – Sat 30 Mar, 9.30pm / 9pm

As seen on BBC 1’s Live at the Apollo, now a regular on Channel 4’s Stand Up For the Week, twice nominated Best UK Headline Act at the Chortle Awards 2010/11, also a former double Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee; audiences can expect Lawrence to deliver an evening of top class stand-up.

LORETTA MAINE: BIPOLAR
Tue 12 – Sat 16 March, 9.45pm

Loretta Maine returns to Soho Theatre with her new hour of amazing sexy woe. Fresh from trawling the comedy clubs of Britain, Loretta has new songs to sing, new tales to tell and new pain to unleash. With numbers like “These Ain’t My Tits” and the infamous “Chicken Shop” how can you even be questioning your ticket purchase? Don’t you like laughing at other people’s misery? You should be here.

Another one The Skinny saw back in the Fringe. 

PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON: JURASSIC BARK
Tue 19 – Sat 23 Mar, 7.45pm

Piff's back! But more importantly, so is Mr Piffles! Can the World's First Million Dollar Chihuahua (TM) cheat death on a nightly basis as he is laminated live on stage, escapes a flaming straight jacket and flies from the cannon of certain death?

There is a better review of his show on The Skinny site, but this blog proves I saw him first

DOCTOR BROWN BROWN BROWN BROWN BROWN AND HIS SINGING TIGER
Fri 29 & Sat 30 March, 1pm
Soho Theatre
Tickets:£10, £30 for family ticket for 4 people
Join Dr Brown and his Singing Tiger on a madcap adventure from breakfast to bedtime with a ski race, tennis match and slightly spectacular BMX finale. Physical comedy at its best from two world-renowned performers.

DOCTOR BROWN: BEFRDFGTH
Mon 25 Mar – Sat 20 Apr, 7.30pm
Soho Theatre Main House
WINNER FOSTER’S EDINBURGH COMEDY AWARD 2012 FOR BEST SHOW
WINNER MELBOURNE COMEDY FESTIVAL BARRY AWARD 2012 FOR BEST SHOW
WINNER TOTAL THEATRE INNOVATION AWARD 2012
Doctor Brown’s triple award winning show Befrdfgth has become an international sensation. With unrivaled success and sell-out runs in Australia and London, following his previous sell out runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in Prague, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Toronto, Dubai and Hong Kong.

I so totally saw Doctor Brown at Latitude before him, but Bernard O'Leary is a good comedy writer. 

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL
Wed 27 – Sat 30 Mar, 9.30pm
Soho Downstairs
Founded in New York City in 2004, the FFF is a one-of-a-kind event featuring VHS tapes discovered at thrift shops and garage sales throughout North America. Hosts Joe Pickett (The Onion) and Nick Prueher (Late Show with David Letterman) host each screening in-person and provide their unique observations and commentary on these found video obscurities. A lively celebration of all things found.

VIKKI STONE: HOT MESS
Thu 28 – Sat 30 Mar, 7.45pm
Soho Downstairs
Award-winning musical comedy and stand-up from Vikki Stone (MTV’s Flashprank, BBC3’s Britain In Bed and Most Annoying People) following her 2011 smash hit debut. Top 5 Acts of 2011 (Observer) and Top 10 To Watch (Independent).

Paul Mitchell knows his way round a critique, too. 

PAPPYS: LAST SHOW EVER
Mon 1 – Sat 20 Apr,  9pm

2012 FOSTER'S EDINBURGH COMEDY BEST SHOW NOMINEE
CHORTLE AWARD WINNERS, LOADED LAFTA WINNERS
Pappy’s return with a brand new show full of sketches, songs and silliness! But is this really the end for "the funniest sketch troupe on the fringe"? (Scotsman) After appearances on Channel 4, Radio 4 and BBC3; 5 hit Edinburgh shows; 3 national tours and 2 award winning podcasts are they finally throwing in the towel?

PAUL F TOMPKINS: CRYING AND DRIVING
Tue 2 – Sat 13 Apr, 9.30pm
Soho Downstairs
In this new hour of comedy, and his UK debut, Paul F. Tompkins tells tales of haunting one’s own house, disastrous attempts at pretend fatherhood, carrying a learner’s permit to kill, and marrying a woman who used a fine-print loophole to breach a castle.

TOTALLY TOM
Wed 4 – Fri 6 April, 9.15pm
Soho Upstairs
Tickets: £10 - £12.50
Ever wondered what really goes on in a prison? Then you would watch Louis Theroux’s documentary on prisons. For some lighter entertainment, watch Totally Tom (also set in a prison).

SIMON EVANS: FRIENDLY FIRE
Wed 17 – Sat 20 April, 9.30pm
Soho Downstairs
Fearsome iconoclast Simon Evans is back with a brand new show, and nothing and no-one is safe from the critical glint of his tiny, tiny eyes. Join him as he dismantles the lies – from Fairy Tales to post-match analysis – that confound us all.

TIFFANY STEVENSON: UNCOMFORTABLY NUMB
Thu 18 – Sat 20 April, 9.15pm
Soho Upstairs
Winner of the prestigious 2012 Spirit Of The Fringe Award, Tiffany Stevenson will be making her Soho Theatre debut following on from appearances on BBC2’s Never Mind The Buzzcocks, SKY 1’s John Bishop’s Only Joking and ITV2’s Fake Reaction. The battle against ageing is more than skin deep. Tiffany goes beneath the grimy epidermis to uncover class hatred, racism and sexism. Maybe it’s time to start giving a shit…

FRANK SKINNER: WORK IN PROGRESS
Tue 23 Apr – Sat 4 May, 9pm
Come and see Frank Skinner back on stage doing work in progress.  A rare opportunity to see a comic legend develop original material in an intimate setting.

GARETH RICHARDS: INTROVERT – NEVER BEEN TO DISNEYLAND
Tue 9 & Wed 10 April, 9.15pm
Gareth's parents could not afford to take the whole family to Disneyland, so they went without him. Gareth has never recovered, always feeling that he has been shut outside of life's theme park. Join Gareth Richards, 2010 Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer nominee, for his critically acclaimed  show of jokes and songs about being an introvert stuck in an extrovert's world.

STEWART LEE: WORK IN PROGRESS
Mon 22 – Sat 27 April & Mon 13 – Sat 18 May,  9.45pm
Following the sell-out Carpet Remnant World, the acclaimed writer and comedian presents a mixed stew of unrelated ideas-in-progress, some read off crumpled pieces of paper, in preparation for his Autumn tour and 2014 TV series. 

THE BLOODY BALLAD FEATURING MARY AND THE MISSING FINGERS
Mon 29 April – Sat 4 May, 7.30pm 
Soho Downstairs
Tickets £10 - £15
A  toe-tapping-rocking-rolling-chills-n-spills-blood-curdling journey of murder and mahem! Grimms meets Tarantino in this brutal love story set around Memorial Day celebrations in 1950’s America.  Featuring original live music inspired by Blues, Rockabilly, and Americana.  Part gig, part slasher movie, part road movie, part murder ballad and a whole lotta fun!   Music theatre like you’ve never seen before.

EASTEND CABARET: NOTORIOUSLY KINKY
Mon 29 April – Sat 4 May, 9.30pm 
Soho Downstairs
TO&ST (Time Out & Soho Theatre cabaret award) 2012 NOMINEE
Following a sell-out season at Edinburgh Fringe 2012, and fresh from performing around the Fringe Festival run in Australia, including the Famous Spiegeltent at the Melbourne Arts Centre, EastEnd Cabaret are unashamedly risqué and unforgettably funny international purveyors of playfully perverse musical comedy.

Thank God: another one I saw.

NINA CONTI: DOLLY MIXTURES
Mon 6 – Sun 12 May, 7.30pm & Wed 15 – Sat 25 May, 9.30pm (not Sunday)
Soho Theatre
Groundbreaking ventriloquist Nina Conti introduces her daughter, her handyman, her gran, her oldest friend and a stray dog in a show that refuses to go as rehearsed. Expect a thoughtful mediation on love, life and the edge of existence. And once you've bought your ticket, let that expectation go.

A fine theatre writer at The Skinny showing that Conti ain't just for comedy.

EDDIE PEPITONE: ELECTRIFIED
Mon 6 – Sat 25 May, 7.45pm (not Sundays)
Eddie Pepitone is an Apocalyptic-American (with a conscience) and a master of the dark art of comedy.  Hailed as Don Rickles meets Eckhart Tolle, “The Bitter Buddha” is a force of nature onstage, switching between social rage and self-doubt.  Eddie’s been seen in programs like Flight of the ConchordsHouse M.D.ConanCommunity and the feature Old School opposite Will Ferrell. 

NOISE NEXT DOOR: BOYS ON TOUR
Tue 7 – Wed 8 May, 9pm
Five time sell-out veterans of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and one of the country’s most sought after comedy club headliners, The Noise Next Door leave audiences everywhere in awe of their lightning quick wit and totally original comedic talents. With a perfect blend of ludicrous characters, witty one-liners and musical extravagance, this exhilarating new show from the UK’s premier improve troupe simply cannot be missed!

JO CAULFIELD: BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
Thu 9 – Sat 11 May, 9.30pm
Expect razor-sharp observations and scandalous one-liners as Jo asks; Why are drunken girlfriends so much fun? Which hotel has the best porn? What constitutes an airtight alibi? Is friendliness overrated? Star of Radio 4’s critically acclaimed It’s That Jo Caulfield Again and recently seen on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy RoadshowMock The WeekHave I Got News For YouNever Mind The BuzzcocksBest of The Comedy Store and The Apprentice: You’re Fired.

JENNY FAWCETT
Thu 9 – Sat 11 May, 9pm
One half of double-act Ford & Akram, Louise Ford presents her debut solo show Jenny Fawcett. Catch Louise live before she hits our screens later this year, with Vic Reeves and Dan Renton Skinner as a regular cast member on The Ministry of Curious Stuff, and It’s Kevin, Kevin Eldon’s new BBC sketch show.

SHAZIA MIRZA: CUCKOOLAND!
Wed 15 – Sat 25 May, 9pm (No show Friday 24 or Sundays)
‘Cuckooland’ - Anyone can be anything, do anything and say anything. Who cares what anyone thinks you're going to say it anyway! You have to be a bit deluded but some people are just living in Cuckooland! Hilarious brand new show from internationally acclaimed award winning stand-up comedian Shazia Mirza.

Perhaps not representing where her art is at now, but this was my first interview of a comedian.

SCOTT CAPURO: ISLAMAHOMOPHOBIA
Tue 4 – Sat 8 June, 9.30pm
Mid life crisis. Check. Koran jokes. Check. Husband. Check mate. In Islamahomophobia, Scott Capurro inches closer to self lynching with his tirade against bigotry, fag bashing and Cardiff.


JONNY WOO: WONDER WOO-MAN
Fri 24 May – Sat 21 June, 9.45pm (not Mondays & Sundays)
Award-winning Tranny Superstar Jonny Woo brings a host of surreal characters, songs and tongue twisters in this rollercoaster hour of modern cabaret. The Scouse Pope, Spam Ayres and Wonder Woo-Man are interspersed with hilarious tales from his club kid days, a show-stopping lip-synched finale plus the best legs in the business. The ultimate one man/woman variety show.

"The Miles Davis of Drag"



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