BLACKHAINE And Now I Know What Love Is

Devised and Choreographed by Blackhaine

DIECAST

There is something brutal and viscerally raw in Now I Know What Love Is. This latest unflinching offering from choreographer and experimental musician Tom Heyes, otherwise known Blackhaine is staged as part of the Manchester International Festival. This is a marmite piece not necessarily immersive in any traditional sense and its narrative is not easily explained as the audience is invited into to this “numb world”.

Blackhaine intentionally plunges the audience into a world where love is indistinguishable from violence, where tenderness coexists with terror, and where the physical body becomes both weapon and wound. The piece is a relentless assault on every level. Visually, sonically, emotionally, there is no escaping and any hint of a redemptive ending is fragile and uncertain. Here the narrative is pure sensation. There is no comfort to be found here but rather an invocation of feeling that stays long after the lights fade.

The performance opens in near darkness, soundscape throbbing with industrial menace as dancers slowly appear through the crowd moving blankly like zombies. Later bodies contort into jagged, frenetic shapes. Each movement seems torn from the flesh—jerking, spasming, collapsing. This is dance stripped to its rawest essence…survival. At times dancers pound the floor as though trying to summon the earth itself to respond. There is an urgency to the physicality that speaks of both personal and collective desperation, of lives lived on the brink. The sound design is punishing—waves of static, guttural noise, haunting synths—that builds and fragments, echoing the disintegration on stage. Lighting is stark, utilitarian: this is a space that refuses to comfort.

And yet, in the midst of this bleak landscape, there are fragile moments of strange beauty. The title Now I Know What Love Is hangs over the piece like a ghost. Love here is fragile and fleeting and always teetering on the edge of obliteration. The moments of guitar that creep in like cracks of light feel like a comforting homage to Vini Reilly and The Durutti Column but is just as quickly decimated by a screaming rant.

For some, the lack of narrative and the extremity of the aesthetic may prove alienating, however this is not a show that seeks approval. It is confrontational, even adversarial at times… there is no real guidance for anyone unfamiliar with immersive productions. For those willing to surrender to its fractured structure there offers something rare: a glimpse into the abyss.

In the end, Now I Know What Love Is is less about answers than about exposing discomfort. It scrapes away at the surface of performance, of identity, of the human condition, and dares you to look at what lies beneath. It is telling in an immersive performance that we the audience silently observe pain and possible death yet we do nothing to soothe or comfort. Faced with anguish we peer and occasionally photograph or film palpable distress before moving on to watch the next scene. Perhaps that makes us, the audience, the bleakest element of this production.

DIECAST 9th – 19th July 2025

A SINGLE MAN

Ballet, Contemporary Dance, Large Theatres

Based on the novella by Christopher Isherwood

Directed by Jonathan Watkins

The Hall, AVIVA STUDIOS

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jonathan Watkins’ new ballet adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man unveils itself as a quietly potent exploration of grief, love, and queer identity. The creative gamble of splitting the portrayal of George, physically through Ed Watson’s danced embodiment and emotionally through John Grant’s live voice pays off beautifully. It’s a collaboration that refuses the easy path, forging a live multilayered dialogue between body and soul.

Ed Watson, formerly of the Royal Ballet, brings raw emotionality and a life-worn authenticity to George’s every gesture. His performance pulses with the contradiction of restraint and release: disciplined form that fractures under the weight of loss, yet never becomes self-indulgent. When he moves, there is a tangible, visceral pull of emotional snapshots of his dead lover Jim. There is a touching beauty in his connection to his lost lover that is delicately but powerfully conveyed. Moments when the ensemble peel his lover from his arms feel like the palpable wrench known to anyone who has loved and lost.

John Grant’s original songs, composed with Jasmin Kent Rodgman and performed live by the Manchester Collective linger around the edges of the set like memories that refuse to be tucked away. His lyrics map out George’s interior life: moments of tender self-awareness, bitter regret, and the faint glimmer of hope. This duality between the seen and unseen, the spoken and unsaid gives the piece a rare emotional depth. There are however points in the lyrics where they move too much toward exposition of the original text as if not quite trusting the dancers and the audience to fully grasp the narrative.

John Grant in A Single Man
Credit: Johan Persson

The choreography, directed by Watkins with visionary care, balances the elegance of classical ballet with a contemporary urgency. Flashbacks, abstracted movements, and physical abstractions of inner pain are choreographed with a poet’s intuition. They evoke the 1960s California while remaining rooted in George’s emotional landscape as a gay man who must mourn his lover and navigate his grief in private as a love that dare not speak its mind.

Visually, the production is a lavish and intimate feast. Oscar-winner Holly Waddington’s costumes are very 1960s and use colour to real effect. Splashes of red for Charley and Kenny are a nod to the red of lifeblood and passion. The bodysuits the ensemble cast frequently strip down to are waxy pale and marbled in the muted colours of decomposition. Chiara Stephenson’s sculptural set combines stylized restraint with emotional resonance. The ash grey construct of a sprues containing everything required to function in daily life subtly alludes to George’s attempt to mask and try to play at normality. The screens that reappear mimic a vortex and serve well to mark out the segments when George retreats into his memories. The play of light and form enacts the interplay of memory and reality, and the staging honours George’s solitude while also embracing the small, human moments that break through despair.

In the context of MIF’s wider “Dream Differently” programme for 2025 which champions hybridity and emotional complexity then A Single Man stands out as a highlight. It is less a huge spectacle than a subtle, achingly human meditation on loss. The final moments feel hopeful and redemptive. Perhaps we can all do well to hold a sense of possibility that the pain of grief can be redemptive and like kintsugi pottery we can be broken and yet emerge stronger.

AVIVA STUDIOS 2nd – 6th July 2025

Through It All Together

Large Theatres

Written by Chris O’Connor

Directed by Gitika Buttoo

Leeds Playhouse, Courtyard Theatre

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Through It All Together, Chris O’Connor’s tender, funny, and profoundly human new play, scores a heartfelt goal at Leeds Playhouse. Blending the collective high of Marcelo Bielsa’s transformative Leeds United era with the quiet, day-to-day reality of living with dementia, this world premiere directed by Gitika Buttoo is a deeply affecting exploration of love, memory, identity—and how football, of all things, can help us hold onto our sense of Self.

The result is a beautifully calibrated narrative centred on Howard (Reece Dinsdale) and Sue (Shobna Gulati), a long-married Leeds couple whose lives are defined as much by matchdays as they are by memory loss. Their shared devotion to Leeds United—and to each other—becomes a touchstone as Howard’s dementia begins to unravel their sense of normalcy.

But this isn’t a story of despair. O’Connor balances challenge with a deep humanity, never sugar-coating, but never wallowing either. “There are a lot of stories about dementia that focus only on the decline, the hardship… I wanted to show a more nuanced picture.” The ensuing result is a window into gritty, Northern humour and emotional resilience that suggests there are ways to navigate this new life that are not totally bleak and hopeless.

Reece Dinsdale’s portrayal of Howard is all the more moving for its subtlety. He captures the erratic rhythms of memory loss with clarity and compassion, avoiding caricature in favour of something richer. As the illness slowly progresses there are more post-it notes dotted around the home to ground him as we watch the light in his light in his eyes seem to palpably dim. Shobna Gulati’s Sue is no mere carer—she’s the team captain of this household, full of warmth, exhaustion, fierce loyalty and humour. Together, they embody a partnership that’s far more than caretaking; it’s a testament to shared history. Gulati is wonderfully warm and authentic as a wife facing an uncertain future, but determined to still make new memories with the man she loves.

Excellent supporting roles from Dean Smith and Everal A Walsh flesh out the world outside of the home with energy and wit, from the passionate football pundetry of a wickedly funny podcast to football fans uniting in the pub or on the terraces with unbridled optimism or surly despondency. Natalie Davies is very believable as the daughter whose initial discomfort and awkwardness around her fathers’ diagnosis slowly shifts to something new that has real emotional depth and develops a deeper bond between parent and adult child.

Everal A Walsh and Dean Smith in Through It All Together at Leeds Playhouse
Image credit: Charlie Swinbourne

Buttoo’s direction is deft, never overstated, and her pacing allows the emotional beats to land without lingering too long. Amanda Stoodley’s set elegantly shifts between domestic space and Elland Road reverie, and her inspired stained glass window depiction of Marcelo Bielsa vividly evokes how football serves as church for so many. Annie May Fletcher’s sound design and Jason Taylor’s lighting evoke both the roar and passion of the crowd and the flickering confusion of a fading mind. The production’s authenticity owes much to the involvement of Dr Nicky Taylor, Theatre and Dementia Research Associate at Leeds Playhouse as O’Connor collaborated with people living with dementia throughout the writing process.

This play will resonate with Leeds fans, particularly those still mourning the magic of the Bielsa years and those embarking with renewed hope as Leeds once again play in the Premier League. But crucially, Through It All Together is not really about football but instead “It’s about a family navigating life, loss, and love.” The result is a play that feels lived-in, full of both emotional urgency and the soft, cumulative weight of experience.

Through It All Together is a triumph not because it finds easy answers, but because it honours complexity. It reminds us that memory may fade, but love leaves traces. It’s an ode to resilience, to chosen rituals, to the invisible thread that binds couples, families, fans, and strangers in the same chant, week after week. Whether you’re a die-hard Leeds United fan or someone who couldn’t care less about football, this is a show worth seeing. As O’Connor hopes, “Maybe people will leave the theatre feeling a little more connected to their own families, and a bit more educated on dementia. And maybe, just maybe… they’ll convert to Leeds United.”

LEEDS PLAYHOUSE 23rd June – 19th July 2025

The Walrus has a right to Adventure

Large Theatres

Written by Billie Collins

Directed by Nathan Crossan-Smith

LIVERPOOL EVERYMAN
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Billie Collins is definitely one to watch as their work is evolving at a rapid rate from their debut play Too Much World At Once in 2023 to last years collaboration with Thickskin, the excellent Peak Stuff. Their latest work, The Walrus Has A Right to Adventure is an utterly charming piece that weaves together three stories full of warmth and wit within a big ecological heart. Three central characters each have a startling and life-changing encounter with a wild creature inspired by real life stories. This is a genuine ambitious play that is weird and wonderful in equal measure. Featuring a walrus, a stag, a bear, and a big queer soul this is a quicksilver exploration of our intimate connection to the natural world and the power and beauty of metamorphosis.

Director Nathan Crossan-Smith knits together three wildly different stories with a surprising amount of coherence and emotional punch. At the centre of each vignette is an encounter with the unexpected: a young shelf stacker is confronted by a majestic white stag in Halewood Tesco, a fierce mother bear derails a wedding proposal in Colorado while a walrus decides to inhabit a fishing boat in Norway. These surreal interruptions crack open the lives of three characters grappling with identity, purpose, and possibility.

Tasha Dowd in The Walrus has a Right to Adventure at Liverpool Everyman.
Image credit: Ean Flanders

Tasha Dowd is endearingly grounded as Rio, a Tesco night-shifter whose brush with the mythical stag nudges them toward self-exploration. There’s a tenderness and subtlety in Dowd’s performance that makes Rio’s journey quietly powerful. Each performer also plays multiple other characters through the narrative and each character Dowd inhabits is vividly drawn and deeply engrossing down to the quiver of a hand that evokes an elderly parent or the physical menace of a redneck, second amender. Princess Khumalo’s Hazel is sharper-edged as a young woman suddenly thrown off-course by a man on one knee with a bear behind him. Khumalo brings great comic timing but grounds it in something rawer when Hazel begins to unpick what she really wants. Meanwhile, Reginald Edwards delivers a charmingly dry turn as Oskar, the Norwegian tour guide whose boat becomes a walrus squat. His blend of deadpan resistance and existential bewilderment is a comic highlight.

The set, designed by Chloe Wyn, is sleek and inventive allowing for seamless shifts between continents and climates. Live Foley sound effects (from composer and sound designer Oliver Vibrans) are used to delightful effect, turning rustling trees, crashing antlers, and grunting walruses into an audible playground. The whole staging evokes a vintage radio play unfolding before our eyes. Rajiv Pattani’s lighting keeps the pace slick and the transitions fluid. There is a really beautiful look to the whole production that has a really avant garde European style that evokes an Ivo van Hove piece.

It is a testament to the writer and the cast and creatives involved that the multiple storylines which could easily have felt a little fragmented remains fluid and cohesive. Collins’ writing sparkles with wit, but also isn’t afraid to pause for introspection. The play gently interrogates how we live, love, and consume—and who we become when nature elbows its way back into our human bubbles. Most refreshing is the queer narrative running through Rio’s story. It’s treated not as an issue, but as a tender, joyful part of life…messy, moving, and very human.

Ultimately, The Walrus Has A Right to Adventure is an exuberant, slightly bonkers reminder that ultimately the wisest thing we can do is listen…to the animals, to each other, to ourselves.

The Walrus Has A Right to Adventure at Liverpool Everyman
Image credit: Ean Flanders

Liverpool Everyman 12th-21st June 2025

TESS

Circus, Large Theatres

Written by Thomas Hardy

Adapted and Directed by Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney

HOME MCR

HOME plays host to a visceral, breathtaking reimagining of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. This dreamy production quite literally soars in this genre-blending adaptation by Ockham’s Razor.

Gone is the pastoral restraint of traditional Hardy. Instead, we’re catapulted into a raw, kinetic world where spoken word collides with aerial spectacle, and physical theatre gives pulse to Tess’s inner life. With ropes, rigging, and a shape-shifting set by Tina Bicât that conjures both rural Dorset and Tess’s psychological terrain, this production is as visually inventive as it is emotionally brutal.

From the opening moments, where Tess’s body arcs through the air, we sense a young woman buffeted by forces far larger than herself – class, patriarchy and fate. The acrobatics aren’t just decorative but truly dramaturgical. Every lift, tumble, and suspension reveals something of her journey: the elation of love, the vertigo of injustice, the weight of grief.

Hardy’s 19th-century text is refracted through a contemporary lens, but not diluted. The themes of poverty, privilege, female agency, and the policing of desire all land with fresh urgency. There’s a fury simmering beneath the lyricism of the script which fuses Hardy’s own words with piercing modern clarity. There is a piercing moment on stage as Joshua Frazer as Alec D’Urberville spins imperiosly around Tess in a hoop like a giant gold wedding ring that is both stunning and chilling.

The cast are remarkable – muscular and tender, able to pivot from aerial feats to fragile, unspoken intimacies without ever breaking the spell. Here there are two perfomers as Tess. Hanora Kamen narrates her own story and invites the audience to watch as her tragic tale unfolds. Dance artist Lila Naruse ensures that Tess is heartbreakingly rendered: strong but vulnerable, caught in the ropes of her circumstances even as she fights to break free.

The staging is constantly surprising, using vertical space and movement to express what Hardy wrote between the lines: that the social systems around Tess are as confining as any physical trap. For creative team of Directors Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney this production is clearly a labour of love. They are ably supported by an exquisite soundscape from Holly Khan and dreamy video design by Daniel Denton. Nathan Johnson‘s choreography is just flawless and commands attention in a similar and intimate way to his work with Punchdrunk.

TESS is a triumph of theatrical innovation and emotional storytelling that speaks directly to a contemporary audience. The solidarity of women, the enduring effects of shame, and the quiet power of resistance are all threaded through the performance with care and urgency. Hardy purists may blink but even they’ll be moved by the sheer poetry of this production’s fall and flight.

HOME MCR 5th – 7th June 2025

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Cabaret, Shakespeare, Small Theatres

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Amy Gavin and Hannah Ellis Ryan

The Shrew Gets a Manc Makeover: Unseemly Women Take On Shakespeare

The bawdy babes are back and this time, they’re not pulling any punches. Unseemly Women, HER Productions, and Girl Gang Manchester have teamed up for a burlesque-soaked, neon-splashed, full-throttle takedown of Shakespeare’s most problematic “rom-com” at HOME and it’s an absolute riot.

Under the whip-smart direction of Amy Gavin and Hannah Ellis Ryan, The Taming of the “Shrew” ditches dusty tradition for something far more visceral. Set between a glitter-drenched nightclub and the chaotic world of Padua, this all-female and non-binary ensemble slices through the Bard’s gender politics with stilettos sharpened.

The very talented cast slinks and shimmy across the stage and into the audience to ramp up the immersive aspects of this sassy production. Think Baz Luhrmann meets Blackadder on a hen do in the Northern Quarter, with a soundtrack that pivots from catchy pop tracks and bluesy vocals to the sinister horror of a slowed down Andy Williams’ Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

Shady Murphy is magnificent as Katerina, all fire and fury before her spark is methodically and heartbreakingly extinguished. Opposite her, a brilliant Emily Spowage delivers a Petruchio that’s equal parts swagger and sadism. It’s a masterclass in gaslighting so when Petruchio insists the sun is the moon, your stomach will twist as Katerina tries to navigate around safe path through her marital nightmare.

Visually, it’s a feast: Zoe Barnes’ Vivienne Westwood-inspired wedding dress looks iconic. The Belles look suitably beguiling and risqué for this production. The pole dancing and musical elements ramp up the visual drama and showcase the multi-talented performers in this riotous piece.

This is a fun and face-paced punch to the gut that’s a glitter cannon full of feminist fury. By refusing to sanitize the original text, this production reframes it with power, purpose, and a healthy dose of revenge. Here this vibrant and talented ensemble reclaim the narrative. The odious Sly Christopher is left to watch the women like a second rate Bernard Manning gagged and trussed up like a turkey.

Catch it before it disappears in a cloud of glitter and gaslight.

HOME MCR 27TH-31ST MAY 2025

FIND YOUR EYES

Large Theatres, Photography

Concept, Direction, Photography, Text and Performance by Benji Reid

AVIVA STUDIOS, WAREHOUSE ONE

Finding the Sublime in the Click of a Shutter: Benji Reid’s FIND YOUR EYES

There are some performances that ask for your attention,here Benji Reid’s FIND YOUR EYES does not ask, it commands it. From the first subtle toll of a bell to the final, well-earned ovation, Reid’s self-described Choreo-Photolist offering doesn’t just hold your gaze; it re-engineers it.

Originally commissioned for Manchester International Festival in 2023, it’s a thrill to see a local artist not just holding their own, but unequivocally owning the space as they return to their home city via touring the production to New York.

Reid, once a pioneer in the UK hip hop dance scene, now an alchemist of light and movement—merges dance, photography, and narrative with surgical finesse. This isn’t just interdisciplinary work. This is interdimensional. The camera, usually an archive tool, here becomes a conjuring device. Images are captured live and appear like magic on giant screens. Reid is a silent sorcerer revealing pages of his spellbook in real time.

The genius of FIND YOUR EYES lies in its transparency. Reid doesn’t conceal the trick; he hands you the wand. You see the fans, the foil, the flashes. You hear the barely-there click of the shutter. It’s not illusion, it’s transfiguration. We witness the banal become beautiful: a charging cable turned cyborg crown; a pole dancer becoming a mythic creature caught mid-flight. You don’t just observe the process, you are implicated in it.

Three performers Slate Hemedi, Salomé Pressac, and Zuzanna Kijanowska channel their bodies with a poise that feels both disciplined and transcendent. Hemedi and Pressac unfold themselves like origami, their precision so intimate it feels voyeuristic. Zuzanna Kijanowska seems more phoenix than pole artist as she defies gravity and expectation. These aren’t performances, they are revelations.

The set design by Ti Green deserves a standing ovation of its own: minimalist but mutative, each act unfolding new dimensions, as though the stage itself is evolving in step with the emotional tenor of the work.

The piece is not without pain. It speaks of loss sometimes in whispers, sometimes in shouts of grief, trauma, and the complicated legacy of Black masculinity. Reid’s monologues, stitched with poetic brevity, touch on family wounds, suicidal ideation, and the tender devastation of caring for an ailing parent. It is brave work, and yet never self-indulgent. Under the deft dramaturgy of Keisha Thompson, the deeply personal becomes piercingly universal.

But perhaps the most moving part of FIND YOUR EYES is its reverence for ritual. It treats creativity as ceremony: the lighting of a candle, the lifting of a lens, the building of a world. This isn’t dance as performance but more dance as invocation with the camera capturing moments in time. Reid is not merely a choreographer or photographer-but a high priest of fleeting truth.

In one of the final monologues, he offers the question: “It’s not how do you fly, but why?” FIND YOUR EYES doesn’t answer that question, instead it invites you to experience the lift-off.

AVIVA STUDIOS 25TH-30TH May 2025

WAKE

Beatbox, Cabaret, Circus, Dance, Gig Theatre, Large Theatres, Poetry, Uncategorized

Co-Created and Co-Directed by Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon

Warehouse One, HOME MCR

Growing up Protestant in rural Northern Ireland I went to a lot of funerals. There were wakes with copious amounts of tea, cake and sandwiches and the odd drop of whisky or sherry. They were mostly restrained quiet affairs where your loss was acknowledged with a solemn handshake, a box of teabags or a tin of ham. I always had a sense that our Catholic neighbours had nailed the wake more as a celebration for the dead with music and booze usually leading to a good cèilidh. Apparently I was right and THISISPOPBABY are on the mainland showcasing the rites of the WAKE but with a few extra bells and whistles. My lovely Dad was seen to the grave with the lilt of bagpipes…as of last night I’m wishing we could redo his send-off with some accordions, the bodhrán and maybe an Irish dancer in a sequined g-string with buttock tassles and possibly a world champion pole dancer if the budget would stretch.

Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon of Dublin based THISISPOPBABY have blended the traditional mourning rites with a high calibre camp burlesque show that includes aerial work, Irish dance, slam poetry, break dancing and pole dancing. The result is anarchic and playful rousing invitation to mourn our dead by celebrating life. The production has had several sell out run in Dublin before heading to Sadlers Wells and now Manchester. The Warehouse space is a ideal setting with a tiered stage for the musicians and the pole dancer whereas the circular second stage has a circus vibe and is used for the dance routines and the aerial work. The audience are seated to 3 sides of the circular stage so the sight lines are excellent.

Balloon dance from Wake.
Image credit: Ruth Medjber

THIS IS THE WAKE FOR EVERYONE THAT’S NEVER COMING BACK…

Felispeak is the Irish-Nigerian spoken word artist who weaves a story through the very varied performance styles. Her crisp dry drawl has a laconic charm and there is a real lyricism in her words that is reminiscent of some of our great Irish poets. Some performances burst on stage such as Colombian breakdancer Cristian Emmanuel Dirocie or the mind bending balloon dance by American competitive Irish dancer Michael Roberson and THISISPOPBABY stalwart Phillip Connaughton. Others have a gentler intro such as a beautiful aerial routine by Jenny Tuffs or the plaintive voice and accordian of Darren Roche from the band Moxie in the haunting Raglan Road.

The music here is a roller coaster soundtrack that encompasses traditional melodies and modern Irish classics like The Cranberries Ode To My Family delivered in a gorgeous performance by Emer Dineen. Peppered through these are Bronski Beat Small-town Boy used in a phenomenally confident performance by Michael Roberson. Eurythmics Sweet Dreams sees another striking clubland meets Irish dance while the Peggy Lee classic is rendered unforgettable by a hilariously cheeky performance by Phillip Connaughton.

This is a impressive production bringing together fourteen artists from very varied disciplines and showcases some stunning performances including Venezuelan Lisette Krol, who is a world champion pole dancer and a truly breathtaking performer. Most of all, WAKE is a celebration of how we choose to live while acknowledging death is all around us. In this only possible response is to be open to the joy and accepting of the pain of lost lives that were well lived. This life-affirming production feels like everyone has been on the poitín or Irish moonshine and this is a party for the dead that everyone should join.

AVIVA STUDIOS 17th – 21st April 2025

The Moth

Small Theatres

Written by Paul Herzberg

Directed by Jake Murray

Aldridge Studio, The Lowry Theatre

On paper The Moth is ticking all the right boxes as an exciting piece of drama that examines some highly pertinent issues around racism, fascism and the legacy of Apartheid. South African writer Paul Herzberg has crafted a full length play from his award winning 12 minute piece for The Covid-19 Monologues The Moth. Elysium Theatre Company and Director Jake Murray have a strong track record in delivering high quality productions such as Jesus Hopped The A Train , and this tour is their biggest yet taking in 25 venues. This is an ambitious production with a lot to say about how our history haunts and informs our present and whether forgiveness is always possible or even appropriate.

You think you know me. You don’t. So its time to talk.”

In 1997 two men meet by chance on a train from Scotland to King’s Cross. Sat opposite each other on this long journey these very different men are connected through their origin stories. John Jordana played by Faz Singhateh is a successful black British journalist who was born in a prison in South Africa and came to Britain via East Berlin where he fled with his father, an established political activist. He has great pride in his father but no relationship with his mother who stayed in South Africa. Marius Muller (Micky Cochrane) is a white South African who was conscripted into the Army and fought in the horrific Angolan Border War. Brutalised by a violent pro Nazi father and traumatised by his war experiences, he was also abandoned by his mother. These men share an uneasy conversation which leads to a shocking revelation that John writes about and the resulting fallout over the subsequent years leads to further meetings. This finally sees them face each other in a television studio as they come together to share their stories with us as the studio audience.

This is an interesting premise and is actually based on some true experiences. Writer Paul Herzberg was also a conscripted soldier in the War and has written an number of plays about the South African military experience. Here the focus is on what happens when the son of a freedom fighter comes face to face with a one time soldier responsible for war atrocities. The simple staging is effective and allows for a sense of a television studio while also serving as seats on a train or John’s home office. The use of a large monitor serves to create the illusion of scenery flying by on the train journeys, while also allowing Adjoa Andoh to pop up on Skype as John’s mother or images of family photos for both men that give a further sense of their background. stories.

Both actors give powerful performances in this lengthy and intense production. Micky Cochrane is particularly impressive maintaining a strong South African accent throughout. They both play complex and damaged men who seem frustratingly unable to connect yet appear to have an invisible thread pulling them together over decades.

There is a real need right now for theatre that explores difficult political and ethical issues in new ways that help us make sense of a troubled world. The Moth does impart a real sense of the horror and brutality of war but it veers toward repeating its narrative in order to emphasis the story and instead this dense repetition loses the Director and his actors an opportunity to real breathe life into this production. Including the interval the play runs at about two hours that is heavy on dialogue but seems to fail to truly capture a sense of either protagonist. Scenes like the one in John’s upstairs office just don’t feel authentic. His loving wife would be highly unlikely to let a man she had never met but knew to have been the perpetrator of violent war crimes upstairs in her home to surprise her husband while their children were in the house. This feels like a missed opportunity to use that time to flesh out these complex men or to make a decision to run at 70 mins and tell an important war story succinctly and powerfully.

Aldridge Studio 10th-12th April 2025

Tour dates

Kim’s Convenience

Large Theatres

Written by Ins Choi

Directed by Esther Jun

HOME MCR

A few minutes into this production and hunger pangs are kicking in. The vibrant set design by Mona Camille brings this show alive as it really feels like a shop crammed full of snacks and goodies. If this 80 minute production had an interval I suspect there would be a few shoplifting instances as punters might be tempted to forgo the theatre popcorn for a quick trolley dash on stage. This is a feast for the eyes and makes for an utterly convincing Korean/Canadian convenience store that Mr Kim has poured all his energy into making a success for his family.

Ins Choi debuted the play in 2011 at the Toronto Fringe Festival and it later became a runaway hit as a TV series which ran for 5 seasons on CBC and Netflix. This production is fast paced but then it needs to be as it attempts to crammed in pivotal storyline from all the tv series. The result is a janchi of events as this fractured family reconnect. Mr Kim discovers his story is his family not his business, his wife sees her church community vanish in the path of gentrification, their daughter finds love with a childhood friend and their son reconciled with his father after the violent events of his teenage years. There’s a lot to consume and digest in this production and although it has plenty of charm and endearing moments there is a lot of serious and darker elements that are brushed over in this trolley dash through the 5 series.

The cast of Kim’s Convenience
Image credit: Victoria Davies

Here the immigrant experience is seen from the first and second generation experience and how these very different perspectives can cause clashes and divides around what constitutes belonging, identity and success. There are some uncomfortable moments that highlight issues around racism and violence within families that are never really addressed in this cheery upbeat production. It’s a fine line to walk but here the audience seem so affectionate towards these familiar characters that they seem willing to laugh along.

The cast are all highly committed and James Yi as Appa and Caroline Donica as his daughter Janet have great onstage chemistry and keep the dialogue sparkling. Andrew Gichigi plays multiple roles with real charm so it’s easy to delight in his burgeoning relationship with Janet. There is plenty to enjoy in this popular and entertaining show but like many of the fast foods on the display shelves it may leave you with a slightly unpleasant aftertaste.

HOME MCR 8th-12th April 2025

UK tour dates