Nuclear War, Buried, and Graceland - Old Red Lion Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until March 21, 2020


“Oh death, where is thy sting?” could well be a subtitle for Alexander Knott's enthralling triptych comprising Buried, Graceland and Nuclear War. The first of these, Buried, is brilliantly performed by James Demaine as a man temporarily entombed in a collapsed building. His entire life flashes through his mind in a torrent of words and actions. His first drink, his first sexual experience, military service, boxing are all presented with tremendous physicality. In Graceland, Anthony Cozens plays an endearingly dysfunctional teacher who is pilloried by his class. By using the audience as his class, Cozens gains a terrific and often hilarious rapport. Kids can be both perceptive and cruel so when they discover that he is being cuckolded a different side of the teacher emerges. Using combustion as a metaphor for life we enjoyed this ingenious play and the performance enormously. Nuclear War comes as a shock when we meet two women, played by Zöe Grain and Freya Sharp, who portray two sides of the same personality. Using complex movement at times to emphasise how the loss of a partner can be unbearable, the excellent Grain and Sharp frequently speak in unison and with distinctive vocal rhythms which can be bewildering as we hurtle along this unusual roller coaster of experiences. Helped throughout by Samuel Heron's ingenious use of sound and composition these pieces are certainly thought provoking. By placing them together Knott gives us an exceptionally rewarding and brilliantly performed entertainment.

 Reviewed by D.S.J.
Photo © Charles Flint Photography.
 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆☆ 

 Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

 WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until March 21, 2020
Tue - Sat: 7:30 pm. Sat: 3 pm
Old Red Lion Theatre
Nearest tube: Angel
https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/nuclear-war-buried-graceland.html
Map & Location: 418 St John St, Islington, London EC1V 4NJ, UK

Most Popular

It Runs in the Family ★★★★ The Mill at Sonning | Feb 13 - Apr 12, 2025

Image
Ray Cooney's 1987 farce, It Runs in the Family , is still an audience pleaser. The absurd shenanigans of Dr David Mortimore as he tries to deliver an important lecture to his fellow neurologists, while simultaneously hiding from his wife the newly discovered 18-year-old son who is the result of a liaison with a former nurse at his hospital, still strikes the funny bone in 2025. Indeed, as things get more and more inane, the theatre echoes with laughter at the philanderer's plight and the ever more elaborate web of lies that he weaves. Human nature and its follies don't change or go out of fashion. The skewering of hypocrisy and the mad lengths to which dishonesty can go, are the staples of this comic genre, and Cooney manages to satisfyingly strike both notes in his light-hearted confection. For the cast and director, this kind of thing is all about timing, and Ron Aldridge gets the pacing just right while the actors nicely manage to walk the tightrope of always taking them...
Full Details »

Statues ★★★ Bush Theatre | Oct 9 - Nov 9, 2024

Image
Ostensibly about the relationship between English teacher, Yusuf, and his recently deceased father, Mustafa, Azan Ahmed's Statues actually presents that personal reality in a larger political context: the perception of men of Pakistani origin in British society and the heavy-handed behaviour of National security services. Only after his father's death does Yusuf learn that Mustafa once aspired to be a rap artist, ultimately retreating into himself and becoming a "statue" when that dream goes unrealised. Ironically, at the same time as he has this revelation, Yusuf, is teaching Hamlet (a character who notoriously had his own father issues), and he encounters a challenging young student who interprets Shakespeare's protagonist as a "radical." The teacher then makes a choice that has unexpected and unfortunate consequences for the student in question and creates a situation that actually parallels the experience of Yusuf's father. Azan Ahmed's work...
Full Details »

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

Howerd's End, Golden Goose Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until October 31, 2020

Image
Mark Farrelly's outstanding new play, Howerd's End , brings to life the humour and clandestine gay relationship of one of Britain's best loved comedians – Frankie Howerd. Author Farrelly also brilliantly plays Dennis Heymer, the man in Howerd's life for forty years, who here conjures up the ghost of the comic. It is made abundantly clear that enormous work went into Howerd's act with every tiny moment being predetermined; it is equally apparent that just as much work has gone into Simon Cartwright's wonderfully realistic assumption of the role. Each nuance is perfect without becoming a caricature. Helped by impeccable sound and lighting, and as directed by Joe Harmston, we are conducted through the two men's lives both on stage and off. Farrelly and Cartwright hold us enthralled from the moment Frankie's lugubrious face first peers around a corner to the sad ending which manages to avoid that 'tears of a clown' cliché. Howerd's nonconformist ...
Full Details »

The Magic Flute ★★★★★ Wilton's Music Hall | Feb 25 - Mar 8, 2025

Image
Mozart in the jungle! This revival of Charles Court Opera's version of the composer's enigmatic classic is set in the Peruvian rainforest, and in this rendition of the epic quest a well-meaning Tamino is exploring that strange, new terrain. The production neatly maintains the integrity of the original work while also making a series of judicious emendations which allow it to run at about two hours including an interval. David Eaton's English translation of the lyrics is clever and captures all the fun of the original, while John Savournin's translation of the book deftly brings out Mozart's Enlightenment message. On the humorous side of the ledger, Matthew Kellett does a simply outstanding job as Papageno. He brings to the craven bird catcher not only a fine voice, but some wonderfully exaggerated acting chops and a not inconsiderable athleticism. Indeed, his search for a companion is in danger of stealing the show from Martins Smaukstelis' restrained and earnes...
Full Details »

The Last Laugh ★★★★ Noël Coward Theatre | Feb 25 - Mar 22, 2025

Image
While apparently waiting to go on stage, three funny men from Britain's golden age of comedy share jibes, insights and memories. This is a show that is laden with nostalgia, but it also works for those who are not familiar with the work of Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse. The jokes still draw gales of laughter, and the personifications of the trio by Damian Williams, Bob Golding and Simon Cartwright are magical. Each of them display a slick professionalism and a near-perfect comic timing as they bring to life their popular personae who have a well-deserved place in the public imagination. Their discussions about the nature of comedy, their varying degrees of self-awareness and their deep commitment to the curious career they have chosen become fascinating. The talk ranges from what constitutes humour to the sense of personal fulfilment they derive from making others laugh, and it is all laced with sharp and silly sallies, old and new. From the meticulous, almost peda...
Full Details »

East is South ★★★★ Hampstead Theatre | Feb 7 - Mar 15, 2025

Image
Is the ability to entertain a paradox the difference between human intelligence and AI? If this is the kind of question that fascinates you, then this is a must-see show. Beau Willimon has written an intelligent thriller that challenges both metaphysical and epistemological preconceptions. It focuses on two programmers, Lena and Sasha, who may, or may not, have enabled the AI system, Logos, to become an entity which can no longer be controlled by its creators. Are they the "parents" of a new superior form of consciousness or are they dooming the human race to extinction? The questions abound, and the play is rife with religious connotations starting with the very name of the AI system. Lena, convincingly played by Kaya Scodelario, has been raised in a Mennonite community which eschews technology, but having embraced it, she may now have a motive for wishing to free it from the shackles of another society that is trying to deny its part in the future. Her partner, Sasha, ably ...
Full Details »

Goya to Impressionism. Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection ★★★★★ The Courtauld Gallery | Feb 14 - May 26, 2025

Image
This extraordinary exhibition is a selection of twenty-five works from the over two hundred pieces that comprise the Oskar Reinhart Collection and which are usually on display at the public patron's former villa in Switzerland. Here is a very special opportunity to see some of the most important works in that amazing collection and to consider the developments in European art from Goya through to the early Picasso. The first gallery presents the antecedents of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism with some stunning examples from the likes of Goya, Géricault and Courbet, while the second room has work by Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Picasso among others. It is a truly breathtaking introduction to the collection and an opportunity to see works that have never previously been displayed in this country. From Goya's darkly symbolic still life of salmon steaks, to Courbet's slyly provocative The Hammock (1844) and powerful depiction of nature in The Wave (187...
Full Details »

Outlying Islands ★★★★★ Jermyn Street Theatre | Feb 6 - Mar 15, 2025

Image
When young ornithologist, John, falls through the door of an abandoned chapel on an uninhabited island in the Outer Hebrides, he actually tumbles into a complex world that will test both his conventional moral values and his belief system. On this ostensibly "scientific" sojourn intended to catalogue the birdlife of the island, he is accompanied by his fellow ornithologist and super-nerd Robert. The latter represents a dispassionate, scientific approach to life that is often humorous, and he curiously finds common ground with Ellen, the niece of the island's owner, who is significantly named Kirk. While the latter represents the judgmental, religious ethos of society, his niece comes to embody the pagan, passionate and artistic side of life. Robert accepts his immediate animal attraction to Ellen. John, on the other hand, is torn between his desire for her and his conventional conservative upbringing. While Robert's rational, amoral and scientific approach to sexualit...
Full Details »

Mariposa ★★★ The Place | February 25 & 26, 2025

Image
Mariposa is a contemporary recasting of Puccini's classic story of Madame Butterfly. In this version, we are in Cuba in the 1970s, and a sailor picks up a rent boy whom he soon abandons. Later, when he returns to the island, the seafarer encounters the boy who loves him, but inevitably, the tale plays out to its preordained conclusion. In this version choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra incorporates into his "queer tragedy" the rhythms of the Caribbean and overtones of Santería, the Afro-Caribbean religious practice. Both work nicely to bring a new dimension to this familiar tale. The first act of the production is nothing short of spellbinding. Its evocation of the island's beach and docklands with the clandestine goings-on there is pulsatingly powerful. The score of Luis Miguel Cobo beautifully creates an exotic atmosphere and erotic tension which the choreography takes full advantage of. Harry Alexander, as the sex worker, Mariposa, and Daniel Baines as the sailor, P...
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings