Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Liz Kitchen. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Liz Kitchen. Sort by date Show all posts
Monday, 24 October 2022
A Gig For Ghosts, Soho Theatre | Review
A Gig For Ghosts
Soho Theatre
Reviewed on Friday 21st October 2022 by Olivia Mitchell
★★★★
As you enter the upstairs space at the Soho Theatre, you instantly feel welcomed. The bustling audience seem so joyous to be together and it's almost as if you're in a room full of long lost friends. This feeling becomes even more poignant as you watch A Gig For Ghosts unfold in front of you as it tackles a number of emotive topics which make you want to hug those around you a little tighter.
A Gig For Ghosts is a heart warming and heart breaking tale of the romance between Lily and Amy, two ladies living in London who feel alone in the world. Amy (Hanora Karmen) has the dark job of administering the deaths of people who have been left alone and forgotten; while Lily (Rori Hawthorn) is new to London and finds herself temping whilst desperately searching for her rom-com love story. The two seemingly opposite characters (Amy is dealing with the realities of death while Lily is facing impermanence in her work life) end up falling in love. Their sweet romance evolves as they struggle to truly find their place and balance with one another.
This is a glorious show which creeps up on you and envelopes you in emotion out of nowhere. Fran Bushe's script expertly finds harmony between intense emotion and light-hearted humour, and paired alongside Becky CJ's wonderful score it just provides a treat of a show. A combination of full out folk songs, humourous songs and more intimate pieces, the score perfectly fits the story and never detracts from the emotion and pacing of the show.
The cast are incredibly talented, playing instruments as well as singing and acting; the gig theatre style really is perfect for this type of show. Completing the trio of performers is Liz Kitchen as Maud who is hilarious as she multi-roles throughout and provides an excellent through line to the story.
One of the most heart warming pieces of theatre I've seen this year, A Gig For Ghosts is a brilliant way to spend 80 minutes which will leave you feeling warm and loved.
photo credit: Mercedes Assad
Friday, 26 January 2018
Oranges and Elephants, Hoxton Hall | Review
Oranges and Elephants
Hoxton Hall
Reviewed on Thursday 25th January 2017 by Nicola Louise
★★
Originally conceived in 2013 by Lil Warren, Oranges and Elephants tells the story of two female gangs in London in the Victorian Era. The 'Oranges', a girl gang in Brixton led by their boss, Flo played by Kate Adams, and the ‘Elephants’, an Irish girl gang bonded by the family code, based in Elephant and Castle’s Woolworth road.
Being shown in Hoxton Hall, London, the place brings some authenticity to the musical. The old music hall creates a great backdrop for the narrator, the Chair played by Susannah van den Berg and her piano player Doreen, played by one of the co-founders of the inclusive theatre pioneers of Chickenshed, Jo Collins.
Van den Berg had great energy and as soon as the show started she had the crowd laughing with her large personality, she had great chemistry with Collins and their witty banter was none stop.
The girls in the gang all played instruments and they were used throughout the show, the girls were either in the wings or on stage playing the violin, cello … there was even a flute involved, they used this very well and allowed the cast to be a part of the orchestra as well as the show.
As the show went on I thought Ada, second in command of the Oranges played by Rebecca Bainbridge tried a little to hard to bring her character to life. Ada is a psychopath and although that came across very well in Bainbridge’s performance, it became a bit uneasy to watch her bring manly ways to her character. Ada is still female, but every move Bainbridge took, I couldn’t figure out if Ada was meant to be in a girl gang or wanted to be apart of the male gangs that ran Soho and Piccadilly.
My other issue with the Oranges was their leader, Flo. Now Flo was mentioned in the show as the ‘worst female in London’, she was scary, people were frightened of her, unfortunately, Adams was neither. I wasn’t convinced of her leadership within the gang, she looked too soft and the delivery of her lines didn’t make me feel anything towards her.
The Elephants, led by Annie (Liz Kitchen) with second in command, Nellie (Christina Tedders) were great. Tedders was full of energy and made the role her own and diverse; playing the thief but also the lost little girl who just wanted to sing.
When Nellie meets Mary, a young girl from the black country played by Sinead Long who had been captured by the Oranges, you start to feel sorry for both girls, they want to sing in music halls but have somehow been caught up in a life of crime.
Both girls performances were very strong, Long, was very convincing as a scared girl, on her own for the first time in London.
This musical isn’t to everyone’s taste, but I can see why people enjoy it, there also an extra added bonus of the sing along, everyone got song sheets and Van der Berg got the audience singing with no hesitation.
Oranges and Elephants runs at Hoxton Hall until February 10th 2018
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