London Fringe Theatre Round-Up

There are a couple of new shows that I’ll be going to in the next few weeks which I think that readers of the Londoneer might be interested in:

‘Autobiographer‘ – a new play by Melanie Wilson at Artsadmin at the Toynbee Studios in E1. An ensemble cast of four women take part in a multimedia performance recounting the life of ‘Flora’ as she transforms from a vivacious young woman to an elderly 76-year-old struggling with dementia. ‘Autobiographer’ runs until 5 May, and you’ll find tickets for this show online here.

From Sunday 22 April to 5 May, the Wrong Crowd and the Soho Theatre company present ‘The Girl With The Iron Claws‘ at their West End venue on Dean St. The brainchild of writer/director Hannah Mulder and designer/puppeteer Rachael Canning, ’Girl With The Iron Claws’ is a dark re-telling of a classic Nordic fairy tale which has certain similarities to our familiar Beauty & The Beast’, and involves a mixture of puppetry, live action and music. The show has already received rave reviews and I’m quite excited to be attending the show next Tuesday – I’ll put my own thoughts up on the blog soon afterwards. You can pick up your own tickets here.

One of London’s lesser-known theatres can be found in the arty surroundings of Hackney Wick, in the shadow of the Olympic Stadium. The Yard Theatre opens for its second season on 28 April with ‘If what I hear is true’, a new play by young Indian writer and director Soumyak Kanti DeBiswas, and runs until 19 May. An extremely eclectic run of plays and films follows on from that, including a three week festival in July prior to the Olympics which will feature new work by emerging British artists. Tickets for DeBiswas’s show (which I’ll be reviewing) can be obtained here, and you can see the full line-up for The Yard Theatre’s new season on their website. Why not keep an eye on the theatre’s updates on Twitter and Facebook too.

The show that’s really getting me exercised at the moment is ‘Babel‘. I mentioned the location where it will be set in an earlier post on the blog, but it looks like this is lining up to be one of the most talked about shows in London this year. Babel’s cast of 300 will be taking over Caledonian Park from 8 to 20 May, and through story-telling, music, mass choirs and amazing visual effects will be reflecting on what it means to be part of a global community today, and London’s role as one of the world’s most multicultural cities. I suspect that the show is going to be absolutely magical and utterly unforgetable. Here’s a hint at what’s in store from the press release:

“The Tower is calling out to people from all over London, from across the country and around the world. The people feel compelled to come here, to this last lost iconic site and the Tower that stands in its midst. Once again, the people are one. Our languages, our backgrounds, our cultures are different, but together we have been drawn to this place. Today is the day.”

Again, I’ll be reviewing the show after seeing one of the early performances but I can’t recommend this highly enough, having seen one of the early rehearsals last month. Their remarkable website, where you can find out lots more about the show, is here.