EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
The poor have got their channels in the bedrooms of the rich
JAN WOOLF marvels at a rich brew of steam-punk Victoriana, homosexual scandal, and contemporary reference
INTERROGATING THE SEX WORKER: Will Bliss (Abberline) and Stefan Race (Henry Newlove) in The Flea
[Marc Brenner]
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Sunny Dancer, Tony, Songs of Forgotten Trees, and The End of Oak Street
JOHN GREEN relishes a powerful and moving drama that explores the lived realities of west London’s Punjabi community
MARTIN HALL welcomes a plea for greater compassion between believer and non-believer via the framework of philosophical enquiry
The Flea
Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick, London
NAOMI KUYCK-COHEN’s set intrigues as we settle in our seats; surreal furniture for a brothel and a sitting room, a weird Dali-esque desk and chairs on the upper level.
Then come the five actors marching on, their 12 roles named on screens. Costume designer Lambdog1066 seems to have scissored through many charity shop numbers, with mutton leg sleeves on some. What do these mean? Doesn’t matter — they look great. Call it punk Victoriana with a nod to Vivienne Westwood.
This introductory catwalk opens the emotional valves for the true (and embellished) story of the 1889 Cleveland Street scandal that rocked Victorian England, from dirt-poor Bermondsey, London to gold-rich Buckingham palace.
Similar stories
Family issues and dragon-fuelled history amount to a vacuous spectacle that ill-fits the theatre, muses SIMON PARSONS
MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about a two-handed theatrical homage to jazz’s most mercurial musician
JAN WOLF enjoys a British revival of the 1972 come of age farce/panto Pippin