Franco Milazzo - Page 4

Burlesque royalty has come to London in the form of Dita Von Teese and her new show Diamonds and Dust.

Iman Qureshi’s The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, directed by Hannah Hauer‑King, begins like a buoyant sitcom, only to pivot—sometimes too sharply—into earnest, confessional drama. At its best, it sparkles with wit and warmth; at its most uneven, it feels like two distinct shows blocking one another.

On the face of it, three celebrated opera companies joining forces is, without doubt, A Good Thing. This adaptation of Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow, on the other hand, decidedly Not A Great Thing.

On 6 January 2021, while the US Congress gathered in Washington DC to confirm Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America, a mob waited outside. Demanding that their leader Donald J Trump be returned to power, they stormed the Capitol building to confront the lawmakers.

Time to turn that frown upside down: London Clown Festival returns in its typically rambunctious style.

Somewhere in a massive warehouse in Deptford, a collection is being made of every digital artifact since the birth of the internet in 1983. Every blog, every tweet, every DM. This archive called Storehouse is, unsurprisingly, reaching bursting point. A proposed solution called The Great Aggregregation has instead turned into “an epic fail”. We, the audience, are being asked to help resolve this critical situation.

Out of the Spiegeltent and into the West End, Head First Acrobats’ GODZ sees an assortment of deities descend on Peacock Theatre with a heavenly blend of adult comedy, scintillating circus and enough raw sex appeal to send Magic Mike back to Hogwarts.

Just what is (and isn't) the truth is an eternally relevant discussion and a subject at the heart of Storehouse, a new immense immersive theatre production set in a 90,000 square metres warehouse in Deptford.

Down from Mount Olympus, these Greek Gods - sorry GODZ - come to London this week in the form Head First Acrobats (or is Acrobatz?).

Opera Holland Park has never shied away from audacious programming, and with Jonathan Dove’s Itch, it plunges boldly into radioactive territory—literally. Originally seen here in 2023 and based on Simon Mayo’s YA novel about a teenage element hunter who stumbles upon a potentially world-altering discovery, this opera bubbles with energy, invention and musical firepower.

The finest immersive experiences ask much of their audience. Titled “The Burning Blimp Festival”, Phantom Peak’s latest season makes demands on your detective skills, your physical stamina and - at one point - your immortal soul. Gulp.

As Forrest Gump wisely said 'Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're gonna get.' House of Life takes that idea and runs away with it to flamboyant effect.

Whether you want to relive the second summer of love and the late-Eighties acid house rave scene or just want to feel what it might be like to fly through the cosmos, the updated “Virtual Reality adventure” In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats is a compelling experience. 

If theatre is, at its best, a mirror held up to society then The Ladyboys of Bangkok offers that reflection in rhinestones, feather boas, and a kaleidoscope of pop anthems.

Has there been a British comedy franchise as successful as Mischief’s since the days of the Carry On films? While The Play That Goes Wrong is still going strong in the West End and New York, their latest The Comedy About Spies rolls off the conveyor belt at the Noël Coward Theatre.

Somewhere in a parallel dimension, there’s a version of Melissa Madden Gray that became an internationally renowned singer, as comfortable in French, Italian and German as English. In another one, she finds herself an in-demand circus clown able to bring the house down with her wickedly funny cocktail of sardonic facial expressions, physical antics and perfect timing. Then there’s the dimension where she’s a dominatrix who could humble a giant with her battery of passive aggressive taunts and expert manhandling.

The Empire Strips Back has docked at Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios. With over two hours of themed fun based on the original Star Wars film trilogy, it bills itself tautologically as “a burlesque parody” (the word burlesque comes from the Italian burla meaning a joke or ridicule). 

In this latest revival of Krapp’s Last Tape at the Barbican Centre, it is the silence that speaks the loudest. At times, it’s practically deafening.