Franco Milazzo - Page 7

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.

'If you're playing a poker game and you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.' In Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice (revived at Donmar Warehouse on its 30th anniversary), it is increasingly hard to tell who around the table isn’t a sucker.

Swapping out ballet for circus is a bold move but maybe that’s just what the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival is all about as it sets off on a mission to present orchestral music in a new light. 

It’s difficult to say at which exact point during Susie Wang’s Burnt Toast I noticed that my jaw had dropped and stayed dropped. If Sarah Kane’s Blasted had been set in Fawlty Towers, it may have turned out something like this.

Walking into the dimly lit room in a black suit and glittery top, David Rhodes somewhat resembles a funereal mirrorball. 

“Fasten your seatbelts!” cries Salty Brine at the top of the show, “it’s going to be a bumpy ride!” He’s not wrong: watching him at work is like standing in the middle of a four-way road junction and being smashed over and over by cars from every direction. In a good way.

Would you spend over seven hours with a hundred other people in the same room playing and watching a video game where donkeys attempt to overthrow their employers? Presented as part of London Games Festival‘s side events programme, asses.masses is an unusual experience that could well hold the key to theatre’s future.

And so another stage-to-screen musical rolls into town. Based on the only adult-rated film to win an Oscar for Best Picture, Midnight Cowboy is about the friendship between male prostitute Joe Buck and con man Rico “Ratso” Rizzo in 1960s New York.

Looking at the rise and fall of two powerful Chinese women through the vague lens of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House probably sounded good on paper. It’s a shame then that Shanghai Dolls fails to deliver on almost every front.

The magician formerly known as Dynamo and now more formally as Steven Frayne steps away from his ex-persona to embrace a new start.

Unlike the object it is named after, Container studiously avoids fripperies like classical forms and categorisation. With nods to immigration, social media, California fires and the ongoing deluge of news from every angle, this is a work that merrily crosses thematic boundaries like a jaywalker after a fun night out.