{"id":53611,"date":"2025-08-14T10:08:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T09:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=53611"},"modified":"2025-08-14T10:08:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T09:08:52","slug":"two-make-a-scene-theatre-in-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/two-make-a-scene-theatre-in-august\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Make a Scene: Theatre in August"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Born With Teeth<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Wyndham’s Theatre
Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0DA<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by wyndhamstheatre.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When William Shakespeare was starting his career as a playwright, Christopher Marlowe was already a brilliant star of the London stage. It\u2019s not known for certain whether the two masters ever met \u2013 there\u2019s no mention of it in diaries or any other documents \u2013 but they moved in the same, fairly small circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here Liz Duffy Adams writes, and director Daniel Evans stages, the story of their meetings. Entirely fictional \u2013 imagined, dreamed \u2013 but we see a dangerous, magnetic, free-spirited Christopher Marlowe and a young, cautious William Shakespeare, who is no less witty and brilliant than Marlowe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dense, viscous game of cat and mouse unfolds in the back room of a grimy inn \u2013 and if rumours are to be believed, that tavern still exists at the corner of Deptford High Street and Deptford Creek, the same murky stream where Marlowe later met his death, and where the hero of Dickens\u2019 last novel also meets his end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why \u201cborn with teeth\u201d<\/a>? For an Elizabethan audience, this was a symbol not just of a leader, but of someone ready for violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Marlowe here is played by Ncuti Gatwa, the Scottish actor (Sex Education and the Fifteenth Doctor in Doctor Who). His Marlowe is charismatic, cheeky, dangerous \u2013 nothing like the romanticised Marlowe of Shakespeare in Love(there played by LL).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British actor Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve, A Discovery of Witches) plays Shakespeare \u2013 cautious, quick, lizard-like, but always ready to bite back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storehouse<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Deptford Storehouse
King Street, Grove St, London SE8 3AA<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by lwtheatres.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Yes, Deptford again \u2013 forgive me \u2013 but this time not on stage, but in real life. The huge underground space will amaze you \u2013 if not with its plot twists, then certainly with its atmosphere. Yes, it’s an immersive theatre<\/a>. Once inside, the audience becomes a participant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over forty years ago, at the dawn of the internet, a group of four enthusiasts decided to preserve every trace of every user online \u2013 in physical form. Imagine it! Do you remember what you wrote in the early days of social media, in some long-forgotten LiveJournal? These folks wanted to preserve every youthful ellipsis. Of course, they failed. And of course, as a trustee, you must find out why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9,000 square metres of twilight space: galleries, corridors, voices and shadows (you\u2019ll hear Toby Jones, Meera Syal, Kathryn Hunter, Billy Howle). You probably won\u2019t leave with one clear answer \u2013 but you\u2019ll certainly leave with an impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s it about? Data manipulation, memory games, propaganda, disinformation and deceit, double play, control, and total disorientation in endless waves of information. It\u2019s definitely not boring \u2013 and very much in tune with our times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evita<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

London Palladium
8 Argyll St, London W1F 7TF<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by lwtheatres.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Rachel Zegler sings on the West End for the first time \u2013 and straight into the lead role, no less \u2013 Eva Per\u00f3n in the great Webber\u2013Rice musical Evita<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the third musical from the duo after Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar. It was based on Mary Main\u2019s biography The Woman with the Whip, recorded first as a concept album, and only after the album\u2019s success did director Harold Prince stage Evita at London\u2019s Prince Edward Theatre in 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie Lloyd closes the circle \u2013 he first tackled the musical in 2019 at Regent\u2019s Park Open Air Theatre, but this new iteration is brighter, bolder, and far more directorial in approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every evening, Zegler can be seen on the theatre\u2019s balcony \u2013 passers-by happily applaud as, on Lloyd\u2019s instruction, she sings the famous \u201cDon\u2019t Cry For Me Argentina\u201d to the entire Argyll Street (audiences inside watch the scene live-streamed onto a screen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie Lloyd means sold-out houses, stars, utterly reckless (if not downright audacious) directorial tricks, and either universal love or some degree of grumbling. Here, the audience complains that, with such ticket prices, they weren\u2019t allowed to see the key aria live, while it\u2019s shown for free to the street \u2013 but that\u2019s precisely Lloyd\u2019s sly point: to charm the \u201cordinary\u201d people, to bring them under the sway of this unstoppable charisma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s remarkable how Zegler, who voiced Snow White in the upcoming Disney film, transforms so completely here you can hardly recognise her \u2013 a small, steel-willed figure with an unbreakable will and a radiant smile; an incredible piece of acting work and a break from her previous image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The singing is excellent, the movement outstanding. Zegler\u2019s duet with James Olivas, who plays Per\u00f3n, is charged with an almost electric pull \u2013 the air between them practically thickens. Sometimes it\u2019s hard to make out the Argentine tragedy behind it all \u2013 this Evita feels like a show for those who already know the story. But who says that\u2019s a bad thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Animator<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Southwark Playhouse Borough
77\u201385 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BD<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by southwarkplayhouse.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Lotte Reiniger is a key figure in world animation \u2013 on a par with Starevich and Disney. She worked with Brecht, Kurt Weill, Renoir, Fritz Lang, and Pabst. The incredible fate of a girl who, at six years old, was captivated by paper silhouette puppets and shadows \u2013 that is the subject of The Animator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her first film was called The Ornament of the Lovestruck Heart \u2013 and truly, that could also be the title of her life story. Leaving Germany as fascism rose, wandering the world, and working, working, working in the very style that had once captured her heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remarkably, Reiniger\u2019s silhouette films still look incredibly modern today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director Rosanna Mallinson\u2019s show is a biopic in which Lotte is played by Lexie Baker, an actress equally at home in drama, singing, and dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show<\/a> (a winner at the Oslo Fringe) blends dance, acrobatics, cabaret, and of course, shadows and all the possibilities of shadow theatre \u2013 Reiniger\u2019s greatest inspiration. In this multi-layered piece, the actors create a world of shadow and light, and speak of one very important thing: throughout the difficult war years, as a German forced to flee her homeland and wander the world with her husband, Lotte never stopped working. The Animator is a story of how art helps you survive \u2013 a kind of manifesto and a small straw of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Riverside Studios
101 Queen Caroline St, London W6 9BN<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by lwtheatres.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A stage adaptation of the film of the same name. The original 2003 version was directed by Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (starring Katja Schuurman and Pierre Bokma). Four years later, Steve Buscemi made a remake \u2013 he also starred, alongside Sienna Miller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An eminent political journalist named Pierre is assigned to interview a young star named Katya. Neither is exactly thrilled: the seasoned journalist looks down on the young celebrity, while Katya is in no mood for the arrogant type and his silly questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katya is smart, beautiful, and young \u2013 but she\u2019s completely tangled up in her own desires, in her audience\u2019s expectations, and unsure what to do. Then along comes an older, wiser man\u2026 Will he give her advice? Help her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unexpectedly, the interview turns into a tense emotional game \u2013 a full display of the Karpman drama triangle. They circle each other, moving through the familiar roles of victim, rescuer, aggressor \u2013 and it\u2019s up to the audience to decide who\u2019s who.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this new production by director Teunkie Van Der Sluijs, Pierre is played by Robert Sean Leonard and Katya by Paten Hughes \u2013 perfect casting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American actor Robert Sean Leonard became internationally famous for his role as Neil Perry in Dead Poets Society(1989) alongside Robin Williams. Even greater popularity came from his role as Dr. Wilson, the loyal friend of Dr. House in the hit TV series. But Leonard\u2019s greatest passion is theatre \u2013 he has been nominated for the Tony Award several times and won for his portrayal of poet A.E. Housman in The Invention of Love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hughes is an American actress, one of the first members of the Old Vic New Voices Network, who has performed Chekhov and Miller, but became widely known for the web series Heirloom, in which her character unexpectedly inherits a small plot of land and starts growing vegetables. The show<\/a> has over five million views. Now, the two actors meet on a London stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two two-handers, one immersive show, two biopics \u2013 this August London stages seem to be full of rhymes. We\u2019ve picked the most engaging theatrical evenings so you can mark the end of summer in style. Trust us, they\u2019re worth it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":53624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[185],"class_list":["post-53611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","column-letters-from-the-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53611"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=53611"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=53611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}