Alexandra Wilbraham

A Collection of my Writing

[alexandrawilbraham]

Can I take a break from the Corona virus?

I’m sure the coronavirus is past the point of needing an introduction by now. Town centres are eerily quiet, shops, pubs and theatres have all locked their doors and news of events being cancelled or postponed, from local quiz nights to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, reaches us every day. Self-isolation is a priority. Entire cities are under quarantine.

Covid-19, the coronavirus, has pushed ‘pause’ on our normal lives, muting the hustle and bustle of everyday business, resulting in unavoidable changes to people’s routines.

This is difficult for anyone to manage, but for people on the autistic spectrum, the loss of a well-known structure can be particularly difficult to manage.

To be fair, in my case, quarantine couldn’t have been declared at a better time. Seeing as my days were spent working from home, leaving the house for exercise, shopping, theatre and friends. So, routine-wise, I was set for self-isolation.

What I’m struggling with is the lack of a timeline, the delay. The fact that plans, for the time being, seem pointless as I don’t know what I’m working towards. When can I put a new event in the calendar?

It has been hitting me especially hard this week. There have always been times when all I wanted was to live in the bathtub. Lights off as I curl up with some soft blankets, comforted by my ability to control this confined space, to switch off an overcrowded mind.

Normally, I feel like this for a couple of hours, a few days at most. Once I take the time to recover, the gears start turning again.

But this is not normally. This is a constant bombardment of change. All I want to do is wrap myself up in a blanket, jump into the tub and skip forward to the point when this is all over. Impossible. And as the number of cases rises every day, new rules and recommendations are put out on a regular basis, and supermarket shelves are left devoid of products, I am finding it harder and harder to distract myself from the uncertainty this situation brings. My anxiety has skyrocketed, and my energy is low.

I’ve been looking up information and tips for autistic people online, but most resources are targeted at children. Which, with the normal support services falling away and the struggle of fitting home-schooling into your daily routine, I can fully understand.

So, with no sign of this situation slowing down, or rather no sign of the curve flattening, I have put together a list of tips and media I have found helpful.

ON THE SPECTRUM – HOW TO COPE WITH COVID-19

This list is based on Purple Ella’s video Autistic How To Cope With Covid19 Pandemic, which can be found on her YouTube channel and for which I will provide a resource link below. Another resource I used was the National Autistic Society’s Tips for autistic people and families on their Coronavirus advice pages, also linked below.

 1.   Create a new structure for yourself

Planning out short increments of time makes the many unknowns of this situation a lot more bearable. You can lay out a structure for a week, for a day, for half a day, whatever you can manage and feel comfortable doing. I am trying to give myself half an hour in the morning to write out my structure for the day. That way, creating a structure becomes part of my structure. Then I always pin the plan on my wall as I like having it visible, but you can put it in a Word Document or write it in your diary or your phone. Very importantly, your structure can be flexible. I tend to have a to-do list to hand, organised by priority and with estimates of how long each task will take. This way I don’t overcrowd my structure and can easily work in time for exercise and relaxation. Give yourself constants around which you can shift your structure. Specific mealtimes for example. Who doesn’t like planning their day around food?  

 2.   Write lists

As mentioned above, I have a to-do list. But putting down in writing any kind of information that is crowding your head and possibly causing you more anxiety as you try to remember all of it will help lift that weight off your shoulders. For example, are you unclear about behaviours and rules you must follow to protect yourself and others from contracting and spreading the coronavirus? Make a list of them. That way you know where to check and aren’t looking them up on the internet, which will put you at risk of being bombarded by tonnes of coronavirus headlines.

You can make a list of ingredients you have in the house and ideas for meals you can use them in. This also gives you a good base for writing a shopping list. Once you’ve used up necessary items, add them to the list for the next shopping trip.

Talking of shops, since many of the big supermarkets have changed their opening hours, check the current hours of your local store. I have found a good overview in the Independent, which I have also added to the resources below. It includes priority shopping hours for the elderly, vulnerable and key workers which you might be able to make use of if you fall into one of these categories.

 3.   Limit your time checking news and social media

Social media is currently one of the main ways of remaining in contact with friends and family, but it can also be the source of a great deal of anxiety around corona. It can be easy to try and consume as much information as possible and thus become overly focused on the topic. Try to build social media and news into your daily structure. Perhaps you prefer to check the news in the morning or the afternoon. What I wouldn’t recommend is trying to catch up right before going to bed, as that isn’t the time you should start absorbing and processing information. Make sure you use a reliable news site or go directly to the government updates. This also gives you the opportunity to save a link to read during your allotted time or to re-read when you need to.

Something I have found useful is listening to podcasts, uploaded from news sites,  which cover current events, or podcasts which cover infectious diseases. This way I limit the time I spend consuming updates. For me it is also easier to process information this way, particularly if it has been a challenging day.

One podcast I can recommend is This Podcast Will Kill You – a six-part series on Covid-19-Anatomy of a Pandemic, from the biology of a virus to the mental health impacts.

You can find the series here: thispodcastwillkillyou.com/category/covid-19/, and they provide timestamps, transcripts and resources for each episode.

 4.   Don’t put yourself under too much pressure

Last, but not least, you don’t have to push yourself to be more productive than usual during this time. Yes, you might feel the need to use the extra time to make an impact, but this crisis has dumped a lot of extra tasks in people’s laps. Childcare, managing work from home, applying for temporary jobs or unemployment benefits while your workplace is closed or has made you redundant. There is a huge amount to get accustomed to. If all you can manage in a day is taking care of your basic needs, that’s OK. Just make sure it doesn’t become your routine.

Think about activities that help you focus and give yourself time to take that break from corona.

  USEFUL RESOURCES

Purple Ella - Autistic How To Cope With Covid19 Pandemic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIpvdMVnfGs&feature=youtu.be

 A list of free, online, boredom-busting resources!

https://chatterpack.net/blogs/blog/list-of-online-resources-for-anyone-who-is-isolated-at-home?fbclid=IwAR2I6AlBHze0MHgIK-l-RXWxY4KFvcG5zcTQX9BSeTcfqrmxRdkSN0VPOlE

 21 boredom-busting websites that will entertain you forever

https://inktank.fi/most-entertaining-websites/

 Coronavirus: What are the supermarket opening times?

https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/food-drink/supermarket-opening-times-hours-coronavirus-tesco-asda-morrisons-a9433841.html

 Which supermarkets have delivery slots available?

https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/food-drink/supermarket-delivery-uk-tesco-asda-sainsburys-online-shopping-coronavirus-a9424346.html

 National Autistic Society – Tips for autistic people and families

https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/coronavirus/resources/tips.aspx#

 National Autistic Society – Coronavirus

https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/coronavirus.aspx

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Fireworks, Vault Festival

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-fireworks-vault-festival/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

Heading up the stairs and along the walkway towards the river Thames and Charing Cross Station, you pass the south side of the Royal Festival Hall. If you pause at the top of the stairs, you will spot a bust of South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela.

But is Mandela dead or alive? Does C-3PO have a gold or a silver leg? Does the Monopoly man wear a monocle? And will the Large Hadron Collider at CERN be successful in discovering the God particle or will it create a massive black hole and kill us all?

It’s September 2008 and the Large Hadron Collider has been switched on for the first time. And it’s April 2012, and CERN is readying itself to start up the Large Hadron Collider for a second time.

Alex Robins’ new play Fireworks switches between these two timelines, delving into the situation from two separate angles, that of conspiracy theorist Drew (James Murphy-Stevens), fuelled by the fearmongering tabloids predicting the end of the world, and scientist River (Gráinne O’Mahony), excited by the prospect of discovery.

When we first meet River it’s 2008 and she is at a music festival, although she would much rather be at CERN in Switzerland. To take her mind off things, she accepts a random pill. However, her emotions quickly change from euphoria to paranoia and, as she rushes to flee the festival, she bumps into Drew who, to escape his dreary job, is breaking into the festival to watch the fireworks.

This more linear story gives us a good introduction to both characters, although the focus is more strongly on exploring Drew’s background and motivations rather than River’s.  

In 2012, we meet River and Drew again, who have turned to online streaming to share their views with very different goals in mind. These interspersed science lessons are where the dynamics of the performance really come into play. Drew and River pass the ball back and forth to each other, often finishing the other’s sentence, as the audience is whisked from thought to opposing thought.

O’Mahony and Murphy-Stevens never miss a beat, rotating around each other, always avoiding actually colliding. Murphy-Stevens gives Drew a certain sweetness; there is a lost look to him as he scrambles to find more proof for his theories. His speech becomes faster as the web of red twine snakes across his pinboard, connecting Nelson Mandela with the Monopoly man.

As River, O’Mahony moves from relaying her bad trip, displaying a split lip and bleeding mouth to Drew in a drunkenly childlike way, to being a passionate teacher, confidence slowly dwindling as her viewer numbers drop.    

By setting the play in the round, director Jack Bradfield has physically separated the audience, creating two sides, while Robins’s writing, creating a fast back-and-forth of monologues, means we sometimes have to pick either Drew or River to listen to. Set within the round is a ring of blinking lights, which changes colour depending on which actor is standing in it and moves at different speeds as the narrative ramps up and the actors pace around the circle.

Fireworks is a new piece of experimental writing which, through humour and clever pacing, immerses the audience as the connection between characters changes and they move towards and away from each other. The actors manage the dance in the round with ease, slowly becoming closer, pondering their existence, before they come together for one big bang.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Dumbledore Is So Gay, VAULT Festival

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-dumbledore-is-so-gay-vault-festival/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

Being Jack isn’t easy. He got sorted into Hufflepuff on the official online Harry Potter quiz and his Patronus isn’t some fierce animal like a wolf, but a hedgehog. His favourite character is Dumbledore, which will make sense later, and he thinks his best friend Ollie has really nice cheeks and that his nose looks like a ski slope for ants. But between his dad wanting Graham Norton to be less… Irish, the bullying and name-calling at school, keeping secrets and trying to get the guy, things don’t always work out perfectly. Thankfully, Jack has his trusty Time Turner and can do it all over again, just better. With Dumbledore Is So Gay, Robert Holtom has dipped his quill into ink and written a coming-of-age drama for everyone – for those whose Remembrall has reminded them that they haven’t consumed any Harry Potter today, for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies, for those who love to laugh and for anyone who isn’t scared of having feelings. Dumbledore Is So Gay is bursting at the seams with gorgeous Harry Potter-themed innuendos and other treats for fantasy lovers. Its fast paced and back-and-forth through time does leave the play at risk of popping like the unfortunate Aunt Marge, but together with movement director Rachael Nanyonjo, director Tom Wright manages to merge moments of dancelike elation with those of quiet reflection. The minimalist set design using boxes which are assembled and reassembled by the cast to build each scene leaves space for lighting and sound design to create a sense of disorder or intimacy. The most delicate moments are the phone calls between Ollie and Jack. Lighting designer Rory Beaton douses the scene in strips of blue light and shadow, reflecting the sadness of the two having to share their emotions in secret. The fantastic cast has a lot thrown at them, playing alternating timelines and a variety of characters between them. Alex Britt adds layers to his character Jack. His energy becomes more and more desperate as he tries to change not only the lives of the people around him but also their perspectives.   It would have been good to have Jack’s character start to become more active in campaigning for gay rights, as the pace of the play stops for Jack to share LGBTQ+ issues, making these moments more like lectures and not parts of the play. Ollie is the play’s most complex character, with a lot of the more affecting moments centred around him. Max Percy gives the complexity of his character justice, showing real vulnerability in his performance. Charlotte Dowding gives the best comedic performance of the night. Playing both Jack’s mum and Jack’s friend Gemma, she constantly switches sides, at times pausing to share exasperated looks with the audience. It’s moments like these that show Dumbledore Is So Gay is a play which doesn’t take itself too seriously, while still giving space for moments of depth. It shows us that, even without a Time Turner, a lot of change can be provoked by how we react to situations.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: ParaPride, Stratford Circus Arts Centre

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-parapride-stratford-circus-arts-centre/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

In the UK, 20% of individuals are considered disabled. In the LGBTQ+ community, this percentage rises to 40. Yet no fully accessible venue in London caters to LGBTQ+ and queer artists and audiences.

ParaPride is a new charity focused on normalising social opportunities and experiences for LGBTQ+ disabled people. Their show at the Stratford Circus Arts Centre for LGBT History Month highlights LGBTQ+ and disabled artists from Drag Kings and Queens to Aerial Dancers.

Drag Queen Son of a Tutu leads us through the night with her glamorous voice, jokes and titbits. Her energy keeps the audience warmed up and cheering between acts. Drag King Mark Anthony teaches us how to be a heartthrob and immediately has the audience falling for him. With style, confidence, humour and quick costume changes, he lip-syncs his way through, among others, Enrique Iglesias’s ‘Hero’ and Elvis Presley’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’.

The night’s King of Rock and Roll, Wheel Elvis, takes us back to Hawaii with a rendition of ‘Rock-a-hula Baby’, sparkling jumpsuit, gelled back pompadour and all. Wheel Elvis is the ultimate performer, fully immersing the audience in the soul and swing of the King.

Bedecked in feathers and sequins, Maria Hurtz jumps onto the stage. Despite having to tone down the dirty jokes for this 13+ performance, Hurtz finds plenty of ways to dazzle the crowd, teaching us how to sign along to the chorus of George Ezra’s ‘Shotgun’ and how to communicate in the North East using only vowels.

Ebony Rose Dark’s audio description of a song is something I had never experienced, but which should become more commonplace at concerts and shows to improve the experience for the visually impaired. Dancing along to Whitney Houston’s ‘I Learned from The Best’, she describes her movements and the emotions she wants to convey with them.

Poet Frankie shares some very vulnerable poetry with us, about the best times to come out and his struggle with his weight. Ballerina Frisk Lee showers the stage with elegance, dancing across the stage to Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker Suite’. It is a beautiful quiet moment, drawing our attention to every movement and shape she creates.

The powerful voice of Mzz Kimberley carries her from the back of the theatre to the centre of the stage as she belts out ‘I Know Where I’ve Been’ from Hairspray.

Justin Bond, Davina Star and Nikita Gold from Drag Syndrome, a collective of drag artists with Down’s Syndrome, serve hip thrusts and slaps with plenty of flirtatious cheek and attitude. The artists’ love of life and performance spills over into the audience. They are not only fantastic performers, but their infectious joy simply makes us want to join in.

Electro-pop glam rock act Galavant Garde sings deep songs about being in space and teaches us some things he learnt from NASA’s Instagram account. His shoulder pads are huge and his songs are catchy, with lines such as “I want to do you through your space suit” – ready for entry into NASA’s dirty-talk dictionary.

Mel Stevens of Aim to Fly becomes weightless, leaving behind her crutches to swing and twirl on aerial silks. The beauty of the story she portrays is one of passion and overcoming the many twists and turns life can throw at you.

Smashlyn Monroe brings the heat to the stage her burlesque fire show heating us up one more time before the end of the night. ParaPride put on a smashing evening, showing that disabled artists can be spectacular and that more needs to be done to create full accessibility within the LGBTQ+ culture and community.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Augmented Chinatown 2.0, CAN Festival

FIrst published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/reviews-augmented-chinatown-2-0-can-festival/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

Nestled between the colourful shopfronts and bars of Soho to its north and the crowds and queues of Theatreland to its south and east, Chinatown is a haven for London’s East Asian community and picture-hungry tourists alike. Boasting hundreds of Chinese restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets and other Chinese-run businesses, Chinatown has a tumultuous history reaching back to the 17th century. From local aristocrat Charles Gerrard donating his land after the Great Fire of London to today’s heart of London’s Chinese community, Chinatown holds as many Instagram hotspots and buffets as it does stories. You just have to go and find them.

As part of the Chinese Art Now Festival, Augmented Chinatown 2.0 is an interactive work combining Augmented Reality technology, music and storytelling. Artist and app-developer Donald Shek has teamed up with playwright Joel Tan, Director An-Ting Chang and a group of actors to give you a deeper insight into the heart of this London district.

Shek’s narration is just the right mixture of history and personal anecdotes. The path is well chosen, looping from Newport Place, along Gerrard and Lisle Street, letting you pause under Chinatown’s many colourful gates and telling you more about the area’s shopfronts and restaurants.

It’s fascinating to see where British and Chinese culture have merged, since Chinese sailors and their families first moved to London. I particularly enjoyed the many details that are highlighted; mosaics at the entrances to restaurants, plaques on buildings and neon signs advertising IT repairs.

The spoken stories are a good way of elevating the walk beyond an audio tour, connecting the history of the area with tales of the many and varied former inhabitants. Giving you chances to break from the linear tour and delve into site-specific stories and create your own environment by placing text and objects such as portals, trees and flowers around you, using the augmented reality technology.

I would have liked the tour to give clearer directions into the audio performances, as at times I felt thrown out of the immersion or felt that I had missed the connection between place and story. It had the effect of disconnecting the dramatic experience from the history. At times, the narration led me away from a place and I later realised there was more to discover and had to double back.

If you’re not familiar with Chinatown, the map might be difficult to follow. Sometimes, I ended up walking past certain streets or buildings and having to turn back to find them and continue my tour. Some technical difficulties also impeded my walk as, after finishing the tour of Macclesfield Street, the narration told me to follow the instructions on the app and, since there were no instructions on my screen, I had to go back to the main menu and figure out what the next step on the tour was. It would be nice to be able to zoom into the map to make clicking on the symbols and markers easier or have notifications in each area to let you know what hidden experiences can be found.

Overall Augmented Chinatown is a fantastic concept and with a few tweaks to improve accessibility and continuity, it’s sure to be an amazing addition to anyone visiting or wishing to know more about Chinatown.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Tinted, VAULT Festival

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-tinted-vault-festival/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

The Me Too Movement and #Metoo are as synonymous with this past decade as the terms Climate Emergency, March for Our Lives and Brexit. Initially used by activist Tarana Burke to give a sense of magnitude to the problem of sexual assault and harassment of women in the workplace, it began to spread virally after the widespread sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. However, sexual harassment is more than just a Hollywood problem.

With Tinted, brand-new company Scripped Up, which champions D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers, brings a different response to the Me Too Movement.

Laura is cool, funny and sexy. She’s a self-described geek, loves My Little Pony, Polly Pocket and dancing. She is also blind.

In Tinted we follow Laura from young girl to young woman as she takes her first steps into independence and romance, discovering that when it comes to the topic of consent, there is no Access Guide to Sex.  

Tinted is an individual in and of itself, working with voice overs, closed captions, light and sound to make the performance as relaxed and accessible as possible. At the start of the play, a voice over, performed by Charlotte Eyres who plays Laura, gives us an introduction to the play, letting us know what she is wearing and what is happening when a certain sound or music is playing.

Eyres is an intuitive performer, bringing her energy to every corner of the stage (she is also a very good dancer, even though she tries to convince us otherwise). Her switches from young girl to teenager and on to a woman in her mid-twenties are clear, without breaking up the play. We experience how her character’s confidence grows and falls again as we bounce between versions of Laura at different ages.

Amy Bethan Evans’ script doesn’t just look at consent in terms of sexual assault, but also at how consent and disability interact throughout a disabled person’s life. Whether it’s Laura wishing her mother would ask before wiping food off her face or grabbing her hand to cross the road, Bethan Evans highlights the importance of teaching consent and the lack of care when it comes to sex education for people with a disability.

Director Elske Waite shows a high level of control over the play’s various timelines, pushing the emotional strength of the play at just the right moments. A chair is the sum total of set and props and it is used cleverly, being turned into a steering wheel or a bookshelf when needed. Tinted investigates a side of the #MeToo movement which is often forgotten about. Consent isn’t simply about sex; it’s about having control over your own body. I hope this play opens a door for everyone who sees it, showing them that, beyond the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, there is still a long way to go before the achievements of #MeToo can be applied universally.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Big Bones, VAULT Festival

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-big-bones-vault-festival/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, gather round and take your seats. Welcome to the Big Top Circus where many a freak of nature awaits to leave you stunned to silence. Marvel at our contortionist, wiry enough to fit herself into a vase. Have the world’s strongest man balance you on his finger. Gaze at the bearded lady as she combs her admirable moustache. And finally, stand in wonder and trepidation at the most extraordinary curiosity, the man whose horse rides him, the Irish Giant, Big Bones! At least that’s how it once was at the Big Top Circus. In the days when Big Bones the Giant brought droves of audience members to the performances. But the circus might be performing its final show before very long. Ever since Big Bones’ skeleton was stolen and put on display in a museum against his dying wishes, a dreadful curse hangs over the theatre. They haven’t had a single audience member in over 100 years. Can Big Bones’ great-great-great-great-granddaughter Nora (Emma MacLean) and her new friends manage to save the theatre and finally lay both Big Bones’ skeleton and the curse to rest? Inspired by the true story of the 18th-century ’Irish Giant’ Charles Byrne, Faceplant Theatre Company have created a rollicking family show about celebrating differences and finding out where you truly belong. Big Bones by writers Alice Bounce, Owen Jenkins and Maxwell Tyler is filled with physical comedy and a spatter of well-placed jokes for the adults in the audience (although Uranus gags are enjoyable at any age). Composer Cat Gisby has created a series of catchy tunes, the final song is still stuck in my head (‘Everything is big at the Big Top…’) and encompasses the show’s message of friends becoming family and raising you to embrace what makes you stand out. Actors MacLean, Joey Timmins, Lydia Hourihan, Grace Dunne and Alice Bounce revel in a myriad of unique characters, showing a lot of skill with quick costume changes and a variety of accents. Dunne’s strongman character Jim Membership definitely wins the best name in the show. However, Bounce and Timmins stint as the two sitcom-esque bumbling museum guards Gavin and Gareth is my favourite part of the play. Incompetently stumbling around, disrupting Hourihan, Dunne and MacLean’s stealthy museum heist, Bounce and Timmins give the perfect comedic duo. I wish Gavin and Gareth the best, but I do fear they have been fired from their positions. Big Bones is a feat for family theatre. It ploughs its way forward without losing steam, setting an example for any company looking to create theatre for a young audience. Hearing both little voices and their parents still singing snippets of the show’s songs while leaving the theatre is, I think, proof enough that this is a performance anyone will enjoy.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: You Stupid Darkness!, Southwark Playhouse

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-you-stupid-darkness-southwark-playhouse/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

“Brightline. You’re through to someone you can talk to,” are the words that greet you when you call into the helpline akin to the Samaritans. Every Tuesday evening, a group of volunteers sit down in a dingy office, trying to bring optimism to a world which is falling apart around them. Hanging their gas masks on a coatrack by the front door, the four try to tell strangers that everything is going to be ok.  Teetering on the edge of their own catastrophes, Frances, Jon, Angie and Joey must figure out what makes them connect with each other and with the future.

With You Stupid Darkness! Sam Steiner shares an important message: hope is only lost when there is no one left to listen. His bleak sense of humour carries us through the ups and downs of a time when everything seems to be collapsing. Steiner gives us permission to laugh, the emotions his play provokes bringing the audience together as a community.

Designer Amy Jane Cook has created a setting which is immediately recognisable. A cramped space, old-school phones and computers, files and folders everywhere, motivational posters and diagrams trying to cover the shabbiest parts of the wall. Future and past overlap, giving the set a sense of being stuck in time. The steady deterioration of the office gives the audience an impression of the world gradually descending into chaos.

Seven-months-pregnant Frances, played by Jenni Maitland, is the mother hen of the group. Exhaustingly cheerful and encouraging though Frances is, Maitland also brings a vulnerability to her character. Cracks start appearing in what was once a shining armour of positivity.

Lydia Larson adds gravitas to Angie’s presumed innocence. The strength in Larson’s performance makes it even more painful to witness her sense of hope shatter after one fateful call.

Andy Rush plays Jon, a darker character trying to find light in pretending to care about the caller’s problems. Rush is a force of an actor, his presence on stage flickering between an amusing sense of realism and moments of silent anger and pain which hold the audience entranced in a deeply private moment.

Andrew Finnigan gives a delightfully awkward performance as 17-year-old Joey. Finnigan captures the anxiety of finishing school and walking into an undetermined future.

You Stupid Darkness! reminds us that, sometimes, the most urgent stories are best shared through laughter and that optimism doesn’t mean you are blind to what is right in front of you. After all, “it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: The Girl with Glitter in her Eye, The Bunker Theatre

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-the-girl-with-glitter-in-her-eye/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

Since the Bunker Theatre announced it will be closing its doors in March this year, it is with somewhat of a heavy heart that you enter this underground lair of creative urgency. A haven for first-time theatre-goers and seasoned thespians alike, the Bunker has made a name for itself in programming work from writers and directors underrepresented on UK stages. And, although goodbyes are never easy, if their current line-up is anything to go by, they are not going to leave without a bang.

Written and directed by Masha Kevinovna, The Girl with Glitter in her Eye is a cross-arts show created in collaboration with the OPIA Collective, an explosive collaboration of female and LGBTQIA+ artists. Kevinovna has created a Greek tragedy of the modern day, with all too familiar thematics.

Pressured to create something beautiful out of her darkness, young artist Helen is torn when she finds inspiration in her friend Phil’s story.    

Accompanying the narrative, are three furies, all played by the main actresses. They are laying before us a case that they and the audience have yet to pass judgement on: Is it possible to tell someone’s story without abusing it? If we create our own story out of another’s experience, are we listening to what they have to say?

Naomi Gardener steals the show as the overtly pompous Art Director who is more interested in sales and hashtags than the actual craft. Gardener creates a caricature of a character, high-pitched voice and exaggerated gestures as hilarious as they are infuriating.

Played by Anna Mackay, Philomela, or Phil as she is addressed in the show, is living with a secret, a past trauma she can’t shake. Mackay displays a broken innocence without it seeming acted or overly dramatized. The change in Phil’s emotions build naturally on Mackay’s face before her words make their way to the audience.

Helen, a young artist finding herself stuck between opportunities and expectations, is played by Modupe Salu. Salu acts with a loving openness, embracing any emotion the scene throws at her. Her characters nervous interaction with the Art Director contrast beautifully with the playfully coaxing nature she displays with Phil.

Cara Evan’s set-design is beautiful and bleak. Keeping the staging in white and grey focuses our point of view onto the colours created by the play’s music and movements.

Director and writer Kevinovna fuses spoken word and dance with original compositions performed live by composer Ben Ramsden. His trancelike music manages to give every scene more depth, the actor’s dialogue moving to complement its rhythm.

Kevinovna’s script can be in danger of becoming a farce. The intensity of some characters, although bringing comic relief to the narrative, does draw intensity away from other scenes. I would have liked to have seen the energy more evenly spread throughout the play. It feels like a lot was kept on the backburner to be released during comedic points and in the climax of the production.

A Girl with Glitter in her Eye is about sexual trauma and the female perspective of trauma. But throughout the play we, the audience, bear witness to something more. The play pushes us to the boundaries of consent as we wonder: Does the revelation of trauma gives us power over our experiences, or are we opening ourselves up to judgement and misinterpretation?

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Ghost Quartet, The Boulevard Theatre

Previously published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-ghost-quartet-the-boulevard-theatre/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

Think back to the last time you sat around a campfire, literally or figuratively, shoulder to shoulder with friends or strangers. Ideas bounce back and forth, sparking stories which are passed around until you no longer know if a tale has finished or has just begun. Staged at the newly opened Boulevard Theatre in Soho, the London premiere of Dave Malloy’s Ghost Quartet conjures up feelings reminiscent of ghost stories and fairy tales told around a fire.

Influenced by the idea of a rock concept album, Malloy’s music is a feast of punchy folk, electric jazz and longing ballads. The actors Zubin Varla, Carly Bawden, Niccolò Curradi and Maimuna Memon move between their different characters and instruments like spirits, inhabiting everything from innocence to intrigue. Varla and Bawden give a tantalising performance of the track ‘Soldier and Rose’, Bawden as the twirling seductress and Varla the ghost-haunted soldier. Track 4 of side 2, titled ‘Fathers and Sons’, sees Curradi and Memon live out the rougher side of familial relationships: the drama of a drunken father telling his son to leave is perfectly balanced against the pair’s comedic chops.

Ghost Quartet tells four interwoven stories, with director Bill Buckhurst keenly weaving them together in one moment, before ferociously driving them apart in the next. The tale of two sisters in love with an astronomer, a starchild stolen away from her mother, a family’s descent into grief-stricken madness and the contemporary tale of a subway murder. The swift changes in style and tempo of the music do away with our need for a consecutive story, as we begin to submit to the music and the emotions it sparks.

Simon Kenny’s set is a jumble of musical instruments, old brass lamps and knick-knacks. Piled up in the centre of the stage is a collection of travel trunks which the actors sit and climb on, cleverly levelling the production in such a small area. The set is space and timelessness, an antique store or a forgotten attic. Emma Chapman’s lighting envelops everything, rising through the ceiling and seemingly bleeding into another ghostly dimension. At times the lights pulse in time with the drums, blinding the audience and intensifying the fast-paced disorientating nature of the action, only to fall away completely during the track ‘Lights Out’, as a bedtime story is told and specks of dust dance around the lights of the tech booth. It is simultaneously cosy and spooky. It is fitting that a circular story with no real beginning or end should be told in a circular setting. Ghost Quartet and the gorgeous new Boulevard Theatre are a match made in heaven and the perfect addition to ghostly late October hauntings. If you need a break from the drudgery of the here and now and are ready and willing to be whisked away into the realm of spirits within the intimate frame of a rock and roll album, welcome to the Ghost Quartet.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Endless Second, Pleasance Theatre

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-endless-second-pleasance-theatre/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

The media has almost always portrayed rape as a back-and-forth tennis match of he said-she said. Coverage focuses on the individual’s background and credibility, and not on the complex emotional trauma rape leaves behind.

Written by Theo Toksvig-Stewart, Endless Second aims to fill in the blurred spaces between the front pages. The play explores rape within a relationship, and how two people deal with the cracks appearing in the foundations of their love.

W (Madeleine Gray) and M (Toksvig-Stewart) meet as scene partners on the first day of their drama degree. Their awkward first flirtations soon develop into a passionate young love story; they meet each other’s families, go on holidays together, support each other and, most importantly, listen.

Then, one evening filled with shots and the delight of letting go of the stress of university changes everything. W says “no”, but M doesn’t stop.

At first, the premise sounds stereotypical. A drunken night, she says no, he doesn’t believe that what happened was rape. What makes Toksvig-Stewart’s play different is that Endless Second only briefly touches on the act of the rape. More important by far is the conversation surrounding it, the shame and confusion, the need for responsibility to be taken.

Gray and Toksvig-Stewart work well as a pair, playing through the giddiness of new love and the unfamiliar feeling of nervousness upon waking up next to each other. We see their relationship developing and the change that that one night brings.

Toksvig-Stewart’s script is a conversation; both sides get their moment at the microphone. At times, one side’s experiences are told by the other person, showing how intertwined their relationship is. Actions are used sparingly which helps give them a greater impact within the story.

Director Camilla Gürtler adds a certain fluidity and drama to the wordier parts of the play, which still, at times, moves along like chapters of a book. Each new scene bringing with it the effort of turning a page rather than the play driving itself forward.

The set consists of two microphones attached to speakers which sometimes function as a bench. During the play, the microphones become less part of the stage and more an extension of the characters, with W turning the mic away from M to silence him and trying to free herself from the cables of panic which wind around her. Endless Second is a play which begs for an intimate setting like the Pleasance Theatre, and for an audience that sits on the sidelines and understands their responsibility to listen. It’s a mixture of stereotypes and moments we perhaps don’t expect to be brought to the discussion. Above all, it is part of a conversation which is – and sadly might always be – endless.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Southern Belles, King's Head Theatre

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-southern-belles-kings-head-theatre/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

Pride month may be over, but the King’s Head Theatre is ready to take on the mantle with a succession of plays which celebrate the most interesting and innovative LGBTQI+ theatre makers in Britain. Their 2019 Queer Season kicks off with Southern Belles by Tennessee Williams as the headline production. Southern Belles unites two of Williams’ most ground-breaking one-act plays, And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens and Something Unspoken, which were never performed during the playwright’s lifetime due to their featuring openly gay characters.

In Something Unspoken, Miss Cornelia Scott (Annabel Leventon), a wealthy and imperious spinster, lives in a co-dependent relationship with her loyal secretary Grace Lancaster (Fiona Marr). As Cornelia anxiously awaits the election results of her local chapter, tensions between the two women boil over and their unacknowledged desire for each other becomes apparent.

Leventon and Marr give striking performances, adding depth and understanding to Williams’ often poetic dialogue. Their characters’ sentimental moments make me lean in closer, quiet tension rising and falling as Cornelia and Grace weave around each other, leaving space for the unspoken truth between them. The change to a soft rose-coloured light gives a flirtatious warmth to these moments, pulling our hearts even further into the women’s complex feelings for each other.

It is the silent images that most aptly portray the yearning for relief from such long-kept loneliness. The moment in which Cornelia gifts Grace 15 roses — a rose for every year Grace has been Cornelia’s companion — is an especially beautiful representation of how much of the women’s relationship is left unsaid.

At points I wish the tension would be pushed further, to break from the women’s steady dance between longing and subordination.

After the interval, And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens welcomes us into the world of successful interior decorator and ageing drag queen Candy Delaney (Luke Mullins). To get over the end of a 17-year relationship, Candy catches the eye of troubled sailor Karl (George Fletcher) who she can dazzle with her money. On the day of Candy’s 35th birthday, Karl walks out on her, leaving Candy’s tenants Alvin (Michael Burrows) and Jerry (Ben Chinapen) to pick up the pieces.

Mullins makes an exceptional Candy, starting off calm and collected only to collapse into a mound of emotional pain and pity. The strain of Candy’s longing is clearly visible in Mullins’ performance. Fletcher cuts an imposing figure as Karl: aggressive and manipulative on the outside, he lets Karl’s emotional turmoil shine through.

Burrows and Chinapen frame the first scene with musical accompaniment, directed by Joe Beighton. Later both burst into Candy’s flat as a voice of reason to disturb Candy’s apparent bliss.

Lighting designer Ben Jacobs creates a lavish landscape, creating drama by plummeting breakdown and abuse into complete darkness.

Jamie Armitage has directed two overlooked classics, beautifully interlacing the themes of longing, loneliness and love. The emotional impact of both plays lasts far longer than the final curtain call.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Whitewash, Soho Theatre

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-whitewash-soho-theatre/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

Written by Gabriel Bisset-Smith, Whitewash builds itself brick by brick into a sturdy, generation-bearing wall. Spanning 30 years and moving us between London and Jamaica, the play draws a vivid picture of the relationship between race and class, the confrontation of where you were raised and where you choose to belong.

Nobody believes Mary (Rebekah Murrell) and Lysander (Bisset-Smith) are related. She is a mixed-race woman working hard to make it as a painter in London; Lysander is her very white son with an over-pronounced British accent.

When Lysander proposes the housing estate Mary brought him up in for redevelopment, he thinks he can make a difference, but is he really trying to paint over the place and people he once called home?

Bisset-Smith’s script skilfully plays with juxtaposition, starting the play with a white policeman approaching Mary and Lysander and ending it with a white policeman walking up to Lysander and his daughter. The situations are the same, but the emotional charge of the scenes vastly different.

Whitewash has a lot to say, not only through its words but also through its visual elements. Designer Jemima Robinson’s set is in itself whitewashed. The white floor is bordered left and right by white brick walls which become the backdrop for Daniel Denton’s videos, pictures of 1980’s Camden merging into modern day Peckham.

Jenny Gordon’s original artworks immortalise Mary’s growth, from hanging onto the past to celebrating her and her son’s differences and finally belonging.

Charlotte Bennett’s direction is filled with pure joy and intuition, encouraging Murrell and Bisset-Smith to take full ownership of the stage. Setting the stage in traverse transforms the performance space into a dancefloor or a street, us, the audience, onlookers and passers-by.

Murrell and Bisset-Smith’s chemistry is palpable, moving their characters in and out of each other’s timelines during nights of drug-fuelled dancing, the dawn of a young family, whilst the city’s canvas perpetually changes around them.

Throughout, however, the play feels rushed. The actors stumble over words as if racing to cover a long distance in a short amount of time. Although Mary and Lysander’s emotional responses are tightly woven into the play, the pace pushes us out of them before their impact is fully felt. It makes the story almost too crisp. A little roughing up and time to let us come up for air would leave the audience with moments a lot less easy to overlook.

Whitewash is a play of current urgency, showing us how where we come from is something we can confront and decide to fight for, or simply walk away from.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Bronx Gothic, Young Vic

By Alexandra Wilbraham

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-bronx-gothic-young-vic/

Written and performed by Okwui Okpokwasili, Bronx Gothic delves into her memories of growing up in the Bronx. Set in the confusing age between childhood and adolescence, it examines young girls exploring their bodies and discovering how the outside world reacts to their blossoming sexuality.

Entering the performance space is like stepping through a curtain into a different world, a mysterious Alice in Wonderland environment. Bedside lamps are standing or lying higgledy-piggledy amidst clumps of grass and flowers. Only some are on, creating an early evening glow.

As our eyes start becoming accustomed to the dim light and the chatter of the audience subsides, things start falling into place and a dancing figure with her back to us comes into focus.

For the first 20 minutes, Okpokwasili doesn’t say a word. She is standing in a corner of the stage twerking and wiggling to the looping, unrelenting music, her feet stamping the ground, arms rising towards the sky. Her face is hidden to us, but her bare back betrays the emotional and physical weight her body is bearing.

Every muscle is pulsing, you can see the skin fold and stretch, sweat starting to glisten and drip as it darkens her dress. Okpokwasili seems driven by the noise, holding on as it moves through her.

The looping organ music slowly fades out, overpowered by an unrelenting grating noise, mixing with the laughter and shouts of children playing. Ultimately all sounds give way to a bone-shaking bass causing Okpokwasili movements to get larger as she starts jumping and gyrating her hips, mixing something childlike with potent sexuality.

Okpokwasili is still moving once the music drops out, her heavy breathing punching through the dreamlike surroundings.

When she finally turns to us, her face is striking, angular and drenched in sweat, the play of light and shadow making her features harder. Still shaking she peers around the room, seemingly eyeing the audience with curiosity, challenging them, sometimes seeming fearful. She seems caught within her own body. Every controlled change in her facial expressions manages to provoke a different response from the audience.

When she begins to speak the change in tone is unnerving; her voice is steady and composed. She wants to share a note with us. It is not a demand; the words have a motherly feel to them.

Throughout the play, Okpokwasili reads us a correspondence between two 11-year-old girls as they discuss boyfriends, sex, orgasms, blowjobs. One of them is sexually active, her voice sounding closer to that of an adult starkly contrasting with the other girl who sounds high-pitched and childlike. Their discussion of sexuality is both humourful and shocking, as we don’t expect children that young to talk with such innocent vulgarity.

Part dance, part theatre and part visual installation, Bronx Gothic is fragmented and swirls with an energy that keeps us on edge. Director and Designer Peter Born has created a space which lies between our world and the world of dreams. Even though the story is broken by stark contrasts and doesn’t offer up any answers, Okpokwasili commands our attention, ultimately deciding herself whether we are awake or in a dream.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Does My Bomb Look Big In This?, Soho Theatre

By Alexandra Wilbraham

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-does-my-bomb-look-big-in-this-soho-theatre/

At the start of 2019, Shamima Begum’s face and name were spread across national and international newspapers. British born Shamima had left the UK at the age of 15 to join the Islamic State. Her intention to return to the UK sparked a public debate on how we handle returning jihadists.

Throughout this debate, our view seems to have shifted from asking why these young people leave their homes and families to join the war in Syria, to discussing their imminent threat to Britain and its people.

Nyla Levy’s play, Does My Bomb Look Big In?, This takes us back to the moments before everything, to the friendships, siblings, parents and promising futures.

It’s GCSE results day and Aisha, played by Halema Hussain, has just opened her envelope, but there is one specific person missing who she would want to share this moment with. Her childhood friend Yasmin (Levy) has suddenly disappeared, the police are monitoring their conversations and Aisha is determined to let the audience know why. Yasmin joins her as a not so silent spirit, disputing or adding to Aisha’s interpretations and generally adding a whole lot of spice to her story.

The two young women are joined by Eleanor Williams, a well-meaning, but very oblivious white female actor who stands in for all the undesirable roles, Morgan, the school bully, the snooty shop assistant and the white female actor who complains about the two-dimensional characters she is playing.

Breaking the fourth wall and thus giving us a play within a play, gives us moments, which tug at our heartstrings or make our belly roll with laughter. Director Mingyu Lin and Movement Director Rachael Nanyonjo’s work means we never feel pushed down an emotional water slide, but gently drift from the shallows into the deep end. Every break in the story and interaction with the set and props is crisp and precise. What could so easily cause the whole play to fall in on itself gives us the opportunity to let the last emotional punch sink in and attempt to guess what might be coming next.

Hussain, Levy and Williams are excellent storytellers, creating an ensemble cast of characters and bubbling with joy at playing each one.

In my opinion, quiet moments like Yasmin’s father saying “I love you” are not given as much room to develop a long-lasting impact as the high energy impromptu rap performances. Also, as can happen when writing teenage characters, their conversations occasionally border on the cringy side of embarrassing.

However, in the end, Levy adds texture to a heavy topic which is forever current, but rarely discussed from a woman of colour’s point of view. Does My Bomb Look Big In This? gives a voice to disillusioned youth and the impact their decisions can have on those they leave behind.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: The Isle of Brimsker, Stratford Circus Arts Centre

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-the-isle-of-brimsker-stratford-circus-arts-centre/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

In an attempt to escape the decline of her hometown, Kaya (Sophie Coward) finds herself shipwrecked on a beautiful yet seemingly uninhabited island. Without the means to repair her boat, Kaya believes herself to be stranded with a storm brewing on the horizon. That is until she is discovered by Agata (Lucy Garland), a lighthouse keeper on Brimsker. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Agata lives a solitary existence maintaining the light that guides boats away from danger, and caring for the island’s unique ecosystem. Together they must face the changes that, one way or another, will lead to them both leaving the island.

Co-founded by artistic directors Garland and Amber Onat Gregory, Frozen Light, the theatre company behind The Isle of Brimsker, creates interactive and original multi-sensory theatre for audiences with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).

To ensure that the audience is as comfortable as possible each participant and their carer is greeted by the actors and lead into the performance space where they are provided with a soft knitted blanket and their own curtain of plastic ribbons to pull around themselves. The Isle of Brimsker features many interactive elements and live music composed and performed by Al Watts.

Radios sport LED panels which change colour depending on frequency, a mist-covered pool of bubbling water which vibrates with the music, bowls of shells and scented pebbles, shaved ice and, my favourite, hot water bottles in individually knitted jackets. Each element gives the audience members the unique opportunity to discover and engage with a variety of sensations and textures. The mixture of delight and calm amongst the participants is clearly visible and their reactions to the various objects are lovely to see.

The cast uses a combination of speech and sign language when engaging with the audience members. Garland, Coward and Watts have a very direct yet intuitive approach to their interactions. Every participant has their own way of engaging with the story elements and the cast has to be ready for all kinds of reactions. One of the participants sitting closest to me really enjoyed rummaging through the shells so that they jumped all over the place, which Garland happily joined in with and encouraged.

Katherine Heath’s set design adds a whole other dimension to the performance. It is truly a treasure chest, with draws opening to reveal all sorts of delights and the cave in which Kaya is sheltering quickly transforms into a lighthouse with revolving lamp.

Kaya and Agata’s story is all about the sharing of experiences and caring for each other. However, even more important is letting the participants explore and interact with the performance. Frozen Light show that there are ways to make theatre accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

[alexandrawilbraham]

Review: Ain't Misbehavin', Southwark Playhouse

First published: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-aint-misbehavin-southwark-playhouse/

By Alexandra Wilbraham

The joint is jumping and the swing is sizzling at the Southwark Playhouse which sees itself transformed into a dazzling 1920s jazz club playing host to a musical revue inspired by the music of legendary jazz musician Thomas “Fats” Waller, chandeliers, live band and all.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ isn’t a traditional musical. There is no linear storyline and the little scripted dialogue is inconsequential when set against the power of Waller’s songs. Although I do warm to the concertlike appeal I still miss a few pointers towards Waller’s personal life and the stories behind his songs.

Designer Takis envelops you in a gold and copper setting, offering a beautiful backdrop for the amazing band made up of Elias Jordan Atkinson on the trumpet, Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson on clarinet and saxophone, Ruben Ramos Medina on bass and Blake Cascoe on drums, who, although not on stage, makes his presence known from behind the sequins.

Debuting to critical acclaim at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s East 73rd Street cabaret a good 40 years ago, Ain’t Misbehavin’ has lost none of its zing and crowd-pleasing energy.

Giving his directorial debut, acclaimed actor Tyrone Huntley guides the production with a loose lead letting the songs inform most of the performance’s tempo. Nonetheless, he displays a level of maturity in keeping the energy up even when the wild vibes of group numbers such as ‘The Joint is Jumpin’’ drop into more melancholy lamentations. Huntley knows his cast well, perfectly balancing each actor’s talents against the others’ as sultry solos meet perfect comedic timing.

Together with Strictly Come Dancing favourite Oti Mabuse, Huntley adds his own streak of originality to this musical celebration. A dance floor pro, Ain’t Misbehavin’ is Mabuse’s first outing as a musical theatre choreographer. Her joy of dancing shines through on stage as she organically interweaves different styles from the bubbly jitterbug and sparkling swing to a sensual strutting.

The cast’s ensemble performances are vivacious, but it is the solo numbers that draw you in. Renée Lamb’s rendition ‘Squeeze Me’ is infused with sensual desire and in ‘Find Out What They Like’ her sexual suggestiveness adds a liberating raunchiness to the performance.

Carly Mercedes Dyer delivers her big solo love song with entrancing ease and lends her comedic talents to numbers such as ‘Yacht Club Swing’, endearing her to the audience with a ditzy innocence.

Landi Oshinowo impresses both while basking in the sultry luxury of ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ as well as when stumbling around the stage with a little more than her first martini in hand during ‘Jitterbug Waltz’.

Adrian Hansel gives a roaring performance with ‘Your Feet’s Too Big’ before joining Wayne Robinson in an audience singalong of ‘Fat and Greasy’.  The velvet suits which both men don during the second half give me a serious sense of envy.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ doesn’t just boast song and dance but offers up some deeply evocative moments. Robinson gets to strut his stuff in the steamy and sinuous ‘The Viper’s Drag’. ‘Black and Blue’ creates a more serious moment, as the cast, staged gospel-like alongside the band, send goose-bumps up and down my forearms with some heart-stopping harmonies.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ is a wild and raucous ride from start to finish. I exit the theatre with a spring in my step and, although it takes me an hour longer to get home because I got on the wrong train, I am left dancing along the pavement lit by the soft glow of streetlights. If you want to leave a performance with pure joy in your heart, the Southwark Playhouse is serving up something just for you.