Hey everyone! At the end of every month, I’ll be sharing with you the art I consumed during the month, whether that’s novels, films, podcasts, theatre, whatever. This works to make help me keep track of the art I am consuming, becoming more aware of what I choose to consume, whilst also recommending (hopefully) some great art for you guys! Ready? Let’s begin!
It’s Black History Month, so you may notice a bit of a theme… 😉
- The Mountaintop (NST)
This was a play which follows Martin Luther King Jr. the night before he is about to be assassinated. He is visited by a maid, Camae (played by Rochelle Rose) , and conversations about life, guilt and purpose ensue. It’s an interesting play –- not at all what one might expect from the premise. It contains a lot of humour and some very strange, ethereal moments. But it’s thought-provoking and it was a real pleasure to see Gbolohan Obisesan play Martin Luther King. The show only has two actors and they did very well to capture our attention indeed.
2. BLACK the play
A monologue play based on a real life incident of racism. When a black family moves into a small area in Liverpool, the town is rocked. It was pretty cool to watch this show in an unconventional space. Strong performance from the female lead, and some fun DJ’ing from our, well, DJ!
3. Water, Bread and Salt
A piece of storytelling curated from words and incidents from Nelson Mandela’s life. The show combined song and spoken word to create an absolutely beautiful performance all about home, justice and celebrating South Africa. It was gorgeous.
4. Mythic (Charing Cross Theatre)
A new pop/punk musical running at Charing Cross Theatre. This was my first time at Charing Cross Theatre. It’s hidden away, but it’s a charming little place and the musical is lively, funny and punky. (No seriously, I’m talking fishnet stockings, black boots and tartan skirts type of punky). A musical reimagining of Greek mythology’s story of Persephone, in which the Greek goddesses become rebellious teenagers, and Hades a moody ‘damaged’ bad boy. Really excellent reimagining and everything was wonderfully cohesive – from costume and set, to music, to the performances, etc. My review (which I really like) is up here
5. Foreign Radical (Gloucester Guildhall)
Okaaaaaay. THIS. SHOW.
Ahh man, where do I begin? Well firstly, it was very participatory. Upon entering the space, it quickly becomes clear that there are several ‘rooms’ (each partitioned with a black curtain) and in each room, you must make a decision. This will decide which room you will move to next. Some decisions are made for you if you don’t read Farsi or Arabic (as some instructions are written in the language), whilst others you must make yourself.
The whole thing is structured as a participatory ‘game’ with the audience communicating with each other, and answering the questions (as honestly as possible, we are asked) by an energetic ‘game show’ host.
An intense exploration of prejudice and unconscious bias, especially in relation to the criteria behind who we consider a terrorist/who we suspect of terrorism. I really enjoyed it and would love to experience it again – it would be interesting to see what choices different people made, or to make different choices myself.
One interesting thing I noticed what just how, people who don’t seem suspicious, people who may get to roam society with the least security checks/suspicion/accusation, etc, can actually be the ones who have engaged in more illegal activities…
Highly recommend.
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Alright, that’s it for October. A very theatre-heavy month! See you in November for (I think) a more balanced month of art consumption! Ha!
Oh, and if anyone has any shows on Netflix they would like to recommend me…please let me know! Would be happy to review it here. 😊
anartisttravels x
anartisttravels 