Sunday 20 December 2009

Things I've seen... yadda yadda yadda (July - December 2009)


image: palace of the end




For the record, this list contains one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life, and which I'm happy to evangelise for without reservation. If you get the chance to see this production of Palace of The End, see it. An unbendingly humane and utterly devastating treatise on the war in Iraq.







Here's the rest of the list:

-Adam Peck/FairGround Theatre: Out of Touch
-Spike Milligan's 'Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall (adapted by Ben Power and Tim Carroll)
-Bristol Fusion Dance & Creative Souls: Journey of the Griot
-Donmar Warehouse: Hamlet (dir: Michael Grandage)
-Alex Bradley: Conditionality (work-in-progress)
-Sound & Fury with Bryony Lavery: Kursk
-BAC/Forest Fringe Scratch
-Rotozaza: Guru Guru
-The Special Guests: Something's Got a Hold of Me
-Action Hero: Frontman (performance experiment)
-Orbita: The Stars Below Us
-Tinned Fingers: Our Fathers' Ears
-Judith Thompson/Manchester Royal Exchange: Palace of the End
-Jo Bannon: Claim to Fame
-Dennis Kelly/Birmingham Rep/Traverse/Paines Plough: Orphans
-Power Plant (various artists)
-Toby Hulse/Oxford Playhouse: One Small Step
-Volcano Theatre: i-witness
-Miss High Leg Kick: Fashion Bus
-Melanie Wilson: Iris Brunette
-Little Bulb Theatre: Sporadical
-Action Hero: A Western
-Daniel Kitson stand up
-Richard Dedomenici: Plane Food Cafe
-Uninvited Guests: Love Letters Straight From Your Heart
-Ontroerend Goed: Internal
-Action Hero: A Western (again... it's a great show... and I was pimping it)
-Sarah Cuddon: My Green, Your Grey
-
Tom Wainwright: Muscle
-Residence in Residence (various artists)
-Timothy X Atack: Buzzard (directed by me, dudes - more on that another time)
-Headlong: 6 Characters in Search of an Author
-Nell Leyshon/Salt Factory: Paradise
-You and Your Work 7 (various artists)
-Rosie Dennis: Fraudulent Behaviour
-Luci Gorell Barnes: The Tragic and Disturbing Tale of Little Lupin
-Daniel Kitson (again! he's amazing)
-Prototype nov 09 platform
-Ed Rapley: The Middle Bit
-Quarantine: Make Believe
-Lucy Cassidy & Martha King: collaboration experiments





Not bad, considering I missed a lot of stuff due to actually making work a bit again. Pimped by getting up to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time in three or four years. Again, some extraordinary, wonderful experiences in this lot. There's the usual amount of 'very good', 'mediocre' and some proper 'utter shite', but I can't remember a year when I've seen more truly amazing shows. I wonder if theatre is actually getting better.

image: hamlet

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