Apocalypso! Our culture is awash with images of violence, destruction, despair and degradation. 24-hour news coverage beamed from war-torn countries, TV documentaries exposing the use of torture, gory and sadistic films, shoot-em-up video games. Almost daily we encounter yet another dystopia, another vision of apocalypse – the end is nigh, it seems. The end is […]

Shalom! Peace be with you, prosperity, welfare –hello there! Oh, and while I have your attention, can I look in your handbag to see if you are hiding any bombs? And – well now, how interesting – don’t worry honey, I won’t tell a soul… Meet Star, an Israeli diva who has a wicked way […]

Jeanne Mordoj is ‘a formidable contortionist and juggler, a mischievous feminist and former bearded lady’. Her latest work, La Poème, is premiering at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, presented under the Crying Out Loud banner. And it is a delight! The structure of the piece is deceptively simple. Lone performer Mordoj makes a slow journey from […]

Meet Taylor who is nine years old and likes tuna pasta, Jessie J, and martial arts. And Bryony, who is 31 years old and likes smoking, walking, and sushi. Bryony is Taylor’s aunty and she thinks Taylor is like a baby deer – innocent, awkward and full of annoying questions (Bambi rather than a real […]

A mocked-up circus tent and the sounds of a late-night carnival, mulched, distorted, as in a dream: Offenbach’s Can Can, a crowd laughing then booing, a dog barking, machinery churning, the wheels of a Ghost Train grinding metal on metal. Coloured beams break the fourth wall to illuminate seats in the auditorium, casting a pattern […]