So, who remembers Yellow Magic Orchestra? They heralded the 1980s with their spectacular mix of electronic pop music, Kraftwerk-esque ‘showroom dummy’ performance, cutting-edge animation, and live computer-gaming references. Siro-A are like the wayward children of YMO: 30 years on, the technology has advanced, but the aesthetic is similar – yet this time the ante is upped […]

None shall sleep, not if Poland’s NeTTheatre have anything to do with it… Leather queens in bullet belts and kitten heels belting out karaoke versions of ‘Nessun Dorma’; a bank of Barbie dolls mounted on table football rods and real-life Barbie-doll-girls dancing disjointed dances; the incessant looping of snatches of Turandot’s score; a mannequin hung by […]

‘If Stockton can’t come to Las Vegas, Las Vegas can come to Stockton!’ So says Johnny, star of Johnny’s Stuntshow, who’s revving up the Friday night crowd here in Market Square – the epicentre of the Stockton International Riverside Festival. Well, more than that: the epicentre of Stockton – apparently there’s been a market on this […]

2401 Objects is a performance based on the life of Henry Molaison, a patient who in the early 50s emerged from experimental brain surgery without any recollection of the last two years of his life or the ability to form new memories. From the opening moments of the performance the audience is placed within a still […]

In London the plague came in 1665: ‘one hundred thousand dead but I alive’. This is not the opening line from Ten Plagues but the ending, the epilogue, a joyful ‘I will survive’ statement from our protagonist, who has worked his way though fear, disgust, panic, loneliness, isolation, superiority, and humility to reach this point of liberation. […]