Churchill referred to it as something other, something outside of himself that followed him, haunted him and, on occasion, consumed him: the black dog. Stephen Fry has publically implored us to consider that there is nothing other about depression, that it is simply, incurably, a periodic aspect of personality that is simply there. There are […]

Presented at the Wickham as part of Bristol’s inaugural biennial festival of circus performance, Circus City, L’Homme de Boue (The Mud Man) is a collaboration between French artists Nathan Israël and Luna Rousseau, and one of a handful of shows from outside the UK bringing a distinctively European sensibility to the festival. We perhaps see […]

It’s a Wednesday night in central Birmingham, and we’re heading to BOM (Birmingham Open Media), a venue and artists’ studio close to New Street station which is the designated hub for Fierce Festival 2015, a five-day bonanza of live art, experimental theatre, installations, screenings and parties. We pass old-school Chinese restaurants with red dragon signage; […]

Production company Unlimited have turned this London staging of Mahogany Opera’s new piece – as part of the Totally Thames festival – into something of an event. There’s a river boat to whisk us over to the lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf for the performance, Icelandic beer, street food, alcoholic popsicles… once we’re there, the […]

Six audience members – no more, no less – are led through a side entrance of the Queen Elizabeth Hall: a Jenga tower of concrete blocks piled between the Southbank and Waterloo Bridge. We are informed that our tour of the building will be the last to see the Purcell Room as we know it, […]