‘Could this piece be performed by anyone else?’ asks someone at the post-show discussion that follows the presentation of Ruff, the latest solo performance by the legendary Peggy Shaw, co-written and directed by her Split Britches partner, Lois Weaver, and seen at Chelsea Theatre as part of their ongoing Sacred season. Peggy and Lois like the question and muse on […]

As Varmints opens, there’s stage smoke, moody edgy music, and a yellow coated fella on stage. Enigmatic changes of light turn the world green and verdant; there’s birdsong, and a dawning beauty like the wonder of daybreak. The first character is joined by three more. Who are they? Creatures? Explorers? Not knowing the story, nor who […]

Time – a long time, a short time, recent times, past times. Time – a moment that never passes. The past no longer exists, the future has never existed. There is only the present moment. The present is always – this. Yet still the hands of the clock turn, still the minutes tick by, still […]

‘Have you used a GPS system before?’ asks the steward, handing me a smartphone and a pair of headphones. Alarm bells ring: I never have much luck with Google Maps. ‘Me’ is me, she explains, and there’s a white dotted line to follow. When circles show up on the screen, I’m to move towards them […]

‘You are nothing but a big zero,’ says the Fool to Lear. I paraphrase, apologies Mr Shakespeare. But this is not, you understand, a version of King Lear, although that was the starting point – a period of research supported by the Royal Shakespeare Company, in which Clod Ensemble discovered that what they didn’t want […]