A backdrop of jarred and splintered wood, set at odd angles across the back wall, and a thin gravel path leading to a gathering of dustbins at the side of the stage evokes the backstreets of Cape Town in the studio of the Oval House Theatre. The lights come up on Mamela Nyamza, who […]

In recent years Cork company Gare St Lazare Players has brought the pared-down texts of writers like Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter to the stage. Last year I was mesmerised by artistic director Conor Lovett’s performance of Beckett’s short story ‘The End’. This was my first experience of Lovett’s intimate style and it made me […]

Freedom is the foundation of fiction and fantasy: a state reachable in our imaginations if nowhere else. The choreographer Jasmin Vardimon invites us into this place and in her programme notes tells us to ‘feel free to imagine’. Yet, in this overcrowded and structurally fragmented piece it can end up feeling like this freedom is […]

My journey through SPILL began on Thursday 1 November, and my first port of call was the SPILL Study Café inside SPILL Central. The space was welcoming, warm and served a lovely cup of tea; it was a good base for the festival. From here I could head up to the Ipswich Art School Gallery […]

  To attempt The Odyssey in any media could never be described as an easy option. The Paper Cinema are a company creating moving pictures out of paper, projected onto a screen – their style is intriguing, engaging and many-layered, and is enhanced by live music. In choosing The Odyssey as their subject matter, it […]