A fiercely powerful staging of Derek Jarman’s punk classic
People have been pontificating on what punk is – if it’s sold out, if it’s dead – pretty much since it showed up. So I’m not going to join them. Except to say that if anyone’s keeping the ripped Union Jack flag flying, it’s got to be queer people of colour who are risking everything to live outside the rules of a heteronormative, post-Brexit society. Chris Goode’s play, transferring to Lyric Hammersmith after opening at Royal Exchange Manchester, gets this. He reimagines Derek Jarman’s 1978 punk cult movie ‘Jubilee’ just enough to make it speak to today, but leaves its wild nihilist momentum intact.
It’s set in a squat (although this being 2018, it’s probably a warehouse share) where the cast bicker, wheel a pram on fire around, violently demolish the patriarchy, rewrite history, and watch YouTube videos. Travis Alabanza (playing Amyl Nitrate, the group’s historian) brings us up to speed on this show’s world, and pretty much anticipates every possible criticism of it: ‘Welcome to ‘Jubilee’. An iconic film most of you have never even heard of, adapted by an Oxbridge twat for a dying medium, spoiled by millennials, ruined by diversity, and constantly threatening to go all interactive. You poor fuckers.’
• Continue reading at Time Out. Review by Alice Saville.
Crime & Punishment: A Rock Musical
Nineties kids might remember Willcox as ‘Barmy Aunt Boomerang’ on CBBC, but she had a big career in the late ’70s and ’80s with hits like ‘It’s A Mystery’ and ‘I Want To Be Free’. All her old tunes make an appearance, with some new songs too. They’re fun, but tend to interrupt the rather arch, overwrought Russian melodrama and its philosophical inserts about moral superiority, rather than complementing or enlightening it.
The adaptation by Phil Willmott (who also directs and acts in the show) has its merits and although it’s a brisk 90 minutes it feels pacy rather than rushed. All the necessary beats, from heinous act through falling in love and eventual contrition, find their moment and there are some semi-decent bits of acting in there too.
• Continue reading at Time Out. Read other reviews of Crime and Punishment here. (Photo © Time Out/Sheila Burnett)
Dig out the kagoul; London’s open-air theatre is worth risking the rain for
Read our round-up of open-air theatre events for the summer ahead. You’ll find London’s best outdoor productions at venues as world-famous as Shakespeare’s Globe, in parks as pretty as Regent’s Park or at festivals as vibrant as More London Free Festival. Not sure what you’ll need for an open-air theatre trip? Then don’t miss our guide to all the practical open-air theatre info you could need.
Crime and Punishment – A Rock Musical: Toyah Willcox adapts Dostoyevsky’s classic in a free outdoor musical
Er. Well look, if a musical version of Dostoyevsky’s 1866 masterpiece about a student who wrestles with his guilt after killing a moneylender – with songs by Toyah Willcox no less – were announced for the West End we’d probably break out into cold sweats pretty sharpish.
• Continue reading at Time Out.
Toyah Willcox adapts Dostoyevsky’s classic in a free outdoor musical
Er. Well look, if a musical version of Dostoyevsky’s 1866 masterpiece about a student who wrestles with his guilt after killing a moneylender – with songs by Toyah Willcox no less – were announced for the West End we’d probably break out into cold sweats pretty sharpish. But it’s a pretty impressive proposition as a bit of free outdoor theatre. It’s also a welcome change of pace for Gods and Monsters Theatre, whose annual shows at The Scoop had fallen into a bit of a predictable pattern of adaptations of Greek tragedies in the last few years. If you want to see the show, just turn up.
• Continue reading at Time Out.
• London Evening Standard: They were there: partying along to the decade that fashion forgot: From Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s is the story of how the club scene influenced fashion in the decade that some consider one giant fashion faux-pas. Toyah Willcox was there, along with the likes of Zandra Rhodes, Andrew Logan, Steve Strange and milliner Stephen Jones (Photo © Evening Standard) – Continue reading…
• Now. Here. This.: The Time Out London Blog: Last night, we went down to the V&A’s glitzy private view for the their new exhibition ’From Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s’ which opens to the public tomorrow, July 10. The cream of the 1980s club culture crop were out in full force (and make up); the show was officially opened by Spandau Ballet guitarist and Blitz club regular Gary Kemp. He was joined by other key music and fashion figures including Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Nick Rhodes, Toyah Willcox, Zandra Rhodes, Stephen Jones, Lulu Kennedy, Pam Hogg, Patrick Cox, Betty Jackson and Steve Strange – Continue reading…
• Toyah tweeted a photo taken at the V&A today and said: “Absolutely thrilled/surprised by presence of my Melissa Kaplan outfit at brilliant #Clubtocatwalk Exhibition @ V&A“.
• Tatler: Club to Catwalk private view: Talk about Culture Club. The V&A has curated an exhibition of clubbing fashion from the Eighties and all the scenesters were at the private view – Continue reading…
