Soho Theatre, London
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Website: www.sohotheatre.com
Production
School Play
20 May - 21 July at 7.30pm
(Monday-Saturday)
Charlie is a girl after any
young at heart's heart. She dreams of riding her brother's bicycle
through town and pissing her teachers off, and since her friends
are losers and her brother's dead, school is a pretty uninspiring
place - until Miss Fry the piano teacher comes along and discovers
her musical talent, that is.
So far so Dead Poet's Society.
But despite filmic resonances with Billy Elliot and co., Suzy
Almond's new play is gratifyingly theatrical. To see Charlie
(brilliantly evoked by Brooke Kinsella, who gets just as under
our skin as her teachers' ) faking sickness, delivering a wonderful
speech about the bike she holds more sacred than her own body,
or just tossing her friend off before her teacher's horrified
eyes, is pleasurable indeed. This is not just a tale of sugary
sweet redemption - a collection of spikey, difficult characters
promise real pain.
However, Tracy-Ann Oberman's
Miss Fry is hard to warm to. Perhaps because Almond has scripted
someone not only inspiring and quirky but also untalented and
exploitative, the result is a character who is hard to develop
rather than one in dramatic conflict, with the play reaching
a low point when Fry forces Charlie to confront her feelings
and the usually brilliant banter descends into psychobabble.
Equally disappointing is the
fact that the school play referred to never actually goes into
production and so feels like superflous information. Likewise
the death of Charlie's brother fails to really clarify the action
except as a hazy sort of explanation for her wanton behaviour
and so ends up rather unsatisfying.
Nothing's missing, but there's
so much there that ultimately School Play's pick and mix of witty
retorts and eloquent speeches feels like a bit of a rehearsal.
Which is a shame , as a grown up version of this perfectly entertaining
drama would be genuinely moving.
Kiss Me Like You Mean It
16 May - 16 June at 7.30pm
(Monday-Saturday)
Artistic director Abigail Morris
has saved herself a delight, plumping as she does for Chris Chibnall's
latest - a clever new play whose wit never goes to its head.
Billed as a play about choices, Chibnall's finely crafted drama
ends up a convincing plea to both seize the moment and stand
by your decisions. In an era of temporary pleasures and dwindling
attention spans, a play showing that love can last proves a brave
undertaking indeed.
Doubly so because the strands
of Chibnall's double plot weave such a spacial conundrum. Designer
Will Hargreaves rises to the challenge and with just the nonchalance
Chibnall's characters affect, sets about evoking a house whose
party we never see with a yard where most of the action takes
place, an upstairs flat and a roof made for romance.
This drama of young at hearts
has plenty of heart of its own and a fine fistful of parts for
young and old alike. Jason Hughes relishes the role of one-balled
Tony, the would-be lover of sharp tongued Ruth, winningly portrayed
by a feisty Catherine McCormack. Mean time Marlene Sidaway and
Harry Tomb make a tender old couple from whome most audience
members have as much to learn as the youngsters on stage.
"I'm giving you gold here,"
says Don as he advises young Tony how to woo Ruth. Few who have
seen the play could argue.
Prices
Mondays all tickets £5
Tuesday-Thursday £14 (£10 discounts)
Friday and Saturday £15
Comedy- Mark Thomas
every Saturday from 21 April-23
June at 8pm
Up close and personal with
Channel 4's comedy guerilla. All new material, but not quite
stand-up.
'exciting, challenging and outrageously funny'
Time Out
Tickets only £8
Archive
Art and Guff
Now touring
Forget those haughty airs of
artistic sophistication - true theatre lovers crave the odd real
character. Art and Guff, two lads from small town Wales keen
to give it a go in the big smoke, are just that.
The brainchild of Welsh writer Cath Tregenna, the characters
and their drama's namesake have a language and a history all
their own. Guff wants to get his poems published ; Art wants
his screenplay to see the light of day. Guff laughs in his sleep;
Art wanks (and it is proof of the writer's strength that this
little in-joke feels anything but cerebral). Untalented they
may be, but these characters are remarkably engaging to watch.
The plot is also more finely crafted than may at first appear.
From the mayhem of disappearing giros and dodgy neighbours Richard
Harrington and Roger Evans' fine performances heighten the details
of an impoverished existence into the portrayal of what it means
to stand by your dreams. Tregenna turns a sceptical eye on the
prejudices of new age hippies, and a tender one on the rituals
of friendship, allowing Art and Guff to far transcend their name.
The Company
Soho Theatre Company was founded
in 1969 by Verity Bargate and Fred Proud and resident at the
Soho Poly Theatre until 1990. During that time the early work
of writers such as Timberlake Wertenbaker, Sue Townsend, Tony
Marchant, Hanif Kureishi and Pam Gems was premiered.
From 1992-1995 the Company
had a successful residence at the Cockpit Theatre, premiering
the work of over 35 writers led by Artistic Director Abigail
Morris.
Soho Theatre Company left the
Cockpit in 1995 and began the search for a new theatre, led by
David Aukin, Abigail Morris and Mark Godfrey. Having looked at
over 150 buildings, 21 Dean Street was identified as the first
choice and Paxton Locher Architects were appointed. In May 1996,
STC became the first (and only) arts organisation to purchase
a property on the open market with Lottery funds.
Following the successful Site
Specific season - created in a temporary theatre space at 21
Dean Street-building works began in 1997 and were completed in
January 2000.
 About the Soho Theatre
21 Dean Street is the new,
permanent home of Soho Theatre Company who began nurturing new
plays and new writers nearly 30 years ago.
This new building includes
a comfortable, air-conditioned theatre, a studio, rehearsal room
and also, uniquely, space for writers - individual rooms to work
in and facilities for seminars and workshops - alongside, on
the ground floor, the award-winning bar and restaurant Café
Lazeez.
Hiring the theatre
Soho Theatre and Writers' Centre has a range of rooms which are
available for hire. For further information contact:
21 Dean Street London W1V 6NE
Admin: 020 7287 5060
Fax: 020 7287 5061
Email: mail@sohotheatre.com
About Cafe Lazeez
 The Soho theatre bar is within the Cafe Lazeez
brasserie on the ground floor, which also serves a range of award
winning Indian fusion dishes and light bar snacks. The main restaurant
seats 100 and offers a more formal setting.
Two course set menu £7.50:
Appetiser and main course or main course and desert
Supplement £2.50
Cafe Lazeez
21 Dean Street
London W1
Reservations:
020 7434 9393
11am - 1am, Monday - Saturday
5pm - 10.30pm, Sundays
Writers' Centre
No other
theatre company in Britain works with so many writers on so many
different levels. From the annual showcase of new plays by 11
year olds at Westminster schools and the prestigious Verity Bargate
Award (supported by Really Useful Group) to presenting work in
the West End and New York, we work with hundreds of writers every
year. We receive hundreds of plays and every script is read by
our panel of readers and given a written report. Promising writers
are invited to seminars, offered dramaturgy advice, and eventually
workshop readings of their plays by professional actors. Each
Soho Theatre Company production has been nurtured by this writers'
development programme.
If you would like further information
please write to:
The Literary Department, Soho Theatre and Writers' Centre, 21
Dean Street, London W1V 6NE
or e-mail: writers@sohotheatre.com
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