Alia Marshall Two Girls One Gun is Comedy Gold’s latest addition to their CGTU (Comedy Gold Theatrical Universe), which promises us sexy spies, boobs, legs, and friendship. This company is known for their genre-parody shows jam packed full of stunts and cheeky slapstick comedy, subverting expectations by placing women at the centre of these traditionally male dominated narratives. Naturally, my interest is piqued.
Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin When We Were Us is a new musical from Playwright and Composer Catherine Zulver, directed by Helen Mackenzie Hughes and produced under Red Scare Theatre Company by the company's very own Cassandra Tse. I have high expectations going into the show as I’m aware of the many talents onboard. As I enter BATS Theatre’s Dome stage I take in the pre-show state: Kevin Orlando’s Dylan resting under a blanket centre-stage and Julia McDonald's Claire to the right, looking out and up. She seems hopeful, and so am I.
Austin Harrison Limbo is the b4 25-shortlisted, return season of a sellout hit in this year’s 6 Degrees Festival produced by Keane As and Believable Arts Management. It’s inspired by Dante’s 1321 epic poem Inferno and has all the hallmarks of a young company full of ideas. They’ve thrown everything at this production; some sticks and some doesn’t.
Jack McGee One of the great joys of Sense and Sensibility is that Penny Ashton and her team consistently take things one step further than you’d expect. There’s a giddy delight in watching the show's stage manager (Fay Van Der Meulen) rush on stage with an industrial sized fan to ensure that Austen’s hills are appropriately windswept. The show’s many big reveals are made bigger by cartoonishly exaggerated lighting (Marcus McShane) and sound (Ashton), and whenever there’s an opportunity for a great one-off gag, the designer (Ian Harmann) has never shied away from sourcing a beautiful prop. Even the electrical tape, used to mark prop locations for transitions, has been coloured to look like little flowers on the beautifully painted meadow-green floor. Sensibility feels big. It feels maximalist. It’s a work that fills a room, and is accessible without feeling shallow. In short, it’s a real success as a Circa One show.
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