London 2015: Fringe Theatre

 
 
 

Othello

Kirsty Oswald (Desdemona) and Mark Ebulue (Othello). Photo: Manuel Harlan

 

Punchdrunk return with their biggest production yet and Zoë Wanamaker stars in Hugh Whitemore's play Stevie. Rachel Halliburton looks at the best Fringe theatre in London 2015.

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Strong Women

 

Strong women are strutting their stuff across the London Fringe throughout 2015, kicking off with the legendary feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. In James Greaves' play, Bette and Joan: The Final Curtain at St James Theatre (Studio) this January, Davis is on her deathbed, being forced by Hollywood hacks Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons to face up to the ghost of her arch-rival. In February, innovative theatre company Filter heads up this year's Vault Festival with its production of Macbeth, whose anti-heroine Lady Macbeth would no doubt have been a great match for Bette and Joan. Filter has long distinguished itself through experiments with sound, and here the witches are let loose on the electronic musical apparatus to help convey the sense of a world veering out of control.

Hampstead Theatre celebrates Stevie Smith in March in Hugh Whitemore's play Stevie, which stars the reliably acerbic Zoë Wanamaker. The play contrasts her tame suburban evenings sampling Battenberg cake and sherry with the knife-sharp writing talent that will one day bring her fame. The much anticipated comedy, Buyer and Cellar at the Menier Chocolate Factory this March, revolves around a gay couple's worship of Barbara Streisand. The fictional account reaches its peak when Alex, an out of work actor, gets a job in the mini mall of the village she has constructed in her cellar (yes you read that correctly).

 
 
 

Puppetry

 

In a very different work of fantasy, The Paper Cinema's Odyssey brings Homer's epic to experimental powerhouse, Battersea Arts Centre (BAC). The production's combination of cinematic projection and paper puppets has already received rave reviews for its skill and imagination. Shadow puppets also distinguish the experimentalism of Megalopolitan, which joins Macbeth at the Vault Festival. Described, provocatively, as a 'melodic prog rock madrigal about a Metropolis' it takes the audience member into a surreal world that explores enlightenment and information overload in our LED illuminated world.

 
 
 

Physical Theatre

 

Frantic Assembly's Othello at the Lyric Hammersmith should be a highlight this year. Adapted by the extremely talented Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett, the January production will use the company's strongly physical style to examine fear and prejudice in 21st century Britain. In February, the multi-award winning Song of the Goat Theatre Company will bring BAC audiences an equally inventive take on a Shakespearean tragedy in Songs of Lear. This takes crucial scenes from the play and develops them through song and movement - it was a massive hit at last year's Edinburgh Festival.

 
 
 

Political Plays

 

With the turbulent state of the global order, it's not surprising that international politics gets as strong a showing on the fringe in 2015 as it does in mainstream theatre. The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco at the Gate Theatre this March is Andrew Whaley's comic take on post-colonial Zimbabwe. At the Arcola Theatre, Shrapnel: 34 Fragments of a Massacre (also in March), is a new work from Anders Lustgarten on The Roboski Massacre, an incident in 2011 where Turkish Armed Forces dropped bombs on smugglers going across the Turkish/Iraqi border after they had been spied by a US drone.

For theatre relating to politics closer to home, you should probably check out the excellent Blind Summit's election-themed Citizen Puppet, a verbatim puppet experiment looking at the lives of people on the political fringe. For something more tangential, Philip Ridley's Radiant Vermin is a satire on the housing crisis, and for political history, Dead Sheep at the Park Theatre tells the story of how Maggie Thatcher was brought down by Geoffrey Howe.

 
 
 

Musical and Immersive Theatre

 

If you want to escape politics completely, there are plenty of musicals to sample, with hit American puppet-musical Avenue Q coming to Greenwich Theatre in May, Bugsy Malone roaring up at the Lyric Hammersmith in April, and Dracula! (Mr Swallow - the Musical) landing at the Soho Theatre in February. A rather different kind of musical theatre will be on offer in acclaimed physical dance theatre company Gecko's Missing at the BAC, which looks at the warped psyche of a woman called Lily, and the consequences of her unearthing of her forgotten past.

Last but not least, there will be an exciting new commission to entice the next generation of theatergoers. Punchdrunk's Against Captain's Orders: A Journey into the Uncharted is a new site specific work at the National Maritime Museum in March. It will no doubt be a theatrical highlight for parents and children alike. Its investment in younger audiences is also one of many signs of the confidence and rich creativeness of a fringe that seems to be experiencing a golden age.

 
 
 

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