DEAR EVAN HANSEN

NOEL COWARD THEATRE, LONDON
★★★★★

Easily one of the productions that has been on my theatre bucket list since I first listened to the Broadway soundtrack back in 2016. I longed to see the musical whose words shouted out loud what it feels like to have social anxiety and in fact, Dear Evan Hansen reminded me I'm not alone. It’s one of those soundtracks I listen to CONSTANTLY so when it was announced that the Tony and Grammy Award-winning production of Dear Evan Hansen would finally be heading to London, I had to book tickets (even if they were blooming expensive!). 

Dear Evan Hansen centres around Evan, a high school child who yearns to fit in with his fellow peers. Like 1 in 4 people in the UK (Mind), Evan suffers from a mental health disorder, Social Anxiety. This means that he finds social and performance situations very difficult, therefore fitting in isn’t easy and he is quite isolated at school. Evan is seeking help from a therapist who encourages him to write encouraging letters to himself in the hope it will enable him to seek things outside of his comfort zone. However, one of his letters falls into the hands of a bullying schoolmate, Connor Murphy, shortly before he kills himself. It’s Murphy’s parents who discover Evan’s letter and assume that it’s genuinely for him. Evan does nothing to tell him they’re wrong and creates an extreme fabricated friendship that brings him closer to the Murphy family, particularly Connor’s sister Zoe who he’s in love with and sees a memorial tribute to the teenager go viral all over social media. 

For this production, we were led by Marcus Harman as Evan and he was an absolute delight. Harman had a real eye for the vulnerability in Evan’s character and definitely knew how to draw the audience into the story. His rendition of the musical numbers was sensational and brought many tears to my eyes. Waving Through A Window is the first number that we see by Evan and Harman gave us the perfect performance to characterise his character, really drawing us on the anxious thoughts and actions that can be very difficult to live with. Although his best performances are definitely in You Will Be Found and Words Fail for sure, they were easily stand out numbers of the production for me.

The musical touches on a wide range of sensitive matter in such an incredible, touching way. Isolation, grief, fake news, social media, mental health are all crammed into this production and it’s perfect for the modern audience. It truly highlights the influence that social media and fake news can have in such a rapid way.

Doug Colling takes on the role of Connor Murphy. Although he is the main catalyst for this story we don’t see a lot of him but his impact is huge. We discover that Connor suffers from anxiety and depression too but was unable to get help in time. His relationship with his family is very strained and he’s the freak at school.  His sister Zoe (Lucy Anderson) plays a pivotal part in portraying the grief left by Connor’s death, she shows the heartache but there’s resilience in her character too. Her performance of Requiem really tugs at the heartstrings. 

This musical also does a superb job in showing the frustration and emotional ties for a mother. Lauren Ward and Rebecca McKinnis do a spectacular job at doing this within their roles individually. 

Collectively though, this small cast is incredible at bringing such a deeply personal and profoundly contemporary story to life. The staging of this production is nothing but excellent, although it may seem sparse the use of projection and social media is so apparent and clear throughout. They both work in perfect harmony and its effect is defined well. 

Dear Evan Hansen is a story that is raw, important and true. It speaks out to those struggling with mental health that You Will Be Found. It has something for everyone to relate to in this production, whether your a mother or a teenager. It spoke volumes to me and was emotionally one of the best productions I’ve ever witnessed. It should stick with you long after you’ve seen it and hopefully it will encourage more conversations around mental health.

Dear Evan Hansen is taking bookings until 30 May 2020.

One of the largest curated arts festivals in the world, VAULT returns to London this Spring. It features the best in comedy, theatre, cabaret and immersive experiences to get stuck into. 2019 will be their biggest, boldest and bravest programme yet with more than 400 performances taking place between January 23 - March 17.

The VAULT Festival is now in its 7th year and inhabits London's Waterloo as it's location. There are multiple performance spaces located underground in the festival's central hub, The Vaults. Other festival venues used include London's secret community performance space The Network Theatre, upstairs at The Horse & Stables pub, Granby Place, and the Travelling Through Bookshop on Lower Marsh where you can catch fresh material from television favourites and hot new comics. Unit 9 on Leake Street will be a space dedicated to ground-breaking immersive performances while other pop-up venues include shipping containers, caravans and escape rooms. 

This festival is extremely exciting and I even experienced it for myself last year for the first time. I thought the experience was outstanding. 

Having looked at the exceptionally vast programme on offer I've collated the Top 10 Picks from the festival that caught my attention particularly and sound fantastic. Of course, there's so much more in the full programme here. 

17. 23-27 Jan

Yasmin Sidhu and Casey Smith are the best of friends. At the age of 17 the world as they know it is about to change. Yasmin will be off to University, a good one - to study Maths. And Casey, she hasn't figured out what she wants to be yet. She has heard you can make a living doing makeup tutorials on insta, and nobody can contour like Casey. They live in a small town in the Midlands where they've had to grow up wildly different, but this is what makes their friendship so strong. But when a video of Yasmin goes viral, everyone is shocked to hear that she's breaking the internet and not Casey. 

17 is a fantastic look at what it's like being a teenager in the 21st Century; trying things, learning stuff, failing, succeeding, heartbreak, expectations and shame. This play will certainly throw you back into those unsteady days of being 17 yourself.

You can find out more about 17 and how to book your tickets here.

Katie & Pip is a performance that celebrates the relationship between Katie, a Type 1 Diabetic teenager and Pip, her pet border collie trained by Katie to save her life on a daily basis. The performance duo have been on a journey of extreme highs and lows, therefore embracing the unpredictability of flailing blood sugar levels and dangerous symptoms with the aim of staying alive. Making Katie's invisible disability, visible. We're taken on a true story which began in Scotland; you'll celebrate freedom and living life to the full, with the help of a gorgeous dog called Pip. 

You can find out more about Katie & Pip and how to book your tickets here. 

The Bee Project  25 - 26 Jan

Brought to you Silent Uproar comes a hilarious cabaret musical about depression. It explains, sings and throws glitter about how it's OK not to be OK. You'll meet Sally and Sally is a happy person. She doesn't let the little things get her down and almost never cries. But she's got an illness. It makes her feel like she isn't the person she wants to be, but she doesn't want anyone around her to know about it. The show has received some fantastic reviews and will generate fantastic conversation about depression. It has been described as a joyful, buoyant, gleeful, slightly silly, sugar-coated, unrelenting and completely super happy show! (except for the bits about depression). 

You can find out more about this show and how to book your tickets here.

Bar Wotever Bonanza is packed full of performance, power and pride! Every show will present a different theme and energy but every evening will be just as powerful as the other. It will leave the sweet taste of queer love in your mouth. There are acts and performances from some of London cabaret's best artists, it is without a doubt something to educate, entertain and empower you! If you enjoy something with variety then Bar Wotever Bonanza will give you that from high energy lip sync to soft spoken world - definitely expect the unexpected with this one! 

Find out more and book your tickets for Bar Wotever Bonanza here.

Notflix is a five-star sell-out show at both Edinburgh Finge 2016-2018 and VAULT Festival 2017-18! Notflix combines the taste profiles of a room full of theatregoers to create a brilliantly hilarious and completely improvised viewing experience - a full musical. The all female cast use audience suggestions of recently watched films to create a brand new, fully improvised, one-night-only musical inspired by one audience member's idea and explanation. Every show is completely different but what remains is the same joy-filled, high camp, musical celebration of everything you wish a movie to be!

You can find out more and book your tickets for Notflix here. 

Last year it was reported that 34% of young people voted YouTuber as their top career choice. Claire was intrigued and decided to have a go herself. Part documentary, part live performance, part parody, part desperate as f*ck, Claire does everything she can to entertain her online audience. Whilst still remaining 100% totally authentically real. See-Through is an edited, unedited, live, pre-recorded, reality show that invites you to see behind the camera. I can see a lot of my fellow YouTubers finding this performance interesting for them! 

To book your tickets for See-Through and to find out more about the show, visit here.

The VAULT Festival also has plenty for children to enjoy on its programme, including Blue Planet III. Two idiots at the BBC are making another Blue Planet documentary - but how do you know what a fish is if you've never left your office? Put on your polar ice caps and climb aboard an adventure for this one to save the oceans! David Attenborough meets clowning in this children's comedy show brought to you by Luke Rollason and Christian Brighty. 

Access Platform 

13-14 Mar

Access Platform brings you the best of disabled theatre artists on the London theatre scene right now. Experience five exciting pieces of writing from five talented, emerging disabled artists all with something different to show you. They were selected from an open call and Last Word are bringing you five fresh voiced with new and bold statements perspectives for British Theatre. 

Lucy Light 13-17 Mar

"Do you get to design your boobs? Is it like build a bear?" Lucy Light is a story that spans ten years, following two normal teenagers into adulthood...except Lucy has a big decision she must make. A comedy play written by Off West End Award nominee Sarah Milton, Lucy Light takes a nostalgic look on our relationship with our bodies, the hereditary nature of cancer, and the strength of female friendships.

NeverLand

The Vaults, London ★★★★

The Vaults in London come to life during the first half of the year when the VAULT Festival arrives. Until March 18 2018, over three hundred new shows take over a festival of festivals within their home beneath London's Waterloo station. This year's festival offers to be the biggest year with new venues, new bars, new food and plenty of surprises. The VAULT Festival offers the platform for artists to present innovative, daring work in London and this year's programme looks fantastic. As part of a trip with ibis hotel, 24 Hours in London I was able to watch one of those performances. NeverLand was an immersive experience I will never forget so I wanted to do a quick review!

NeverLand is performed by The Guild of Misrule and Theatre Deli. This newly created immersive musical is inspired by the timeless story by JM Barrie. This story is one of my favourites of all time, therefore I had a lot of expectations of what an immersive production could create from this story. The story itself isn't on Peter Pan, the story we all know from front to back but the creation of the iconic fictional character and the foundations in which the story was built on. We are introduced to the author JM Barrie, played by Dominic Hall and some of the real people that several of his characters in the story are based on.

It begins with the Llewelyn Davies Children getting ready for bed, their imaginations being brought to life by their fantasies and stories with a little from JM Barrie too. They are quick to begin interacting with the audience, drawing them in to participate in their stories.

There a lot of musical sections within the adventure and these are very good. The voices of Casey Andrews (Michael) and Humphrey Sitima (Curly) are particularly gorgeous. There was no need for microphones throughout the production as each performance could project well into  such a big performance space. Dominic Hall is the main thread as JM Barrie throughout the production and delivers a wonderful performance. His poignant monologue at the end of the show is a great close to the production.



The immersive elements of the show were truly entertaining, at any moment you could be swept away with one of the characters somewhere new. In these places, you are within an intimate moment and feel as though you are important to the action that is about to unfold. There was a lot of times that the audience was split up and sometimes this became chaotic and distracting. This seemed at the most unpredicted times, therefore it was easy to lose your understanding of the plot. Wherever you were placed there was also sometimes you could overhear a subplot and it distracted you from what you were witnessing. At times it was hard to know if you were supposed to follow a specific character or what.

However, with that in mind, the fun and the immersive element of the production really appealed to me and it was something I would definitely like to see more of in the future. I think there could have been more reworking into some of the immersive elements in order for there not to be so much confusion but all in all a real theatre experience with a difference. I loved how the small company transformed their blank space into a space that you can interactive with.

There's some great performance at the VAULT festival until March 18. You can find a full listing of performance on their website here.

When your job results in a impromptu trip to London to see a show I'd be stupid to not say no. Last week I headed to London to see old timer STOMP at the Ambassadors Theatre, with 25 years of experience in it's bag I was intrigued to what I would indeed experience as I took my seat for the matinee performance.  

STOMP pride themselves on work which is authentic, fresh and imaginative in their production. The 7 performers show their unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy, making it something that everyone can grasp hold of and enjoy. The piece itself was created over a 10 year period of collaboration between its creators, Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas. 

In the piece they bring to life everyday household items in a way that builds on the creativity and imagination of it's audiences, it may even entice you to begin drumming on your dustbin when you leave the theatre. There was a real understanding in it's play between different speeds, whilst maintaining it's main thread of exploring different sounds. You couldn't help but engage in on what percussion they were creating in that specific moment with their interaction with one another having a huge part to play in creating these soundscapes for the audiences. There was also a real mixture in solos to duet to full ensembles, with each section drawing you in on exactly what the performers want you to experience. I loved how their lighting design played a part in this too and really helped to draw us in. 

There was definitely a lot of noise involved, pretty much from beginning to end, with some parts for even the audiences to get involved with too. This piece is great for those first timers to the theatre, especially the young people who can sponge in the atmosphere and fun feel that STOMP definitely creates in it's production. I would actually love to see an entirely new production being created with new items to explore and play with. 

I loved how they created their set, with items that will soon be used in creating the soundscapes surrounding the performance space. There's times when we see the performers suspended from ropes whilst playing their specific instrument in that moment, there's so many places to look and be interested in. I particularly enjoyed the play and exploration with newspapers, something which we can do from the comfort of our homes. 

The only downside in this production was seeing a performer chew gum for the entirety of it, not too sure whether that was part of the piece but it was definitely for distracting viewing when your someone who visits and enjoys the theatre often.

Besides that, STOMP is a real imaginative and fun piece of work that will have you thinking outside the box. 

Dreamgirls is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best musicals I have seen, it completely blew me away and I've been having post-show blues ever since. It's been 35 years after it opened on Broadway and 10 years after the movie adaptation was released, it starred Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson, making it one of my favourite musical films ever. I've waited for this musical to make its way into my country for years, all I had was the incredible film and soundtrack so when I had the chance to take my mum and see it for myself, I had to prepare myself for an unforgettable experience. Being performed at The Savoy Theatre it has an impressive cast including Glee's Amber Riley, I couldn't wait to see this girl in action after loving Glee for years.

Dance Sampled is an opportunity to showcase the vast diversity of the dance sector from around the world to the UK for you to enjoy all in one night, for a special low price. Having been a regular production at Sadlers Wells since 2007 I was delighted to be asked to join other theatre bloggers down to London to get a flavour of it before it arrives at the Birmingham Hippodrome next month.

It's the best introduction in for people to see the strength in both companies and artists from around the world, allowing access to styles of dance that we haven't been able to experience before. It's important as part of Hippodrome's aim to be able to bring both diverse and dynamic theatre to it's stage that is accessible to all their audiences, so when it arrives in Birmingham in March it will be presented at a reduced cost. This means that it's perfect in encouraging more people to attend something that is right on their doorstep as participate in some fantastic workshops with sector professionals.

photo provided by Dance Tabs