Lovesong, Lyric, Hammersmith

I love the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith: aside from the fact that it is a just a bus ride from home, Hammersmith is a nostalgic place for me, just round the corner from the school where I spent seven years. The theatre itself has a lovely auditorium, much like a small West End venue. The Lyric is a lively environment to experience and the press evenings here are always fun with music jamming, friendly mingling and fresh hot pizza handed round, it's a blast.

This month the Lyric welcomes Abi Morgan’s touching love story, ‘Lovesong', a production by FRANTIC ASSEMBLY, an exciting contemporary physical theatre company I have wanted to see in action for a while. The play spans forty years: the marriage of Maggie and Billy, the aging process they endure and how their love changes over time. We watch the youthful couple William (Edward Bennett) and Margaret (Leanne Rowe) in their 20s excitedly embarking on a life together, and also their older selves Maggie (Sian Phillips) and Billy (Sam Cox) as they remember and reminiscence. The action is delicately and completely intertwined, flicking between the two eras constantly… Maggie opens the wardrobe and Margaret slips out instead. I found the older couple more convincing; Sam Cox gives a sensitive rendition of the helpless husband while Sian Phillips is heartbreaking as the dying wife.

The script is very fluid but can be disorientating - at times I wished for more detail, especially regarding Maggie’s dehabilitating illness. However this is where the dance and clever choreography works so well, as the physicality effectively captures the passing of time: beautifully lyrical and transient movement that each of the four actors handled impressively. The play is accompanied by Carolyn Downing’s powerful soundtrack, it supports the script if a little vague and abstract at times.

Lovesong manages to grip the audience for the full ninety minutes, and the day I went, the theatre remained eerily silent throughout, everyone seemed captivated by the truthful love affair.

You would have to be pretty cold-hearted to leave the theatre feeling completely untouched, I was certainly worried about my mascara smudging.

Lovesong continues at The Lyric until 4 February, book here.

PUNK ROCK goes on tour

I am so relieved that I managed to see Punk Rock, just in time. I had heard brilliant things about its run at The Lyric, and knowing one of the cast members suspected the positive rumours were true... I really enjoyed it.

The play, written by Simon Stephens is set in a grammar school in Stockport. A group of outspoken teenagers are preparing to take their mock exams. The set remains unchanged throughout; we are in an old dusty library, a room that becomes increasingly claustrophobic as the story unfolds. The group are joined by a new girl, self-harming Lilly Cahill. We watch as the dynamic changes between the students as they struggle to grow up. Punk Rock introduces us to character types that we can all sympathise with.A cast of nine outstanding actors gives a powerfully expressive performance. These young promising actors, a few of them debuting in Punk Rock, command the stage with maturity way beyond their years.

I want to draw attention to this show as it embarks on a large scale national tour. It returns to the stage after a very successful sell-out run at Manchester’s Royal Exchange. Visiting theatres all over the country, a show not to miss... it is one of the most gripping plays I have ever seen.

More information on Punk Rock's tour here.

Tightrope at the Lyric

In the heart of Hammersmith lies West London’s most promising theatre, The Lyric. This venue offers an eclectic array of shows. Last weekend I went to see their current production, Tightrope.

Tightrope is a show performed by the Lyric’s resident dance theatre company, Amici, integrating able bodied and disabled performers. In this way it challenges the conventional expectations of theatre audiences.

When you sit down you don’t know what to expect. Performers of all kinds wander joyously onto the stage, some in wheelchairs others being helped by Amici performers, each has their own part to play in this story. Tightrope has everything you imagine a circus to have: clowns, strongmen, tightrope walkers and snake charmers.

On the street disabled people may have a low profile but here their talent is celebrated, and these artists love the attention. The wheelchair performers are particularly inspiring, one man rises from the floor (out of his chair) high into the air, another, ‘the wheelchair showgirl’ dances beautifully across the stage. A small band accompany the show and short poems, written by Amici member Chrissie Kugele are sung.

Tightrope may be uncomfortable for some at first, but as the evening progresses you appreciate the beauty of this show and the prejudices that it overcomes. And as you laugh with these performers there are smiles all round.

http://www.lyric.co.uk/p668.html