MONDAY 10 OCTOBER 2022 THISWEEKCULTURE.COM
MATT JOPLING: THE CANTERVILLE GHOST
I'm not a believer in ghosts, but I am a big fan of ghostly stories of all vintages, so it's no surprise that my ears pricked up when I heard that a favourite company of ours - Tall Stories - are bringing an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's 'The Canterville Ghost' to Southwark Playhouse this week. 

It sounds like the company are doing some really interesting things with the source material, so I wanted to find out more about what to expect from it. I spoke to Matt Jopling, one of the four stars of the show. 

CLICK HERE to read this Caro Meets interview.

'The Canterville Ghost' is on at Southwark Playhouse from 11 Oct-5 Nov. See the venue website here for more information and to book tickets.



JEROME DAVIS: TALLEY’S FOLLY
I've long been aware of the works of US playwright Lanford Wilson - in particular 'The Rimers Of Eldritch' and 'Burn This' - but I've rarely seen them actually performed.

So I was quite excited when I heard that Burning Coal - an acclaimed theatre company from Raleigh, North Carolina - were headed to London's Cockpit Theatre with a production of one of his plays. 'Talley's Folly' is a piece about love and separation, telling the story of the coming together of an unlikely couple, whilst also touching on other important themes. 

To find out more about the production I spoke to Jerome Davis, who is founder and Artistic Director of Burning Coal Theatre Company, and also stars in the show. 

CLICK HERE to read this Caro Meets interview.

Burning Coal's production of 'Talley's Folly' is on at The Cockpit from 13-29 Oct. See the venue website here for details, and to book tickets.
TW Backstage is the all-new podcast from ThisWeek Culture, all about the business of comedy, culture, theatre and Fringe.
  RALLYING THE COMEDY COMMUNITY
Find out more about the Comedians' Charter that the union Equity launched at the start of this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
     
  YOU'VE DONE EDINBURGH, WHAT NEXT?
Practical tips and advice galore for how performers and producers can capitalise on momentum they built at the Edinburgh Fringe this August.
     
  FIXING THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL
We debate the issues facing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and how the community might go about addressing them.
COMING SOON: COMEDY PANELS FROM SOUND+VISION
We are currently putting together three editions of TW Backstage featuring conversations about the business of comedy in 2022, recorded earlier this year at the Cambridge Sound+Vision festival.

The first will look at how comedians go about pursuing careers in 2022, using live shows, online activity and the Edinburgh Fringe to build an audience and a business around their comedy.

Future editions will then put the spotlight on making comedy online and the future of livestreaming in the comedy world.

SIGN UP to receive future editions of TW Backstage as they land here.
Shows to see in person in London and online - including performances from people and companies we first discovered at the Edinburgh Festival.


BLOOMSBURY FESTIVAL>>

Choking Game | Dr Williams's Library | 13-16 Oct
Can't believe it's time for the Bloomsbury Festival again, but yes, it is, and so of course we are going to head over there and partake of its bounty. We have three whole recommendations for you this week, starting with 'Choking Game', a piece of new writing by all-Asian creatives that "questions the western-centric treatment of climate change and performative tokenism in marine wildlife conservation". Find out more here.

Promised Land | RADA Studios | 15 Oct
"The story of 'Promised Land' begins with a barren couple - she is a computer engineer and he is a musician. Unable to bear a child of flesh and blood, they choose to conceive a piece of artificial intelligence named Rose". Another pick from from the festival, this time a reflection on the crisis of lovelessness in our contemporary capitalist world, based on critically acclaimed poetry album 'Stampin in the Graveyard'. Head this way for details.

Past Life | RADA Studios | 16 Oct (pictured)
One last Bloomsbury tip for you, a one-off performance of 'Past Life' by Alice Christina-Corrigan, an intriguing sounding piece exploring the normalisation of sexual assault in relationships, that promises to be genre-bending and multi-sensory, and also features creative captioning, audio descriptive language and soundscapes. So it sounds rather interesting, don't you think? Find out more about that here - and see full festival listings here.


FUNNY SHOWS>>

Susie McCabe: Born Believer | 2Northdown | 12 Oct
Well, it looks like the nights are drawing in, and it's getting cooler, and it may be different for you, but for me, the dark evenings make me yearn for funny stuff. So let's talk about some very funny people that are lining up to entertain you this week, starting with the wonderful Susie McCabe, who we've loved since we first saw her up at edfringe quite a few years back. Head to this page here to book your tickets.

Milo Edwards: Voicemail | Pleasance Theatre | 12 Oct
And more Edinburgh-connected stuff for you now, for this is a show that was on at the most recent edfringe and certainly got a thumbs up from our ThreeWeeks reviewer. You should probably expect this to be a fairly dark experience, as well as fast-paced and funny, as Edwards covers the fact that he hasn't had a voicemail in a while, and other things, of course. Get ye to the venue website here to book.

Christian Brighty: Playboy | Soho Theatre | 12-15 Oct (pictured)
"Lord Christian Brighty is the country's most notorious rake. He puts the bi in Byron, the don in hedonism, and the key in chastity belts. But when this saucy libertine falls for a Duchess, can he reform himself?" Another show that did rather well in the getting-great-reviews department at the 2022 edfringe, and might - I suppose - prove especially attractive to those of you who love both comedy and costume drama. Whoever you are, you will laugh. Click here.


MORE FESTIVAL RELATED THINGS>>

Out To Lunch | Rosemary Branch Theatre | 13-16 Oct
And from three shows with a connection to edfringe, to three more shows with a festival connection, though only two are to do with Edinburgh's festival. First up, 'Out To Lunch' - a new comedy about a humiliated restaurant critic who tries to save his career by writing a stinker of a review - which really went down a storm in the Scottish capital in the summer. For more information about it, and to book tickets, head this way.

Pauline | Pleasance Theatre | 11-15 Oct
This one also got rave reviews at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, including from our own reviewer, who gave it four stars and called it "funny as well as poignant". It's a solo show from Sophie Bentinck, which tells the story of three generations of women in one family, as well as charting its creator's journey in telling the story of "all of the women whose shoulders she stands on". Click here for all the details.

Change Tempo | Brixton House | 12-13 Oct (pictured)
Okay, this one is not an edfringe related tip, but is instead part of a festival going on right now at this very moment in London, the previously reported Dance Umbrella Festival. It's a triple bill of three dance pieces; Luiz de Abreu's 'O Samba Do Crioulo Doido'; 'BABAE' by Joy Alpuerto Ritter; and Linda Hayford's 'Shapeshifting'. There is lots more info about all three on the venue website right about here.


THEATRICAL TREATS>>

The Solid Life Of Sugar Water | Orange Tree Theatre | 15 Oct-12 Nov (pictured)
And now for three theatrical shows which - as far as I am yet aware - have no edfringe or other more general festival connections. Well, except that of course the first staging of this play by Jack Thorne happened at the Edinburgh Festival back in 2015 before transferring to the National Theatre. Anyway, it's a much acclaimed piece of work and this revival is directed by award winner Indiana Lown-Collins. More here.

Wipe These Tears | Camden People's Theatre | 11-22 Oct
This sounds interesting and important - a theatrical montage exploring imperial methods of crushing dissent that's the result of interviews with more than ninety people. Those people include survivors of war and torture from countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria and Palestine, as well as Guantanámo Bay; ex-service people deployed in the middle east and Africa; and many more. Read lots more about the show on the venue website here.

1797: The Mariner's Revenge | Old Royal Naval college | 13 Oct-12 Nov
And here's an interesting one. Well, I suppose they are all interesting or we wouldn't be tipping them. But this one has historical elements and I am a big fan of those. It's a site-specific show featuring sea shanties and puppetry set in the year 1797 (as you may already have gathered), which focuses on an injured mariner and a temperamental albatross… see this page here for info.


MORE INTERESTING EVENTS>>

Voices From Home | King's Head Theatre | 16-17 Oct
And three more treats for you of varying kinds, though largely theatrical. And guess what? This is another festival thing. Not festival-related, an actual festival! Of short plays and monologues by emerging writers from the south east, presented by Broken Silence Theatre in collaboration with Pistachio Theatre. We love new stuff, we love new writers and we love short plays and monologues. This may well be TW heaven! Click here.

Yellowman - on demand | Orange Tree Theatre | 11-14 Oct
We already recommended this show, actually, but that was back when it was happening as a live performance and now we are suggesting it as an at-home experience for those of you who didn't manage to make it along in-person. And to recap: It's the brilliant Dael Orlandersmith's 2002 Pulitzer nominated play, set in America's deep south in the 1960s, and it's rather good. More here.

The Last | The Space | 11-15 Oct (pictured)
Speaking of things you can see online, here's another, though you can also see this one in-person at The Space. It's a one-woman show based on Mary Shelley's novel 'The Last Man' - "Part sci-fi, part globe-trotting adventure story, part political manifesto for a better world". It's been adapted by Sam Chittenden, is performed by Amy Kidd, and it's going to be great. See the venue website here for info.
At TW:CULTURE we champion the best in fringe theatre, comedy and culture.

Year round, we pick the best shows happening in London and online each week, providing handy Three To See recommendations and interviewing the people behind those productions.

Plus each summer we also cover the biggest cultural event in the world: The Edinburgh Festival.


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