Theatre review: Plastic Figurines

Walking in to the sound of Sad Piano Music^TM isn't the most auspicious of starts but it all gets better from there in Ella Carmen Greenhill's simple but striking Plastic Figurines. Rose (Remmie Milner) had moved to Edinburgh to start a new life for herself, but when their mother died of leukaemia, she had to return to Manchester to look after her autistic brother Mikey (Jamie Samuel.) The play opens on his 18th birthday but is told out of order, flashing back to their visits to their mother in hospital, the hopes for her recovery and eventually her funeral, and forward to a time when Mikey himself is in hospital for reasons that aren't initially made clear. Other than that this isn't an eventful play but more of a character study of both Mikey and his autism, and his relationship with the sister who's given up a lot for him - but genuinely doesn't appear to feel she's a martyr for it.

Re-review: Jumpers for Goalposts

If Jumpers for Goalposts was worth travelling all the way to Watford for when if first opened - you can read a brief synopsis in my original review here - Shepherds Bush is certainly not too far to go for a repeat visit, as Tom Wells' play arrives in London triumphant after a national tour. I've been recommending this play left right and centre (forward) since I heard it would be coming to the Bush, and it seems I've not been the only one because the run had almost sold out and been extended long before performances here even started. If you weren't one of the people who took that advice the first time round, get in there quick now while there's a few dates still available, because a repeat visit only confirms what a little gem of a show this is, and a more intimate space only improves the experience.

Theatre review: Jumpers for Goalposts

Andy Rush must have really impressed the creatives on The Kitchen Sink - he's barely out of Hello/Goodbye, helmed by that show's director Tamara Harvey, when he crops up in writer Tom Wells' latest play. Watford, where Jumpers for Goalposts premieres for Paines Plough with the intention of subsequently touring, is further than I like to travel for theatre but Wells' past work's been so good I was tempted to make the trip even before other bloggers insisted I must. Set around a gay and lesbian five-a-side football tournament (soccer to Americans and other aliens) it follows a team whose self-deprecating name, Barely Athletic, conceals a rabid desire to win - at least on the part of head coach and team captain Viv (Vivienne Gibbs.) The manager of a local gay pub, Viv has put a team together from a couple of regulars; and as her sister has recently died, she's also recruited as "token straight" her brother-in-law Joe (Matt Sutton,) in the hope that the distraction will help him cope.