HYMN (Almeida Theatre)*****

By Cal

Link: https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/hymn-live-stream/17-feb-2021-20-feb-2021

Available until: There will be livestreams at 8pm every night until Saturday 20^th February. There is also a 3pm matinée on 20^th February and an extra performance on Sunday 21^st at 5pm. There are a limited number of tickets available for each performance to ensure a high-quality stream.

You can form a connection with another person in the strangest places. Sometimes it is literally a matter of seconds. My (adoptive) gran once saw a poem she loved in a bus stop (I’m guessing it was on the wall). A man came into the bus stop. He looked at the poem and they shared a glance. No words were exchanged, but she knew he loved that poem, just like she did. She knew he’d recognised that she loved it too.

GHOSTS (Almeida Theatre/Trafalgar Studios/Digital Theatre)****

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://www.digitaltheatre.com/consumer/production/ghosts Rent for £7.99 or sign up for monthly subscription

Available until: Unknown

I used to love this play. I loved Henrik Ibsen’s presentation of mental health problems. I thought Oswald had some sort of neurological problem that affected his mental health and eventually led to insanity. Then I grew up a bit and realised that the play was actually about venereal disease and that the neurological problems were a result of the physical problems, and the mental health problems were what anyone would feel in that situation. So I went off it a little bit, not so much because of the subject matter but because it wasn’t the play I thought it was. I loved the idea of the ‘worm-eaten’ mind. That is exactly how mental health can be. Negative thoughts burrow their way into your brain and eat it from the inside out… actually, I won’t continue this totally gross metaphor, but I’m sure you get the idea.

ALBION (Almeida Theatre)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000lwgy/albion

Available until: Tuesday 15^th September

Albion is a brilliant, thought-provoking and very sad play which I probably don’t understand completely in all its layers, but which I would definitely consider watching on iPlayer again if I have time. Or seeing live onstage if it is revived after the theatres open, though it seems unlikely considering Albion has been presented twice since 2017 and so many planned theatre productions have been postponed – and perhaps might never happen.