EMERGING VOICES (Sandhill Theater Company/Thornhill Theatre Space)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/thornhill-theatre/audio-fringe-ttsfringe2-IgbFPcUSyOZ

Available until: Unknown

Emerging Voices is a collection of eight short plays by students from the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, presented by Thornhill Theatre Space as part of #TTSFringe2. The plays were written when the students were in the 10^th-12th grades. If you’re in England or Wales, that’s Years 11-13 and if you’re in Scotland, that’s S4-S6. I’m in Year 10 and it is amazing to think some of these writers are only one year older than me, but they are already able to write really mature plays.

A WHITE WHALE, OR: MOBY DICK (Thornhill Theatre Space/A Theater in the Dark)*****

 

By Jack

Link: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/thornhill-theatre/audio-fringe-ttsfringe2-a-RcL5D1ZVQ-s/

Available until: Unknown

I’ll listen to anything with Dick in the title. Especially if there’s a chance of people getting eaten by something other than zombies. But I wouldn’t give five stars based on that. It has to have other good bits in too and I’m not just talking about rude stuff.

I’ll try to keep it fairly serious in this review. I don’t want to cause offence. It’s fun to joke around a bit but the most important thing to get across is that A Theater in the Dark worked really hard on this project so I don’t want to show disrespect.

LITTLE SHIPS (Thornhill Theatre Space)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/thornhill-theatre/audio-fringe-ttsfringe2-K7gxudr84GU/

Available until: Unknown

Little Ships is a lovely new musical about a family in wartime. It is one of the audio dramas in Thornhill Theatre Space’s second fringe festival, #TTSFringe2.

It might be quite difficult to stage because some of it is set on the sea, but it works very well as an audio drama and it is very clear what is happening. It is set in the 1940s in wartime, but it’s very different from a lot of wartime stories I’ve read and listened to. Although a lot of bad and sometimes scary things happen, it is generally written in a lighter style with lots of happiness and love.

LYDIA (The Space/Chalk Roots Theatre/BonaFide Studio)****

  

By Cal

Link: https://space.org.uk/event/lydia

Available until: One more performance on 23^rd May at 7.30pm

Growing up is an interesting process. We all have to do it at some stage. We’re usually a bit too anxious to get there and when we finally do, we often change our minds and want to be a kid again. We tend to assume grown-ups know everything and then we’re either disappointed with them when we find out they don’t, or we’re thrown into chaos when we hit eighteen and realise we still don’t know everything. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, and yet we get very little choice in the matter.

THE GIANT PACIFIC OCTUPUS MARITIME SCHOOL (Forty-Five North/Ellie Keel Productions)****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.forty-fivenorth.com/the-giant-pacific-octopus-maratime-school

Available until: Unknown

A lot of people wonder what might happen if it wasn’t possible to live on Earth anymore. The usual solution which people come up with is that we should all get into a spaceship and find another planet to live on but The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School has another idea. We should all go and live underwater.

TENNIS ELBOW (Pitlochry Festival Theatre/Naked Productions/Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh/Sound Stage)**

 

By Cal

Link: https://lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/tennis-elbow

Available until: Livestream on Saturday 8^th May at 7pm.

Tennis Elbow was written by the acclaimed Scottish playwright John Byrne, some thirteen years after what many probably believed to be his last play. It is a sort of sequel or companion piece to another play what he wrote (bad grammar intentional), Writer’s Cramp.

GEORGE (Gate Generations/Gate Theatre)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.gatetheatre.co.uk/gate-generations

Available until: Unknown

Gate Generations is a series of short works inspired by past Gate Theatre productions. George is based on Down and out in Paris and London, which is by George Orwell.  A stage adaptation by Lou Stein was performed at the Gate Theatre in 1979.

A PASSION PLAY (Written on the Waves/Forty-Five North)****

  

By Cal

Link: https://soundcloud.com/user-538797665/a-passion-play 

Available until: Unknown

A Passion Play is the story of two girls in Cork in 2015. The title refers to the fact they’re putting on a passion play at their local church, but perhaps one of the girls is starting to feel a passion for the other. Or perhaps they both are.

SUSAN, BILL AND THE FORGOTTEN PROMISE (Red River Theatre)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npQLouHZjUA 

Available until: Unknown

A lot of people wonder what will happen to their favourite fictional characters after the end of the book. That’s why a lot of people like to write fanfiction. Some people look down on fanfiction a bit because people aren’t creating their own characters, but I think the ability to write someone else’s characters shows a different kind of creativity because they are able to use their imaginations within someone else’s limits. It’s also a compliment to the original book that we are still thinking about what happens to the characters long after we read the last page.

THE FISHERMEN (New Perspectives/Radio 3)***

 

By Cal 

Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sqxq 

Available until: 4^th May 2021

The radio play The Fishermen is based on the play of that name by Gbolahan Obisesan which is based on the book of that name by Chigozie Obioma. The play was staged by New Perspectives Theatre Company and then had a run in London at the Trafalgar Studios. Recently, the cast was reunited and a new production was produced for Radio 3. I understand some changes were made for the radio audience, but these were minimal and I think they were made more to clarify the story rather than to alter it.

ANGELA (Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh/Sound Stage/Pitlochry Festival Theatre/Naked Productions)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/angela 

Available until: Final performance Friday 2^nd April, 7pm

Angela is a very sad play in lots of ways but it’s also a really happy and beautiful play. It’s a celebration of a person and how amazing she was.

It is written by Mark Ravenhill and it’s about his mum Angela. Her parents called her Rita but she felt much more like an Angela. It’s really lovely the way most people call her Angela after she explains. I’m very lucky because my parents called me Megan and I feel like a Megan but sometimes the name you are given feels wrong.

LEM & GINGE: THE PRINCESS OF KAKOS (Written on the Waves/Forty-Five North)***

 

By Emma

Link: https://www.forty-fivenorth.com/lem-n-ginge-the-princess-of-kakos

Available until: Unknown

Lem & Ginge: The Princess of Kakos is an audio comedy in four parts. It’s about two actors who are looking for some stage work. I’m sure most stage actors can relate to this at the moment. Camping in a field is cheaper than a Travelodge and it’s while they’re in this field that they discover the Princess of Kakos has a big problem.

THE YOU PLAY (Written on the Waves/Forty-Five North)****

  

By Aashiq 

 

Link: https://soundcloud.com/user-538797665/the-you-play 

 

Text version: https://www.forty-fivenorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/The_You_Play_small_acts.pdf

Available until: Unknown 

 

Content warning: If you have mental health problems, it’s possible that some of the things they ask you to do might trigger you. I wasn’t too happy about being told something was my fault and when I was asked to think of slicing something with a knife, I thought about self-harming. I didn’t do it, but you might want to be a bit careful.

 

The You Play is a play all about me. You have to listen and do as you’re told (two things I’ve never been very good at) and it tells you what you’re feeling and what’s happened to you and what’s happening to you right now. It’s actually really freaky. A lot of the things weren’t true for me, but I got so into it, I believed them! 

 

LOSS & HOPE: THE GIFT (Forty-Five North)***

  

By Emma 

Link: https://www.forty-fivenorth.com/loss-hope-the-gift 

Available until: Unknown

I think The Gift is one of those plays that seem really simple on the surface, though they are lovely but there’s a deeper meaning underneath.

ON THE THRONE (Echo Chamber)*****

  

By Jack

Link: https://soundcloud.com/user-835875735-970582305/on-the-throne-a-short-audio-play 

Available until: Unknown

Not everyone will go for this. The throne isn’t exactly a monarch’s throne. It’s the throne in the bathroom. There are a few noises but mostly just flushing. If you don’t like noises you might not like this and you don’t have to listen. But before you give up on it… why don’t you want to listen?

PUFFINS (Southwark Elders Company/Southwark Playhouse)***

 

By Dave

Link: https://soundcloud.com/southwarkplayhouse/puffins-by-sophie-ellerby

Available until: Unknown

Puffins is all about regrets. You don’t go through life without amassing a few of them and it’s often when you reach an ending of some sort that you look back on these regrets and wish you’d done things a bit differently.

LOSS & HOPE: THIS IS A MAN (Forty-Five North)***

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.forty-fivenorth.com/loss-hope-this-is-a-man 

Available until: Unknown

Content warning: Terminal illness, animal cruelty, violence

This is a Man is all about being a man. What’s expected of you and what’s not expected. What’s allowed and what’s just wrong.

There is tragedy in this story. The main character, Greg, loses someone and it’s really sad, but he’s also forced to lose a part of himself. He’s a man – actually, he’s only a boy, but he’s still a man. He’s not supposed to have emotions. He’s just expected to get on it.

LOSS & HOPE: WE HAVE SINNED (Forty-Five North)*****

 

 By Louise

Link: https://www.forty-fivenorth.com/loss-hope-we-have-sinned 

Available until: Unknown

We have Sinned is the first in a series of three plays in the Loss & Hope Series. They are all short audio plays, but I haven’t listened to the others so I’m not sure if there’s a common theme.

We Have Sinned is about a fifteen year old girl called Esther who goes to an all-girls Catholic school. She wants to be good, but she can’t help getting into trouble so she usually has quite a lot to say when she goes to Confession.

TIME LAPSE (Southwark Elders Company/Southwark Playhouse)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://soundcloud.com/southwarkplayhouse/time-lapse-by-stewart-melto 

Available until: Unknown

Time Lapse is the story of four sisters – Lucy, Angela, Minnie and Sophie. They’re very close. But they’re not all still alive. One of them has died.

The others are sad. Of course they are. They miss their sister. But they also don’t want to suffer as she did. They don’t want to die.

RED TIDE (Southwark Elders Company/Southwark Playhouse)****

 

By Tommy 

Link: https://soundcloud.com/southwarkplayhouse/red-tide-by-justina-kehinde 

Available until: Unknown

Southwark Playhouse’s Plays For Today series, which I believe is written and performed by members of the Southwark Elders Company, has encompassed a wide variety of subjects. Although there has been a strong focus on family relationships, the stories told have been very different.