Review

Possessing the rich, black humour of a Joe Orton play, Blink.Theatre's Mr Kolpert leaves an indelible mark on the imagination. Directed by Lotte Ruth Johnson, the play can be described as a farcial version of Abigail's Party, with two couples involved in all sorts of antics – all stemming from a 'joke' about a dead body (the eponymous Mr Kolpert) in a trunk in the middle of the room.

While Blink.Theatre has female directors overseeing the double bill playing at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre at the moment, the two plays couldn't be more different in tone from each other. Chaser, the first play (written by by Howard Thompson and directed by Sinead O'Callaghan) can be described as a cross between Frank Marcus' The Window and William Wharton's Birdy.

Saucy Jack & The Space Vixens. What's that you say? What is it? One way of putting it is The Rocky Horror Show set in space. To its devotees, it is a guaranteed good night out, merging glitter and innuendos aplenty with disco-inspired tunes.

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one minute old
I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely made from love
Stevie Wonder, Isn't She Lovely (song about his newborn daughter).

Outside of Schiller and Goethe, German playwrights (from pre-20th century) don't tend to receive as much coverage on the UK stage as they could do. Bearing this in mind, theatre company Ottisdotter have taken the inspired step of producing the 18th century tragedy by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing,  Emilia Galotti.

And it was only when I began to feel actual, physical pain every time you left the room that it finally dawned on me: I was in love, for the first time in my life. I knew it was hopeless, but that didn't matter to me. And it's not that I want to have you. All I want is to deserve you. Tell me what to do. Show me how to behave. I'll do anything you say.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Female-led new writing nights are becoming a less of an uncommon event on London's fringe theatre scene. However, the one thing that they have in common is the submissions are often from women from many different backgrounds, who don't necessarily know each other at all. LEMAD (an acronym of Liz Mead, Elizabeth Rutherford-Johnson, Mari Lloyd, Mary Ann Pashigian and Daphne Peña) are alumni of the John Burgess playwriting course and between them have clocked up a considerable amount of writing experience over the years. Love Lies – an evening of short plays of their own devising – covers a broad range of topics, often staying well clear of the tropes we usually find in plays about relationships.

The Network of Independent Critics has selected 21 experienced performance critics including our own Michael Davis - Female Arts London Editor, from an international applicant pool to come to Edinburgh Festival Fringe for a one week stay in subsidized housing. The campaign to cover their accommodation costs has been launched via IndieGoGo https://igg.me/at/NICritics.

Disappointing that the new season announced at the Park Theatre only has 1 female writer and 1 female director out of 11 plays

"You weren't in a witch hunt, because there are no such thing as witches. But there are people like you around."
Wife, Witch Hunt by Ben Worth.