stage


GARDEN THEATRE FESTIVAL Holburne Museum, Bath Fri 29 July-Sat 13 Aug


Back in Bath for its second year, the Garden Theatre Festival launches at the end of July and runs for two weeks until mid-August. The opening evening brings something billed as “the chaotic cabaret cult”: smash Edinburgh Fringe show An Evening Without Kate Bush [pictured], by cabaret performer Sarah-Louise Young (Julie Madly Deeply, Young’s Julie Andrews- themed cabaret, is on in the Holburne Museum grounds earlier that day).


Joining again with Russell Lucas, whose one-man play The Bobby Kennedy Experience was directed by


Bush’s music hits the charts again thanks to Stranger Things.


Young, the compositions and fanbase of one of the most influential voices in British music is


explored here – coming as


Meanwhile, a company named Slapstic Picnic primes you for silliness, and in this case it comes


with “a HANDBAG”-full: a two-person production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Described as “hectic”, so banish any thoughts of Edith Evans and settle down in the grass for some organised chaos. It’s not all slapstick, mind: in Hero & Leander, Or, I Love You, But Everything’s Under Water, multi-instrumentalists take the ‘gig theatre’ route with a seaside- set selection of scenes and sea shanties.


With summer holidays in full swing, the festival will have plenty for younger types: Calf 2 Cow brings alive Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind In The Willows, with audience participation and music. And that’s just a selection of the Garden Theatre Festival – rest assured there’s plenty for everyone.


Tickets: prices vary per event. Info: gardentheatrefest.co.uk


AN INDIAN ABROAD The Riverfront, Newport Thurs 14 July


Pariah Khan is a professional wrestling manager, among the many strings to his bow; he’s also been highlighted as one of west England’s theatre and comedy ones to watch. His debut theatre show, An Indian Abroad, has previously toured the UK, selling out shows in Bristol, Birmingham, and London.


An Indian Abroad takes the trope of white adventurers exploring ‘foreign’ lands and spins it on its head, asking a question we didn’t realise needed answered: what if a student from India took a gap year to Britain?


Khan is Krishnan: a middle-class young man in India who, stifled by his caste, decides to travel to the UK, there to visit exotic locales such as Bradford, Birmingham and Bristol.


This one-man-show has received four-star reviews and Khan has gained praise for his comedy. When asked in an online interview to try to sum it up in three words, he called it “funny, honest, surprising”.


Tickets: £13.25/£11.25. Info: newportlive.co.uk CHRIS WILLIAMS


30


MERMARELLA – CINDERELLA OF THE


SEA Memo Arts Centre, Barry Wed 3 Aug


Tammy Faye once said “everybody loves puppets”, and Mermarella – Cinderella Of The Sea is a puppetry and shadow theatre show for just that. It brings together the millennia- old art of puppetry – shadow puppet theatre likely originated in the 1st millennium BCE – and the story we know as Cinderella, which had its beginnings in ancient Egypt.


The character of Mermarella is kidnapped and taken from the fresh- watered Nile into the salty sea of the Mediterranean. She looks for acceptance and love among those that envy her: does Mermarella really have to change who she is to achieve her desires, or will her difference and uniqueness inspire others to change for the better?


Indigo Moon Theatre’s productions use a variety of puppetry including stringed marionettes and rod- manipulated models, along with the aforementioned eastern style of shadow puppets. Entertainment foremost, they nevertheless tackle subjects such as the environment.


Tickets: £10. Info: memoartscentre.co.uk CHRIS WILLIAMS


A MOMENT Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, Thurs 7 July


Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Fri 15 + Sat 16 July


The AIDS epidemic was one of the worst health crises in living memory. Of the myriad differences between that and the ongoing COVID situation, perhaps the most significant is that a whole sector of society – gay men – were reviled in the public imagination.


This year is the 35th anniversary of Princess Diana’s visit to Britain’s first HIV/AIDS unit, an occasion dramatised in Bren Gosling’s 2018 play Moment Of Grace. Thomas Page Dances created A Moment in response to Gosling’s piece, looking to show how – if – things are different in the present, and the effect on the LGBT+ community.


Two performers, through the intimacy of contemporary dance, analyse the 1980s through the eyes of gay men, when a marginalised community was faced with phobia. The company itself says it best: “Those that have gone before have made it possible to say ‘HIV is no longer a death sentence’. This piece is dedicated to them.”


Tickets: £10/£8.50 (Milford Haven); £10-£15 (Cardiff). Info: torchtheatre.co.uk / chapter. org


CHRIS WILLIAMS


A PRETTY SH*TTY LOVE Theatr Clwyd, Mold Fri 8-Sat 23 July


In 2016, Stacey Gwilliam survived an attempt on her life in which she was buried alive by her boyfriend. Gwilliam dug herself out with her fingernails and survived – but, as a consequence of long-term health conditions resulting from the incident, died last November. A Pretty Sh*tty Love is a new work by playwright Katherine Chandler, based on that nightmare true story.


Hayley wanted to fall in love, but she wasn’t that lucky where men were concerned. Then she met Carl: could he be different from the others? Unfortunately, as we clearly know, he was not.


Chandler has garnered previous praise for her serious works based on real events – her last work was Lose Yourself, three interconnected monologues following two footballers and one young woman who meet on a boozy night out.


Although this work has dark themes, and comes with content warnings accordingly, the play is about the strength of a woman.


Tickets: £10-£28. Info: theatrclwyd.com CHRIS WILLIAMS


Jennis Scott


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