∞ {Infinite}
© Tom Visser
My Theatre Confidences 🤫
∞ {Infinite} by HUMANHOOD
Sadler’s Wells East till 15 February
Experiencing INFINITE by Humanhood was like embarking on a profound journey—a mesmerizing blend of movement and meditation that transcended the typical dance performance. The company's unique fusion of contemporary dance, martial arts, and shamanic practices created an atmosphere that felt both instinctual and otherworldly. The dancers didn't merely perform; they seemed to channel a universal energy, moving with a fluidity and precision that was both captivating and deeply moving.
The production delved into expansive themes of space, time, and the dissolution of the self, inviting the audience to explore the concept of infinity within and around us. The choreography was complemented by atmospheric lighting and a resonant soundscape, enhancing the immersive experience. What stood out to me was the accessibility of the performance; Humanhood's approach stripped away any sense of elitism often associated with contemporary dance, welcoming everyone into this shared spiritual journey. There was no pressure to intellectually dissect the performance—only an invitation to feel and experience it.
Credit: Tom Visser
On a personal level, INFINITE resonated deeply with the current societal pressures we face. In an age where we're constantly bombarded with information and driven by a relentless pursuit of success, the performance served as a much-needed antidote. It encouraged a release from the incessant mental noise, offering a space to reconnect with deeper, more essential rhythms that align with nature and the cosmos. For a brief moment, the overwhelming demands of modern life faded, replaced by a sense of “stillness” and unity. It was a powerful reminder of the importance of pausing, reflecting, and embracing the infinite possibilities within ourselves.
Credit: Tom Visser
A quick note on my reflections on the shows I see:
Let’s be clear: you won’t find the typical “review” on my page. I don’t buy into the so-called objectivity of mainstream theatre criticism; it’s outdated and protects toxic power structures while sidelining marginalised voices. I’m not objective, and I’m proud of it. I’ve got my own lenses. My reflections are personal, shaped by my lived experiences and values. I share what moved me, what challenged me, and what’s worth talking about; not ticking boxes or handing out stars.
And no, I’m not going to describe the whole plot or list every onstage moment; I find that mind-numbingly boring, both to write and to read.
Giuliano x
My Way of Looking at Theatre
You know, the more I think about it, the clearer it becomes that traditional theatre criticism has often been a tool for maintaining existing power structures.
It’s time to drop the privileged fancy talk around theatre and break free from star ratings.
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Noël Coward Theatre till 5 September
This new production by the Royal Shakespeare Company brings fresh charge to this famous story of love, shame and impossible honesty.
A story about how shame teaches us to disappear in plain sight, and how hard it can be to believe we deserve love without becoming someone else first.
Young Vic till 18 July
Set inside an archive of women failed by justice, this play follows Ash, arriving hungover and chaotic on her first day working with Lily to catalogue historic witchcraft cases.
This play digs into the rotten logic of a society that keeps finding new ways to make women’s fear look irrational. Inside a room full of witchcraft archives, the past breathes through the present, exposing how control can hide inside intimacy and how institutions turn disbelief into policy.
Theatre503, 2-25 July
Spanning decades, dreamscapes and a shimmering afterworld, this play follows Tâm, a Vietnamese daughter trying to understand the silences that shaped her family.
Katie Đỗ’s play asks what daughters inherit from their mothers, what gets lost between generations, and whether art can become a place where the impossible conversation finally happens.
Arcola Theatre, 23-27 June
Shifting between the Kurdish mountains and the corridors of British diplomacy, this urgent political drama asks what governments are really for when human lives are on the line, and how moral conviction can cut through bureaucracy in the fight to prevent genocide.
Sadler’s Wells East, 2 - 4 July
A joyful, high-energy celebration of a legendary night out. A mix of club characters (from influencers to first-timers) come alive through breaking, waacking, house and vogue.
Fun, physical and full of personality, it’s a show where self-expression takes over and the dancing beautifully tells the story.
Pleasance Theatre, 3 - 11 July
A climate-activist drag group finally gets a major corporate sponsor and a glamorous new star. However, the promise of real money starts to ruin their friendships.
This backstage drama mixes original songs with cleverly rewritten Broadway hits to show what happens when grassroots activism clashes with corporate greed.
Southbank Centre, 25-27 June
This riveting, hypnotic dance work brings fifty performers together as one restless force, exploring the tension between the individual and the collective. Bodies gather, split, ripple and shift, showing how one gesture can transform the whole pattern.
A powerful reflection on movement, responsibility and the political force of coming together.
Soho Theatre until 3 July
A working-class Scouser lands at Cambridge University and comes up against a world where class shows up in everything: accent, clothes, confidence, manners, and who gets to belong without trying.
Funny, biting and a little painful under the skin, the play gets at the exhausting labour of fitting in, code-switching, and making yourself legible inside rooms that were never built for you.
Open Air Theatre, until 11 - 14 June
Vivaldi’s masterpiece reimagined in an electric new dance work.
Three Friends. One Life. Four Seasons.
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An audacious evening of contemporary dance set to an electric re-working of one of the world’s musical masterpieces.
Leeds Playhouse, until 17 - 20 June
A brilliant play by Mohamed-Zain Dada that exposes the institutional trap of a media machine that loves to consume marginalized stories, but only when they’re drenched in trauma and stereotypes.
The story follows Jihad, an aspiring British Pakistani journalist trying to document the unfiltered joy and brotherhood of his local shisha lounge.
It’s a biting critique of a capitalist industry that profits from fear while demanding we sell out our own communities.
Southwark Playhouse, until 13 June
A virus has wiped out the world. Cities lie abandoned. The undead roam. Deep beneath Seoul, one survivor hides in a bunker, alone with their thoughts. But The Last Man is about far more than the apocalypse.
This gripping one-person rock musical explores loneliness, memory, grief, and the human need for connection.
Southbank Centre, 4-6 June
The show brings together The Ruggeds and Amsterdam’s Ghetto Funk Collective for a night of funk, soul, hip-hop and house charged with rhythm, sweat and belonging.
Drawing on the energy of the 60s and 70s, when house parties became intimate engine rooms for musical innovation and community, the show celebrates groove as something deeply social: music moving through bodies, rooms and histories.
Southwark, until 30 May
A dark, gripping thriller about Heather and Carla, two women who knew each other at school and meet again years later with years of buried pain between them.
Through these two women, the play digs into how girls are taught to wound each other, how class and gender shape their choices, and how trauma follows women into adulthood.
Sadler’s Wells East, 28 - 30 May
A museum closes, and the objects behind glass begin to wake. They stir with memory, ancestry and power, pulling us into a living forest.
Through dance and puppetry, this magical journey asks urgent questions about museums, colonial histories, ownership, and who gets to tell the story of displayed culture today.
Southbank Centre, 15 & 16 May
A visually stunning, gently bonkers performance set in a post-human world where the only survivors are five scarecrows trying to keep going after ecological collapse. Instead of turning climate anxiety into a heavy lecture, it approaches the crisis through humour, tenderness, music and strange communal rituals.
Young Vic, until 11 July
Step behind the closed doors of an underfunded elder care facility to witness a devastatingly honest exposure of our broken care system. Crackling with messy, interrupted dialogue and dark humor, this unforgettable story sounds a heartbreaking alarm bell about how we treat our most vulnerable.
Theatro Technis, 7 May - 6 June
A razor-sharp backstage drama set in a 1983 British theatre dressing room. When fading Hollywood heartthrob Omar Sharif clashes with Mag, a fiery, half-Lebanese Assistant Director, polite theatrical banter detonates into a fierce battle over race, fame, and assimilation.
Brighton Dome, until 5 May
Translated amidst modern protests for racial justice, the play is an atmospheric, brooding dive into the psychology of resistance. It forces audiences to weigh the "moral cost" of liberation and ask: how far is too far when a broken system completely denies your basic rights?
Pleasance Theatre, until 9 May
A gloriously silly comedy that takes us back to school, where Sam Wilson from Class 8C is running for Head Boy, and he’s got the PowerPoint presentation to prove he deserves it. Expect playground politics, school disco drama, World Book Day energy and the kind of tiny disasters that felt absolutely life-changing when you were 12.