Krapp 39 and All I Want for Christmas: Two lives, poorly lived

Lawrence has thrown away his life, counting down the days until he is the right ages, 39 and 69, to take the leads in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. Spending his days wandering between psychotherapeutic whinges, snuffing out birthday candles by sucking the light into the pit of his existence. Today, a year shy of forty, he is finally ready to be Krapp.

Next! Kiki Kendrick Can't Get Arrested

Blasted, A Moment of Silence

THE HOLY GRAIL is the holy grail of knights on a grail quest. The rest of us are just trying to get by. To those living in a world of perpetual gloom and despair the dream is often just to see tomorrow.

For some, it’s to not have to see another tomorrow, an altogether darker quest, yet whether it’s because there is no such thing as tomorrow, or due to fear, or to a very subtle kind of courage, the sun usually rises again. A kernel of optimism, of fantasy, a skewed logic involving statistics and karma keeps everybody going. We’re all on a grail quest. It’s just a matter of personal scale.

Deadwood on the Thames

Dalston's Arcola Theatre forced out by luxury flats

Dalston’s Arcola Theatre is moving because the landlord wants to convert the building to high-end flats. Artistic director Mehmet Ergen told the Stage “We were trying to negotiate to stay at the Arcola Street premises, but the landlords are moving very fast with wanting to put flats on top, so they gave us our notice and we need to leave by this Christmas. We’re creating a new space, we’re not just using it as it is. We’re taking the floor out to make a much higher ceiling and a much-improved main space. It will be a big step up for the Arcola.”

Arcola plans to move up the street to the Hackney council-owned Colourworks building. But it won’t be cheap – the theatre needs £150,000 for the move.

Arcola theatre appeal

Foxed by Vixens

Hindle is entranced by the Eastend Cabaret

The Pope’s Wedding: don’t mention the war

Messrs Comedy. They got the mess part right

Slow Burners and Hot Lights

Mum is seeing a fellah. Daughter is steadily dropping out of life, disappearing before her mother’s eyes. Brother is on a path to a bad end. And mum’s fellah may or may not be a monster.

Visits, by Jon Fosse, is a dark, slooooow burner, with moments of revelation hidden behind other moments of misdirection. Characters take forever to say anything, building pressure like a percolator, but never letting the steam escape.

When I first entered the main stage space Theatre Delicatessen has created at the former Uzbekistan Airways building I immediately thought, This place needs a Scandinavian play! I hadn’t then realised I was about to see one. The setting is perfect. Dark wood panels and shelving, peeling walls scraped away and replaced with corrugated translucent plastic sheeting, behind which we see backlit silhouettes acting as both memories and intimations of impending danger. Characters walk out of the space, out of sight, and their voices bouncing around the corridors, creating additional distance and disconnection.

The final round of Camden Fringe Festiva review. What a great year