Shows at Zoo

PreScribed (A Life Written for Me)

Prescribed (A Life Written For Me) by performance artist Viv Gordon opens a window for us to peer into the claustrophobically grim life of a GP working at an NHS practice today.

Celebration

The central aim of Celebration is “to give anyone who can’t quite believe the world they live in something to believe in” which is a brilliant intention and starting point but …

Anyone's Guess How We Got Here

Barrel Organ’s new show Anyone’s Guess How We Got Here feels like a natural development of the company’s practice and philosophy whilst also managing to delve into a very dif…

Five Encounters on a Site Called Craigslist

Review
★
Yasmin Duggal
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Zoo
10th Aug, 2017

After an hour of a narcissistic one man show, we were left with the dilemma of whether to applaud the honesty of Sam, or be totally appalled by the stark exposure of his personalit…

War Pig

French theatre group Le Festin de Saturne deliver a wild and engaging clown show, War Pig, following the adventures of young Private Juan and Captain Fidel Castra off to war.

The F Word

It’s a rainy day in Edinburgh and I’m not in the mood for a My Sister’s Keeper type of cancer play.

Scribbles

There was something strangely liberating about taking the dark topic of alcoholism and giving it absolutely no reverence.

The Concrete Jungle Book

It is often difficult to adapt such well-known, childhood tales into innovative experiences for an audience.

You, Me and Everything Else

Those of a certain age will remember the heart bruising joy of creating a mix tape for a loved one.

A Hunger Artist (Kafka Adaptation)

Inspired by a Kafka story, writer Josh Luxenberg and Brooklyn-based Sinking Ship have created a weird and wonderful piece of theatre in A Hunger Artist (Kafka Adaptation).

Shoko Seki: Deadline

Shoko Seki: Deadline is a part-choreographed, part-improvised solo dance piece that explores the Japanese phenomenon of Karuoshi; Seki stressfully dances through the various stages…

Origins

Animikii Theatre’s Origins is an intriguing piece of physical theatre that isn’t afraid to be subtle with it’s plot.

Alice – Underground Lives My Buried Mind (Deflowering Lewis Carroll's Script)

Physical theatre can always lend itself to a degree of interpretation, and inevitably the risk of confusion.

How to Drown a Fish

Grace Gibson parades awkwardly across the stage in her brightly coloured leotards, she is about to share with us her experience of public failure, inviting us to revel in that mome…

What Lies Beneath

What Lies Beneath is a semi-absurdist exploration into male grief, observing how it plays out in our minds and affects those close to us.

(FEAR)

(FEAR) grabs your attention as soon as you enter the venue.

Things We Find in the Dark

Sam is scared of the dark.

Help!

If you’ve ever wondered what having a mental-health issue feels like then head down to Help!.

Peer Gynt

With humble beginnings as an idle farm lad, the eponymous hero of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt is chastised by his mother for wasting his time on earth dreaming of greatness - to whi…

Walls

It begins with a simple yet beautifully plucked tune followed by eerie voices echoing out until they fill the room.

Child’s Play

Child’s Play begins with the tidying away of props and banners at the end of an organised demonstration; in the meantime, characters exchange strident opinions on how frustrating…

Macbeth: Without Words

Macbeth: Without Words is an abstract and aesthetically pleasing piece, rich in tension.

Macbeth

Fortitude Dance company’s attempt to stage a ‘physical theatre’ version of Shakespeare’s bloody Scottish tragedy in the club scene of 1980’s Manchester is certainly a nov…

James and the Giant Peach

UCLU Runaground’s James and the Giant Peach is a fresh, fun and frantic adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic.

Finders Keepers

Hot Coals Theatre have put together a slick physical comedy, full of beat-perfect gags leaving you laughing out loud at the flick of an eyebrow, whilst some of the more grotesqu…

On Ego by Mick Gordon

Many theatre companies oversell their wares with outrageous hyperbole.

Three for Two by Phil Booth

We all have our price.

Fraxi Queen of the Forest

Some stupid adults, having forgotten what it’s actually like to be children, are often surprised, disturbed and horrified by the serious issues lurking in the heart of the most s…

Partial Nudity

This might only be Partial Nudity, but it’s a full-on piece from writer/director Emily Layton and actors Kate Franz and Joe Layton.

Machina

In the prologue to Malcostume Compagnia Teatrale’s show Machina, the company explains that the word ‘machina’ roughly translates to machine or structure and the company’s n…

Daniel

Your best friend from school has been arrested for having a collection of child pornography on his laptop.

I, Who Have Hands More Innocent

Vesna Tominac Matacic’s adaptation of the works of Croatian poet Vesna Parun is an impassioned and beautiful spectacle that somehow still manages to feel lacking in substance.

I Keep a Woman in My Flat Chained to a Radiator

I Keep a Woman in My Flat Chained to a Radiator.

Echoes

Neil Smith’s latest play begins as a domestic drama, but spirals uncontrollably into a claustrophobic nightmare of violence.

Shaedates: or How I Learned to Love Myself

Shaedates is a show about finding yourself – quite literally.

Ash

Ash is a devised piece by a group of Lecoq-trained graduates about the nicotine addiction of a Yorkshireman and his friends and family.

Image – Selfie With Eggs

Towards the beginning of Image - Selfie with Eggs, gymnast Natalie Reckert describes herself as a ‘handstand machine’ and calmly guides us through the component ‘stability points’ …

Raymondo

Raymondo and his little brother Sparky have been trapped in a cellar for six years.

I Loved You and I Loved You

If Morfydd Owen had lived three weeks longer she would have been immortalised in the 27 Club.

Open

Taking place in the greatest of British institutions — a chip shop — on election night, Open is a devised work by the student-run Nottingham New Theatre.

Smother

201 Dance Company’s Smother sets out to do something very exciting.

Diary of a Madman

Nikolai Gogol’s short story, formed of a series of diary entries, charts the descent into madness of an ordinary civil servant, whose observations on the power-holders within his…

1972: The Future of Sex

Following The Wardrobe Ensemble’s previous creations, including the depicted opening of a Swedish furniture store (RIOT) and an account of the Chilean Mining Accident of 2010 (33…

Da-Da-Darling

This evocative dance performance is as notable for the process by which it was made as it is for the quality of the final product.

FEAST

Clout Theatre prove themselves to be and provocative theatre makers in their new piece FEAST by challenging theatrical conventions as well as ignoring the age old advice not to pla…

The Jabberwocky

In this marvellous production from UCLU Runaground, the creatures from Lewis Carroll’s classic poem become metaphors for the inner demons a young boy must fight as he learns to c…

Miss Sarah

Someone has gone missing.

Parlour Games

Parlour Games is a playful piece of physical theatre inspired by silent films and gothic novels.

To Kill a Machine

Performed by a superb cast, this is a painful and tragic exploration of Alan Turing’s life and the many attempts to break him as a person.

I Got Dressed in Front of My Nephew Today

Don’t wear make up to this show.

Leftovers

Leftovers follows the story of a young woman Elizabeth and her tragic experiences of the break-out of war.

This Much (or An Act of Violence Towards the Institution of Marriage)

This Much (or An Act of Violence Towards the Institution of Marriage), despite its lengthy title, is a fast-paced, intense and powerful piece of new writing, filled with intriguing…

The Dream Sequentialists

The Dream Sequentialists is a show about dream goblins.

Souvenirs

Ashley (Ellice Stevens) has just moved to a new town.

Chopin's Last Tour

Phillip Aughey’s favourite composer is the great pianist Frédéric Chopin and, having been present at a number of recitals of his work last year, he has been motivated to create…

Cheque Please

Cheque Please centres on Ivy, who describes herself as a high-functioning depressive, as she endures her job as a waitress with a boss who is constantly threatening dismissal.

Government Inspector

In this production of Nikolai Gogol’s satirical masterpiece, Sedos, ‘The City of London’s premier amateur theatre company,’ have forwarded the action a hundred years to 1…

Supposed to Be Seen

Review
★★
Thea Hawlin
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Zoo
14th Aug, 2014

‘But how does this game work?’ asks one of the two women on stage before us.

Six Billion Suns

Alzheimer’s is a disease close to the hearts of many people, as it affects so many of such a wide variety of ages, cultures and societies.

Boosters

Boosters is a one-woman show documenting individuals’ various experiences with the prison system.

Queen B

The older-man-meets-younger-girl premise might have been done - and done well - with An Education, but with its delicate narrative, Nottingham New Theatre’s Queen B shows that …

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

How to put on an adaptation of the immortal Spanish classic in sixty minutes while doing it justice? Stephen Harper, MercE Ribot, and Patricia Rodriguez select some of the most fam…

Icarus

The Mars One Foundation plans to establish a human settlement on Mars by 2024.

Sophie Willan: Novice Detective

Sophie Willian: Novice Detective is a stand up show homage to daytime TV detective programmes like Murder She Wrote and Poirot and when focused on these it’s about as good as you…