benwhybrow

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Kyoto - Good Chance/RSC

Best new play/production I've seen at the RSC in decades. Jorge Bosch is a beautiful actor. Startling, hopeful work.

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Clive Judd makes theatre that takes your breath away; is there a better director of solo plays around? Not enough to be an award winning playwright and acclaimed director, he also runs the wonderful Birmingham independent bookshop, Voce Books. He helps actors achieve their finest work. Don't miss Mark Weinman blowing minds down at Southwark Playhouse!

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The Invisible Man was incredible and will inevitably be my show of the year. Jetse Batelaan is a bonafide genius at making theatre. The Unicorn is my favourite theatre, reliably housing the best shows in London, for any age. A totally gleeful joy and I wish there were more like it. To the three performers: Chapeau! Rene Groothof with low key the finest performance I've seen in work for young people. Sensational.

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Can’t wait to see this. Thrilled for the extraordinarily talented Clive Judd.

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Absolutely loved this.   A gorgeous play with fine performances of rare calibre.  Mark Weinman is an incredible actor.   Very sad to see BBC Four is being stripped of its commissioning status; barbarism in action.

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If you know anyone 7-107 this is a beauty of a show.  Make Mend and Do are close to my heart and this is theatrically, technically and emotionally magnificent.

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Visited Edinburgh, saw some good things...

It’s True, It’s True, It’s True - Underbelly

Hadn’t seen a Breach show since The Beanfield and they’ve made a richer even more rigorous piece of political theatre.  There are times where it’s just mesmerising.   + I’m biased but Sophie Steer is a future Dame. More fucking power to the lot of you.

https://www.timeout.com/edinburgh/theatre/its-true-its-true-its-true-review

Beetlemania: Kafka For Kids - Pleasance

Some top comedy talent collaborating on this delightful, silly and super smart all ages show, including fringe hero Will Adamsdale. It’s a batshit brilliant concept, framing Kafka short stories in a show for kids that isn’t really going to plan and it’s pulled off with oodles of charm and hilarity.  I saw it with about 10 people in a 200 seat venue but it deserves a big audience and whether you have kids or not I’d highly recommend. Laughed a lot.

https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/103172-beetlemania-kafka-for-kids/

Blackthorn - Roundabout Summerhall

Charley Miles debut* play absolutely broke me.  A nearly love story set against the backdrop of a rural community’s decline.  It was the most accomplished show I saw at Roundabout this year with two beautifully observed performances by Charlotte Bate and Harry Egan, owning that space with proper craft. A real play, directed with great care; I adored it. 

*saw another show of her’s at Royal Welsh College earlier this year and she seems a writer with serious talent.

https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2018/blackthorn-review-summerhall-edinburgh-striking-sensitive-debut-play/

Bon 4 Bon - Dance Base

My wild card choice of the fringe: a 35 minute beauty of a show by Chang Dance Theater (4 brothers from Taiwan).  About family and memories and mango.  It’s lovely.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/aug/19/bon-4-bon-review-dance-base-edinburgh-fringe-festival-chang-dance-theatre-taiwan

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Sleep No More, Shanghai | Punchdrunk International

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Republic of Dance at ReActor was joyful work. http://zhou-zihan.com/my-photo/republic-of-dance--weimar/

As was this: http://www.klauslittmann.com/en/projects/real-fiction-cinema-switzerland-2010-2012-china-2015-2016

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This Will End Badly - reviews Edinburgh/Southwark Playhouse

http://www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/will-end-badly-southwark-playhouse

“Whybrow delivers the performance of a lifetime” Aleks Sierz

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/aug/16/a-girl-is-a-half-formed-thing-edinburgh-review-this-will-end-badly-scarmouch-jones 

“So fully does Whybrow become these men, so convincing is he in each persona, that it’s impossible to discern his authentic accent...Dazzling” The Observer

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/01/is-there-a-difference-between-being-prejudiced-and-being-a-connoisseur-of-prejudice/

“Ben Whybrow gives a virtuoso display in the three roles... It’s a monumental feat of memory and performance by a sensational talent.” Lloyd Evans

http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-this-will-end-badly-southwark-playhouse/

“Whybrow’s powerhouse performance takes the audience on an intense and exciting journey.” Andy Smith

http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/this-will-end-badly-southwark-playhouse_39528.html

“Whybrow gives a forceful, riveting performance.” Daisy

https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2015/will-end-badly/

“Whybrow's superlative performance is at times heartbreaking and deeply disturbing.”

https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2016/this-will-end-badly-review-at-southwark-playhouse-london-gripping-and-unsettling/

“Ben Whybrow’s performance shifts seamlessly between these positions...He’s alternatively confident and vulnerable, predatory and lamb-like, his desperation increasing.”

http://www.westendwilma.com/review-this-will-end-badly-southwark-playhouse/

“He brilliantly evokes three completely different characters using voice and mannerisms, and frequently shifts from one to another mid-sentence. His performance is compelling, and the mounting mental and emotional turmoil of each character’s story is unnerving to watch”

http://theatrecat.com/2016/01/13/this-will-end-badly-southwark-playhouse-se1/

“The remarkable Ben Whybrow”Libby Purves

http://theatri.co/review-this-will-end-badly/

“By the end, the audience is rapt, and there is an audible exhalation as the (metaphorical) curtain falls. It is quite an achievement.”

https://www.festmag.co.uk/theatre/102628-this_will_end_badly

“He's heartrending, callous and funny by turns. It's as unsettling and brilliant a performance as you're likely to see this year.”    

http://exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/this-will-end-badly/

“Whybrow finds distinct voices for each character. In a flash, he transforms in body and intonation. There’s no trace of Meat Cute’s ” testosterone offensive” when he is supplanted by This Pain. As the play wends on, and you become more familiar with each voice, it seems like Whybrow has conjured some sort of magical spell such that with the wave of a wand he instantly embodies each character effortlessly before your eyes. “

http://exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/this-will-end-badly-2/

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jan/18/this-will-end-badly-review-southwark-playhouse-rob-hayes

“Whybrow’s performance, played out on a raised platform, bare but for a toilet and a light bulb, is relentless and undeniably impressive.”

The Scotsman:  http://www.wow247.co.uk/2015/08/25/theatre-review-this-will-end-badly/

“Ben Whybrow giving a commanding performance that’s simultaneously unsettling and exhilarating to watch”

The Independent:

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This Will End Badly.  Southwark Playhouse. January/February 2016. Photos: Ben Broomfield/Scarab Pictures

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This Will End Badly.  London Previews 26th,27th,28th July at the Old Red Lion.

copyright Claire Bilyard

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2014. Shapes.

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Something Very Far Away