Andrew O’Neill at the Rondo

I like to try and mix it up a bit so rather than going to see some serious play by an important young French playwright in translation at the Ustinov studio I chose to take a chance on some properly alternative comedy at the Rondo, our local venue for drama, music and comedy.  This was the third experiment at the Rondo for us the previous two being to see “Poetry can F*ck Off” and “Knives in Hens” both discussed before on this blog and both quite challenging in their own ways.  I had never heard of Andrew O’Neill before but both Time Out and Chortle rated him quite highly.

The “Mythic” Does Nothing To Illuminate a Flawed Premise

We toddled off to the Rondo again last night for a second visit after the recent success of our “Poetry can what…?” evening.  I had noticed a production of a play called “Knives in Hens“¹ by David Harrower and knew nothing about either but since I like to take a bit of a risk with theatre and since the Rondo is only ten minutes walk away I thought it would be a good opportunity to support the theatre and see something a little different.  This is what the blurb for the play said:

“Best known for his play Blackbird, this is David Harrower’s astonishing début.  Set in a God-fearing, pre-industrial rural community, a young woman comes to terms with old grudges and factions, an unexpected betrayal and a growing awareness of her place in the world. 

A young peasant woman meets a miller who offers her the opportunity to awaken and learn. It’s about giving one woman the power of the written word, a power that we take for granted but which, once discovered, endowed humans with the ability to learn, to remember, to teach and to endure.”

Poetry Can What…?

Jonny Fluffypunk

The title of the show we have just been to at the Rondo Theatre is, as they say on all the best web sites, a bit too NSFW to use as the title for this post.  “Poetry can F*ck Off” is the brainchild of Heathcote Williams and Roy Hutchins, of The Poetry Army, both of whom have been long time writers and performers on the British Fringe and Alternative Theatre scene, as far as I can tell being a foreigner now in these parts.  Williams’ career stretches back into the mid-sixties though.  An interesting aspect of this show is that it was enabled by support received via the Crowdfunder web site which is a sign of the times.  At least this “leftie” show can’t be accused of sponging off the taxpayer with some government subsidy!