Earthquakes in London

Synopsis

Burlesque strip shows, bad dreams, social breakdown, population explosion, worldwide paranoia. A fast and furious metropolitan crash of people, scenes and decades, as three sisters attempt to navigate their dislocated lives and loves, while their dysfunctional father, a brilliant scientist, predicts global catastrophe. Nothing I do means anything certainly and that’s depressing. But also, nothing I do is going to be the end of the world. There’s a comfort in that. An all-pervasive fear of the future and a guilty pleasure in the excesses of the present drive Mike Bartlett’s epic rollercoaster of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again. It’s Cabaret, we’ve got our heads down and we’re dancing and drinking as fast as we can. The enemy is on its way, but this time it doesn’t have guns and gas it has storms and earthquakes, fire and brimstone. You were the glimmer. At the end of the tunnel. And you went out.

Our Review:

Karen Bussell - 23 September 2011

Mike Bartlett (Love Love Love, Cock, Artefact)’s latest is something of an inventive epic tour de force.

The National Theatre On Tour/Headlong co-production Earthquakes in London is a kaleidoscopic, chaotic and breathless exploration of all things Green, integrity versus financial gain, family relationships and more. There’s burlesque; tourists and scammers in the capital; supermarket guava-hunting; swanky restaurants and Liberty’s; picnics on Parliament Hill; famine in Eritrea; wetsuited Adonises and redwings in the Highlands.

And there’s the odd - very odd – departure into the realms of the musical with Stepford wife, Jackie O lookalikes boogying with babies and a PVC-clad cleaner warbling over her mop.

The thread that holds it all together is the intertwined story of three stereotype sisters: Tracy-Ann Oberman (EastEnders, RSC, Waterloo Road) is convincing as melting martyred ice maiden Sarah the coalition Environme...

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Latest User Review

Mary Cooper Brown - 25 September 2011:

Brilliantly dynamic performance, populated with some exceptionally talented actors. Great to see such a contemporary play in Plymouth. It is so rare to see something that tackles a serious subject in such a funny way. Recommend it to anyone who is prepared to be challenged, exhilarated and moved, all at once ...

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