WHAT'S ON at THE BROCKLEY JACK THEATRE
Concise and easy to use
NOTE: Wheelchair access is available at this venue, please enquire when booking tickets.
by Joe Edgar
presented by Sosij Productions
18 - 29 November
“I just think there’s doing things and doing things. And if you’re locked in a sewer and it’s flooding and you’re putting on perfume, you’re doing the wrong things.”
A Boston newsroom, late at night. Journalist Marianne is fine-tuning her latest article — a hit piece on the Massachusetts cranberry industry. But between interruptions from her colleagues and edits from her boss, a murkier, private picture begins to emerge of her time researching in the bogs…
Big Cranberry is a witty and fast-moving story of personal crisis, set in the precarious world of climate journalism.
At what point does reporting stop being enough? Where do you find hope in a career built on dread? And just how big is this cranberry exactly?
Sosij Productions is the award-nominated company behind The Incredibly Scary Object, which premiered at the Jack last year. We are an energetic new theatre company, founded on a shared desire to make the kind of show you’d want to watch twice.
Whilst we believe that it’s theatre’s responsibility to present informed discussion about the world we live in, we reckon it never hurts to imagine a slightly more exciting, slightly kinder, and slightly wittier world too. If you leave thinking you might have seen some actual people actually talking to each other about actual things — that have actually, at least once a page or so, made you chuckle — then we’ve done our job.
The Mystery of Irma Vep – a Penny Dreadful
by Charles Ludlam
directed by Kate Bannister
presented by The Jack Studio Theatre
9 Dec - 4 Jan
The Mystery of Irma Vep returns to the Jack this Christmas!
Egyptologist Lord Edgar brings his new bride, Lady Enid, to the Hillcrest family home. But a dark shadow hangs over them in the shape of Irma Vep, Lord Edgar’s first wife who died in mysterious circumstances.
Will Lady Enid escape the fate of her predecessor? Will Lord Edgar find his mummy?
Join us this Christmas for mayhem and laughter in this gothic horror, quick-change tour-de-force.
Written by avant-garde American playwright, Charles Ludlam, actor, director and founder of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company.
Presented by the award-winning in-house team behind Montague’s Millions, Kindred Spirits, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, A Christmas Carol and The Invisible Man.
Early booking is recommended.
The Mystery of Irma Vep is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk
Press for previous productions
‘The Jack Christmas shows are always different… and as a Christmas outing is as good a treat as you could get.‘ ★★★★ Reviews Gate on Montague’s Millions
‘a thrilling mystery… It isn’t a typical Christmas play but its message is one that should resonate with anyone who enjoys a story that keeps you guessing, has a little bit of mystery, plenty of wit and an awful lot of heart.’ ★★★★ Theatre and Tonic on Montague’s Millions
‘the magical touch of the Jack Theatre team deliver a heart-warming Christmas treat.’ ★★★★ Fairy Powered Productions on A Christmas Carol
‘The Jack’s been building for a few years now an alternative Christmas tradition of reworked classic stories, and long may they continue if it’s as much fun as this. ★★★★ London Pub Theatres on The Invisible Man
written and performed by Mark Farrelly
directed by Linda Marlowe
“Ask yourself this. If there were no praise or blame – who would I be?”
Mark Farrelly’s hugely acclaimed solo play returns to the Jack Studio!
From a conventional upbringing to global notoriety via The Naked Civil Servant, Quentin Crisp was one of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century.
Naked Hope depicts the legendary Quentin Crisp at two phases of his extraordinary life. Firstly in the late 1960s in his filthy Chelsea flat (“Don’t lose your nerve: after the first four years the dust won’t get any worse”). Here Quentin surveys a lifetime of degradation and rejection. Repeatedly beaten for being flamboyantly gay as early as the 1930s, ostracised simply for daring to live life on his own terms.
The play then transitions the audience to New York in the 1990s. Here a much older Quentin, finally embraced by society, regales the audience with his sharply-observed, hard-earned philosophy on how to have a lifestyle: “Life will be more difficult if you try to become yourself. But avoiding this difficulty renders life meaningless. So discover who you are. And be it. Like mad!”.
Naked Hope is a glorious, uplifting celebration of the urgent necessity to be yourself.
Press for this production:
“An uncanny feat of resurrection. Farrelly’s mastery of his audience is total” ★★★★ Time Out
“A sensational performance”★★★★ Theatrescene.net
“Wonderful. Mark Farrelly channels Quentin Crisp brilliantly. It’s important to keep his voice alive!” Boy George
“A great show and a terrific performance.” Peter Tatchell
“Captivating and wonderfully compelling!” Sir Matthew Bourne
North West End ★★★★★
Sardines Magazine ★★★★★
All That Dazzles ★★★★★
Theatre and Art Reviews ★★★★★
British Theatre Guide ★★★★
Metro ★★★★
The Stage ★★★★
Broadway Baby ★★★★★
Scotsgay ★★★★
G-Scene Magazine ★★★★
Remote Goat★★★★
Exeunt ★★★★
The Reviews Hub ★★★★
London Theatre 1 ★★★★
Always Time For Theatre ★★★★
London Pub Theatres ★★★★
