Reviews

Presented and written by Julia Mayer, Nella is a ‘pastranomic delight.’ This 60 minute debut show from actor and comedienne Mayer is a deeply personal story about migration, and the building of generations, family stories and traditions. It is the true story of Mayer’s Nona’s life, a woman who at 19 left her small northern Italian village, eventually becoming a lauded chef at the Norwood Hotel.

A room that looks like a tornado has passed through – clearly the space of a young boy. Tom is eight years old, cheeky, and out of control - a ‘cross between the Energiser bunny and Tasmanian Devil’ says his mother, Sarah, whilst tidying his room to look for ‘Monkey’, Tom’s favourite toy and sidekick.

It is somewhat of a recurring theme at the moment, but Robin Hood is another show that had a particularly challenging rehearsal period. In addition to the lockdown in the final part of the rehearsal period, Robin Hood lost both its leading man and its villain just a few weeks out, the leading lady was in intensive care just a week before the production and they lost the permission to perform one of their biggest numbers on the day of the first show. None of this is apparent in this fun, well-presented production.

This is an impeccable production with a clear and cohesive approach across a variety of elements in the play. Runt has a lyrical and poetic style that is also infused with confronting everyday language. This makes the text hard-hitting and compelling. The play is a combination of musing, laments, hard truths and uncomfortable accounts of what it is like to eke out an existence from the margins of society.