The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

Thebes Land at Arcola Theatre

Thebes Land at Arcola Theatre | Theatre review
14 September 2017
The editorial unit
Avatar
The editorial unit
14 September 2017

Thebes Land is hard to review – on the one hand, one does not want to spoil any of the gripping narrative, on the other, it seems impossible to explain this meta-theatrical conundrum of a play. After winning the 2016 Off West End Award for Best Production, Thebes Land returns to the Arcola Theatre as part of CASA, a Latin American theatre festival. A brilliant production, it is incredibly warped, darkly funny and completely fascinating.

In this work by Franco-Uruguayan writer Sergio Blanco, which for this staging has been skillfully adapted by director Daniel Goldman to take place in London, playwright T visits Martin Santos in prison. Martin is serving a life sentence for killing his father; T wants to stage his story. As the two men get to know each other and opening night draws near, their stories intertwine and unravel and the audience is taken on a journey exploring not just patricide but the nature of theatre, religion, Dostoyevsky and, of course, Oedipus.

In an ingenious feat of set design, the piece is staged inside a giant metal cage. At times, this creates a great tension between the actors and the audience; at others, it serves to make theatregoers feel safe. Security cameras feed their recordings onto screens, and with those images inside a cage inside an auditorium inside a larger building, the whole setting seems to mimic the multiple-reality nature of the narrative. The actors are utterly beguiling in their naturalistic ability and give very strong performances. Their commitment allows the many highbrow cultural references not to jar and makes spectators question over and over whether what is going on right in front of them is real or not.

A challenging and not always pleasant night out, Thebes Land fits in many moments of tenderness and humour among the morbidity. To anyone who wants to be put through their paces as an audience member, enjoys inventive new explorations of age-old themes or would like to see everything they thought they knew about storytelling twist and turn in front of them, this show is highly recommended.

★★★★★

Beatrix Swanson Scott
Photo: Alex Brenner

Thebes Land is at Arcola Theatre from 6th September until 7th October 2017. For further information or to book visit here.

Watch the cast speak about Thebes Land here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

The Father and the Assassin at the National Theatre

★★★★★
Natallia Pearmain
Read More

Dirty Dancing the Movie in concert at Apollo Theatre

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

My Fair Lady at the London Coliseum

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

“When you’re presented with different dilemmas in life, you respond accordingly”: Debbie Kurup on The Cher Show

Mae Trumata
Read More

2:22 A Ghost Story at Criterion Theatre

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

The House of Shades at Almeida Theatre

★★★★★
Csilla Tornallyay
Read More

Grease at Dominion Theatre

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More

House of Ife at Bush Theatre

★★★★★
Selina Begum
Read More

Banter Jar at Lion & Unicorn Theatre: “An authentic and timely one-woman show”

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

The editorial unit

Thebes Land

★★★★★

Dates

6th September - 7th October 2017

Price

£12-£22

Links & directions

TwitterFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Albert Adrià reopens Enigma on 7 June as a “fun-dining” restaurant and cocktail bar
    Food & Drinks
  • The Road Dance
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Paolo Nutini at the 100 Club
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Crimes of the Future: Three new clips from David Cronenberg’s dystopian body horror film
    Cannes
  • The Innocents
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Marcel!
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • More than Ever (Plus que Jamais)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Plan 75
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Enys Men
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • The Stranger
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • More than Ever (Plus que Jamais)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Plan 75
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Dirty Dancing the Movie in concert at Apollo Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic at the British Museum
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Eo (Hi-Han)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Boudica at Shakespeare’s Globe | Theatre review
Judith: A Parting from the Body at Omnibus Theatre | Theatre review