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

What They Forgot to Tell Us (and Other Stories) at BOLD theatre

What They Forgot to Tell Us (and Other Stories) at BOLD theatre | Theatre review
28 October 2021
Regan Harle
Avatar
Regan Harle
28 October 2021

Part theatre, part exhibition, this hybrid production is certainly a full experience. The debut performance at the new BOLD theatre, What They Forgot to Tell Us (and Other Stories) takes its audience to a work training event they didn’t know they needed before stepping into the venue. It’s real, raw and honest, soap opera melodrama, shining a light on things that happen within a workplace that no one asks about – certainly the things that they forgot to tell us. Instantly, it is reminiscent of The Office, except in this case the audience is a part of the story. In fact, not just a part, but the actual heart of the experience. Voyeurism is taken to a new level as guests watch all-too-naturalistic tasks unfold, but there is something unnatural brewing just below the surface. 

From the beginning, this unnatural enemy is The Agency, the almost 1984-esque, dystopian ruler of the world. Viewers are led by them throughout the theatre, absorbing only what they want them to hear and see. They are honest, though, even from the start – because a good story does indeed start with The Agency. 

Spread across three floors of the BOLD theatre, the performance features everything from forbidden romance between colleagues to one staff member emotionally winning Employee of the Month. But the seemingly boring plot somehow has the whole audience invested. Everything is connected, and not just by the staircases. After one staircase, crowds are taken into smaller groups. They get to know the cast through various lessons, which all too quickly morph into traumatic stories from their characters’ lives; it is what is left unsaid that is truly powerful. The actors fully emote with their wide eyes, horrific stares and awkward, gulping silences. None of them fall short, but some are definitely stronger than others: performers afraid to improvise instead rely on the script. That being said, it’s a good script. The next floor brings guests to a formal board meeting. Before this, there was no such thing as an engaging board meeting. This is truly a mind-bending optical illusion of workplace life. 

The performance transforms from work to school, culminating in an unexpected historical battle with visuals reminiscent of a red light district. It becomes very disturbing, going from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds, which is just what good entertainment should do. There is not much else to say because it needs to be experienced, and only firsthand can that occur.

★★★★★

Regan Harle
Photo: Ali Wright

What They Forgot to Tell Us (and Other Stories) is at BOLD theatre from 20th October until 14th November 2021. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Related ItemsBOLD theatrereviewtheatre

More in Theatre

Rita at Charing Cross Theatre

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More

Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry

★★★★★
Ella Satin
Read More

Royal Ballet School students return to the stage for post-Covid performances

The editorial unit
Read More

“Theatre is totally unique… there’s simply nothing else quite like it”: An interview with Sir Howard Panter as the new cast of Jersey Boys opens at Trafalgar Theatre

Natallia Pearmain
Read More

Jersey Boys bring on a new cast at Trafalgar Theatre

Natallia Pearmain
Read More

All of Us at the National Theatre

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Midsummer Mechanicals at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

★★★★★
Alexandra Fletcher
Read More

Camden Fringe 2022: The Importance of Being Anxious at Museum of Comedy

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Camden Fringe 2022: Rome 3000 (Julius Caesar) at Canal Cafe Theatre

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Regan Harle

What They Forgot to Tell Us (and Other Stories)

★★★★★

Dates

20th October - 14th November 2021

Price

£20-25

Links & directions

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Eiffel
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Royal Ballet School students return to the stage for post-Covid performances
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • “Film offers a way of looking at the past, the present and the future simultaneously. That’s its wonder”: Sarah Beddington on Fadia’s Tree
    Cinema & Tv
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • Five Days at Memorial
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • South Facing Festival: Richard Ashcroft and his band were on impressive form from start to finish
    ★★★★★
    Live music
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

Best Sellers opens Raindance Film Festival 2021 | Movie review
Griff at Shepherd’s Bush Empire | Live review