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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Liz Hoggard's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Steve Marmion.
Cast: Headlong Theatre
Description: Anthony Neilson's reconstruction of Victorian impresario Edward Gant's travelling show. Using magic and illusion, the play looks at themes of mortality and sadness. Presented by Headlong Theatre.
Trains: Tube: Tottenham Court Road 
, Tube / Bus: 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 23, 25, 38, 55, 73, 98, 176 
Phone: 0207478 0100
Website: www.sohotheatre.com
Extra info: Pub, Food
Theatre of the absurd: Sam Cox and Emma Handy in the play that Neilson wrote after an episode of being “extremely depressed and drug-addled”
Anthony Neilson is one of our most provocative playwrights. In the 1990s, his in-yer-face theatre tackled anal sex, group torture and mental breakdown.
In 2002’s Stitching, a young woman sews up her vagina. But there is always an undercurrent of melancholy, of unrequited love, to his work. And now Headlong (the theatre company founded by Rupert Goold) has revived Neilson’s lesser-known 2002 play, Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness — inspired by Victorian travelling freak shows. Soho’s minimalist stage has been transformed into a pop-up theatre with exquisite backdrops.
It’s 1881 and actor manager Gant (Simon King) — a survivor of The Charge of the Light Brigade and probable opium addict — has assembled a “midget opera company”. Acts include Sanzonetta, whose terrible acne turns out to be pearls growing on her face, and Ranjeev the mystic who can trepan your skull to make you forget about doomed love.
Neilson, who wrote it to cheer himself up after an episode of being “extremely depressed and drug-addled”, has compared the piece to Blackadder and Monty Python. It’s funny and scatalogical — with cameos from dancing pimples and giant rabbits.
For once we don’t leave feeling emotionally violated. But there is a real undercurrent of sadness. We’re reminded of the loneliness of the travelling performer, how theatre is based on artifice. All four actors are haunted by “Phantom the Dry” — the fear of corpsing on stage. Gant, so camp and witty, at the outset turns out to be just as much an exhibit as his freak show.
But the final, shocking reversal is offset by the triumphant performances of Headlong’s four-strong cast. A show about the power of the imagination — it laughs in the teeth of death.
Until 11 April. Information: 0870 4296883
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
