London’s best local theatres

Bush Theatre

The Bush Theatre in Shepherd’s Bush began life in 1972 above a pub that held only 80 people, but in 2010 it moved to an old public library building. Under the artistic directorship of Madani Younis, the theatre became one of the city’s most influential artistic spaces. Now that Lynette Linton has taken control of it, the theatre continues to host groundbreaking works.

7 Uxbridge Rd. Shepherd’s Bush, bushtheatre.co.uk

Arcola Theatre

Set up by artistic director Mehmet Ergen in 2000, the Arcola in Dalston has two theatre spaces and plays host to a number of works. As well as hosting new writing, they hold Grimeborn, an opera (歌剧) festival that runs for several weeks every summer.

24 Ashwin St. Dalston, arcolatheatre.com

Southwark Playhouse

Southwark Playhouse began life in 1993, with a disused workshop being turned into a theatre space. With two performance spaces, they put on a wide spread of works, from musicals to new plays. The Playhouse is moving into two new venues (剧场), a flagship site at Elephant and Castle and another in the arches of London Bridge Station.

77-85 Newington Causeway, southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Rose Theatre

It’s worth making the journey to the Rose. It opened in 2008 and its layout (布局) was based on that of the original Elizabethan Rose Theatre on London’s Bankside. It hosts works from theatre companies as well as producing its own, and can attract the best. The world’s first public performance of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend took place here in 2017.

24-26 High St, Kingston upon Thames, rosetheatre.org

The shadow play is a typical traditional entertainment that has survived and thrived over the centuries. It is taken as an earliest ancestor of modern cinema.

Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago，Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty was very depressed over the death of his favorite concubine（妃子）.To help him get over his sadness, a minister made a puppet out of cotton and silk in the likeness of the concubine and projected its shadow on a curtain for the emperor to see. The show brought the emperor some comfort. He somehow believed the shadow was his lover’ spirit. This is thought to be the beginning of the shadow play.

One mouth tells stories of thousands of years；a pair of hands operates millions of soldiers. This is how the shadow puppeteer works. Nicknamed “the business of the five”，a shadow puppet group is made up of five people. One operates the puppets, one plays a Suona and a Yueqin, one plays the Banhu, one is in charge of percussion（打击乐器）instruments, and one sings.

During performances, “actors” are held close to a white curtain with their colored shadows cast on it by a strong light from behind. The operator plays five puppets at the same time，each of which has three threads. Ten fingers handle fifteen threads. Moved by guiding sticks，the puppets play roles with musical accompaniment. The popularity of shadow play in some way lies in the equipment being light and easy to carry, the small number of people needed for a performance, and the flexible requirements for performance places. The plays can be quite dramatic and, when it comes to fairy tales or kungfu stories, the "actors" may be made to ride on clouds or perform unusual feats, to the great enjoyment of the audience, especially children.

The design of the figures follows traditional moral evaluation. The audience can tell a figure’s character by seeing his mask. Like the masks in Beijing Opera, a red mask represents honesty, a black mask, loyalty, and a white one, betrayal.

Nowadays, the shadow play has been industrialized and developed a series of tourist products for the promotion of Chinese culture and tourism.

Chaplin was one of the famous clown-style actors of the silent time. It was through Charlie Chaplin that the Hollywood comedy movies became famous.

Then in the 1920s came another trend of animated cartoons. They were the most popular Hollywood comedy movies of the time. The several popular characters of that era were Felix the cat, Krazy Kat and Betty Boop. However, the popularity of these movies was blocked out due to lack of sound and color. The end of 1920s, the Hollywood comedy industry marked a change brought about by the introduction of sound into the movies. This has allowed the industry to create dramatic new film styles and use verbal humor. These films were soon replacing silent movies. These films used dialogue of comedians such as the W. C Fields and the Marx Brothers. Charlie Chaplin was the last comedian to have acted in the silent films.

When the United States entered into World War ll, Hollywood movies changed its course to themes related to the conflicts, and Hollywood comedy movies described more on military themes. The war time experienced a boom, where restrictions on the traveling made nearly a quarter of the money spent on attending movies.

In the 1950s, the interest shifted where the TV became popular. During this time the release of Hollywood comedy films declined(衰落). The 1960s saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies. In 1970 Hollywood comedy movies reflected the anti-war sentiment, which was popular then.

In the 1980s the gag(笑料)based comedy Airplane was released, and Hollywood comedy movies paved its way for more of the same. The popular comedians of this time included Dudley－Moore, Tom Hanks, etc. Jim Carrey, the Canadian actor and a comedian, came into Hollywood comedy movies in the late 1980s where he won the role in such a comedy, Copper Mountain.The most popular Hollywood comedy movies were of John Hughes, which includes Ferris Buellers Day Off and Home Alone series of 1990s. The later films focused more on family audience. This was a revival in comedy movies. Comedy movies remain popular till date.