I should have known what to expect from the Union Theatre’s revival of David Eldridge’s 2006 play Market Boy just by looking at their advertising poster. In front of a pair of jeans is a stiff, upright banana with on either side, a pair of red, juicy apples at the bottom – not a very subtle poster and certainly not a subtle piece of theatre. Set in Romford Market in Essex in the mid to …

In 1980, “Fame” appeared on our cinema screens, conceived by producer David De Silva and directed by Alan Parker. Set in the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, it was a superb movie that portrayed the lives of the students and teachers at the school. It had superb three-dimensional characters, exuberant dance routines, it had pathos, it had tragedy, comedy and most of all it had a fabulous soundtrack of tremendous songs. …

Joe Orton’s The Ruffian On The Stair was originally a radio play first broadcast on the BBC Home Service in August 1964 and based on a novel The Boy Hairdresser which was written by Orton and his partner (and his murderer), Kenneth Halliwell. The title is taken from a poem by William Ernest Henley: “Madam Life’s a piece in bloom, death goes dogging everywhere. She’s the tenant of the room, he’s the ruffian on the …

A man lies very still in a hospital bed. Two angels in miniskirts and high-heeled boots with feathered wings walk about the stage. A man at a desk scribbles nonsense on a pad with an enormous pen. A woman in a ballgown sits in a chair and twitches. Another woman stands holding two canes that have blindfolded baby heads on the ends. A door opens intermittently and a man sprays something from an aerosol can. …