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Jo Tomalin

Nov 24 2025
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Manual Cinema’s The 4th Witch at Cal Performances!

By Jo Tomalin No Comments

Review by Jo Tomalin
For All Events 

 

image of set

Cal Performances: Manual Cinema’s The 4th Witch
Photo: Courtesy of Manual Cinema /artists

 

Manual Cinema, an Emmy Award-winning performance collective, design studio, and film production company from Chicago, performed their latest show, The 4th Witch on November 22nd 2025 at Zellerbach Hall presented by Cal Performances, Berkeley, USA.

The 4th Witch is an immediately immersive experience that incorporates, shadow play, shadow puppets, actors in silhouette, live music and sound. Told without words, the story is about a young girl whose home and family are taken away from her during wartime by General Macbeth and she needs to fend for herself. Running to a forest she finds refuge and sanctuary for a while – and discovers through her dreams that she is the newest apprentice to the three witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Manual Cinema’s shows are always fascinating and The 4th Witch is highly accomplished in its visual storytelling with the integration of shadow puppets and actors in silhouette. Using a row of several old school overhead projectors and hundreds of flat page size hand made shadow puppets, the puppeteers transition into silhouette characters on the large screen above in a flash! This makes it possible for the finely crafted paper shadow play characters to suddenly move realistically in short scenes, to take the story forward in an almost animated way. The live blending of these techniques is astoundingly precise, imaginative and breathtaking!

Image of actor in silhouetteCal Performances: Manual Cinema
Photo Credit: Katie Doyle

Music and sound effects underscore the show throughout and are a vital element of the storytelling, composed by Ben Kauffman who is also co-artistic director of Manual Cinema. Three musicians play live throughout the show: Erica Kremer: cello and vocals; Lucy Little: violin and vocals; Alicia Walter: keys, guitar and vocals. These bold music and sound effect choices complete the story by adding to the atmosphere, drama and intrigue. The sophisticated music score and outstanding musicians are a perfect match for the wondrous concept, puppet design and direction by co-deviser and co-artistic director Drew Dir, and the impressive cast: Leah Casey: Witch, puppeteer; Kara Davidson: Witch, puppeteer; Sarah Fornace: Girl, puppeteer, co-deviser, co-artistic director; Julia Miller: Lead Witch, puppeteer, co-deviser, silhouette masks, co-artistic director; Jeffrey Paschal: Macbeth, puppeteer.

In concert with shadow play techniques in other parts of the world, puppeteers and musicians are all in full view of the audience throughout the show. Therefore, we can not only watch the shadow play story above the stage on a huge screen – but also see the many shadow puppets creating evocative imagery carefully placed on projectors by the puppeteers on the stage. It’s so fascinating when actors quickly move into place donning a hint of a costume or mask that evokes each live character through their silhouette! The movement quality of the paper characters and silhouetted actor characters is finely tuned and realistic, with great attention to detail to create both human and shadow puppet gestures, posture and angles of the head to communicate the wordless story. The color palette of The 4th Witch is very interesting – in black and white and in between tones, plus a few strategic choices of red and green, all appropriate to the story and its setting.

With lead commissioning support from Spoleto Festival, USA and co-commissioning support from Cal Performances, ArtsEmerson (Boston MA). The 4th Witch is also part of Cal Performances’Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary” programming for the 2025–26 season.

The 4th Witch is a sixty five minute show without intermission that is a richly visual, intense, sensory feast of inspired artistry and vibrant storytelling from Manual Cinema. 5 Stars! Do not miss it!

 

More Information:
Cal Performances
https://calperformances.org/

Manual Cinema
https://manualcinema.com/

Nov 13 2025
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Burnout Paradise at Stanford’s Bing Studio is Dynamic + Creative!

By Jo Tomalin No Comments

Review by Jo Tomalin
11/12/25
ForAllEvents.com

Burnout Paradise by Pony Cam

image of actors on stage

Burnout Paradise by Pony Cam at Bing Studio in Stanford, CA on November 12, 2025. Photo Credit Matthew W. Huang

Burnout Paradise has arrived in town and is a must see show – the intriguing title is evocative of many things and so is the experience! Presented by Stanford Live at the Bing Studio in Stanford, California, Burnout Paradise runs November 12-15, 2025.

This is inspired programming by Stanford Live – and it’s a welcome palate cleanse from our daily tasks. Instead get yourself to the theatre to see others do their tasks! The creative theatre company Pony Cam from Australia is an award-winning experimental collective of five theatre makers. Burnout Paradise is created by Pony Cam Collective: Claire Bird, Ava Campbell, William Strom, Dominic Weintraub, and Hugo Williams; Produced by Dans Maree Sheehan for Parrot Ox.

Formed in 2019, Pony Cam has created several shows on wide ranging themes such as a food drama, an apocalyptic fantasia set inside a teenage dystopia and a large-scale community-led intergenerational collaboration. The cast of Burnout Paradise comprises Laura Aldous, Claire Bird, William Strom, Dominic Weintraub, and Hugo Williams.

As an ensemble creating their own original work Pony Cam Collective’s ideas are fresh and edgy with underlying reflections of society challenging audiences to question their conventional ways. Pony Cam’s latest show, Burnout Paradise is a unique experience for all in the theatre as it disrupts the performance space (and the audience space) in such a way that is completely unexpected and truly wonderful!

The stage is set with four treadmills each with a cardboard sign on the front: Survival, Admin, Performance and Leisure. These topics are common to us all and relatable, but it is the way each topic is explored and how their numerous tasks are carried out that is the structure of this show. The performers arrive and have their To Do list of “deadly tedious tasks” ready and they challenge each other to complete everything in their lists 100% while running on treadmills! Yes, these performers get their steps in mightily, bravely – and hilariously!

image of actors on stage

Burnout Paradise by Pony Cam at Bing Studio in Stanford, CA on November 12, 2025. Photo Credit Matthew W. Huang

While Claire, William, Dominic and Hugo run ferociously forwards, backwards and sideways while doing household tasks, theatre company office work, performing their own skills and leisure activities, Laura is the warm and friendly host who is also the time keeper and makes sure everything happens. Laura comes around offering beverages on a tray and periodically updates a chart with miles run by each runner. The runners valiantly prepare vegetables, type forms, act, dance or do a Rubric’s cube, to name but a very few of the things they need to accomplish – as a race against time, energy, their minds and spirits.

It’s suddenly busy and gets a bit frantic, is it mayhem? Maybe, but it’s absolutely brilliant and the audience help out here and there, melting the conventional stage and audience division in the most creative way. Make no mistake, it is the afore mentioned structure of this piece by Pony Cam that is the art in Burnout Paradise and what may look chaotic or silly is highly imaginative gutsy stuff and was very well received by the audience at the performance I attended on 11/12/25.

The sixty five minute show is entertaining, physical and interactive, challenging us to consider how we spend our time on this planet – and Burnout Paradise creates a delicious complicity with everyone in the shared space. This is a dynamic rethinking of theatre! Highly Recommended 5 Stars!

More Information:

Stanford Live
https://live.stanford.edu/ 

Pony Cam
https://ponycam.co/
  

Sep 24 2025
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El Patio Teatro presents Entrañas in France at Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes

By Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin
For All Events

Entrañas

woman holding image of heart

Entrañas tells the story of what we are made of – literally! Izaskun Fernández and Julián Sáenz López from El Patio Teatro in Spain create, direct and perform this fascinating object puppetry show with narration spoken direct to the audience. It’s part elegant apothecary and part character storytelling, and in total it works very well. This is a show where the audience will learn about what parts of the body are made of such aspotassium, water or nitrogen, other stuff and sometimes nothing. While we hear these facts it is a gentle science – not intense and and it is interesting, especially in the charming way Fernández and Sáenz lead us through their story. Taking turns to enlighten us about different organs and there uses they bring out organs that are made from beautifully crafted models and cut out old timey yellowed cards with line drawn diagrams. These objects are carefully handled and are placed just as carefully on a shelf, large table or held near a real life organ such as the heart or brain.

One of the most interesting things about this show is that Fernández and López treat the subject in a respectful way that is not at all ghoulish or squeamish but is warmly matter of fact with a dash of wit and humor! Theatre like this is vital and can serve so many reasons to not only entertain but also to help us understand what makes us tick.

Fernández and López are completely invested in their characters, encompassed in their handsome set of polished wooden shelves with objets on each one. It is a compelling stage set and frames them as they speak to us and very occasionally each other or with a non verbal reaction while bringing forth an object to share its story and valiant raison d’être.

Both Fernández and López wear costumes evocative of a time gone by that sets the tone of the show from the first sight of them. Original music underscores the show at times and adds to the atmosphere. The show I saw was performed in Spanish with well placed easy to read surtitles in French and English that are part of the set. This show was very well received by the audience. Entrañas was performed at the Médiathèque Voyelles theatre in Charleville-Mézières, France and produced by the renowned Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes, September 2025. Highly Recommended! 4 Stars

More Information:
Instagram: @elpatioteatro @ikebanahartesescenicas
Website: https://ikebanah.es/en/home/

 

Aug 12 2025
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The Quiet Earth Beneath

By Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin
www.ForAllEvents.com
August 12 2025


The Quiet Earth Beneath

Casey Jay Andrews invites us into her space at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025. The setting is different from the usual rows of seats, which is intriguing. In fact, looking around the space a musician is set up at one end of the large rectangular space with an impressive array of instruments and technology, Andrews stands at the other end next to a microphone on a stand, and there is a theatre ghost light center stage with one row of chairs in a large oval shape. While this sounds like a functional description so far, what we experience during the next hour is rather special!

Andrews takes charge speaking to us alternately at the microphone on the stand and then holding the mic as she moves around the space. This is her world, her creation and she is genuine in her approach. She does have a compelling performative presence and switches to her lower key self when moving around the space closer to us. She sets up stories of the underworld, imagined and real as well as poignant moments of truth from her deep self.

The story is well written with strong descriptive moments yet complex as Andrews weaves different aspects of stories or parallel thoughts together. A story about Sienna with a yellow suitcase staying in a strange B&B with fickle room numbers unfolds while Andrews layers the show with her own experiences of the underworld, literally as a young cave explorer in South Wales.

Jack Brett, the outstandingly creative musician plays his original music throughout the spoken word storytelling which adds other world quality to this performance – and adds so much more to the atmosphere. His mix of beats, rhythms and melodies complement Andrews’ spoken voice so well and add an unusual feeling and imagery as if an epic film is being created and playing out in front of us.


Andrews is an award-winning writer performer whose prior shows at fringe festivals have been acclaimed. She is also a designer with an impressive portfolio of cutting edge theatre design projects. In her own shows Andrews is able to bring all these imaginative strands together to create what is the reason we go to the theatre, to experience something else, to come out having been transported and this is what Andrews does. There is much quality in Andrews’ work and she opens her heart and whisks us away, away from our lives and thoughts and somewhere else!

For More Information:
https://www.caseyjayandrews.com/ 

Aug 11 2025
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Theatre Re’s The Nature of Forgetting at Edinburgh Fringe 2025!

By Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin
For All Events

The Nature of Forgetting

What does a piece of clothing mean to a person? Is it the color or comfort it gives – or something else? Memories are special to all of us and dementia means that they may become fragments of what they were originally.


We first see coat racks, tables and chairs, and a young woman and a man, Isabella and Tom. They interact and eventually Tom – sensitively played by Theatre Re Founder and Artistic Director Guillaume Pigé – remembers what to do as he puts on a coat or a jacket…flashbacks tell the story. Tom’s memories are vivid as he goes back in time to school days, friends and teenage romance – all brought to life by the dynamic cast of four actors who play all the characters.
 
Live music onstage comprising a drummer and keyboardist play vibrant to melodic music that underscores and adds dimension to this mainly wordless devised play. Gentle yet vivid music plays while Tom remembers earlier times in his life and varying volume, tempo and rhythms support the storytelling well. This early scene is beautifully created and is the foundation for the story of The Nature of Forgetting.



Seamless transitions and the quality of the physical and visual storytelling form an exceptionally well crafted and performed show.
 A scene of Tom with his mother helping him get ready for school and the subsequent journey supported by rhythmic music is strong imagery. The cast of four actors create several characters with gestures and posture changes to delineate them through their movement dynamics effectively.


When things go off kilter the very smart choices of a combination of awkward movement with sound, that build progressively, show how Tom’s memory is being affected. This series of episodic movement is subtle yet arresting in its simplicity and poignancy. A tender and lively scene with an outstanding movement sequence is when Tom is younger and is swept off his feet by a woman – it’s a glorious and evocative moment of a full life experiencing all that life offers.


Lighting helps to suggest atmosphere and mood really well and brief sound effects evoke the time and place. Tom incorporates interesting quirky movement and gesture as an adult and stops and starts as the movement device affecting his memory seems to disconnect it and be frustrating to Tom. This scene is particularly moving and well crafted.


Theatre Re take their time to tell this story and the cast emote physically and emotionally with expressive and precise movement and gestures. The range of emotional moments come from unexpected moments from Theatre Re – when less accomplished work will use literal thinking on which to base gestures. This play is extraordinarily well developed and performed and is a masterclass of story crafting and refinement. Poignant, moving and wildly inventive devised theatre that is dramatic, emotive artistic and human. This heartfelt exploration of a difficult subject has it all. Exceptional! 5 Stars!

More Information:
https://www.theatrere.co.uk/

Aug 11 2025
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Peregrinus at Edinburgh Fringe!

By Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin
For All Events

Peregrinus

KTO Theatre from Poland presents Peregrinus at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Summerhall. Peregrinus starts with dramatic imagery and deliberate immediacy! Wearing their uniform of neat business suits, white shorts and ties, about eight office workers appear in front of us. They line up in formation and take their turn kneeling and putting on giant masks. Standing in front of us the image is not only fascinating but also the similar expressions of huge masks suggest a group of Everyman. Immediately these employees know where to go and what to do and they share with us a day in their lives by getting very busy slickly moving in circles, or intricate patterns while encountering different reactions from each other.

Physical gestures say it all and there is no need for actual words, so the performance of Peregrinus can be understood by anyone of any language. They each pull a large silver suitcase on wheels so this is very relatable to anyone who travel and have those nifty four wheel rolling suit cases. However, these rollers have special powers!

Peregrinus is an original devised show performed by KTO Theatre from Poland that tour a repertoire of different shows internationally. Peregrinus is also co-financed by the Minister of Culture of Poland. KTO Theatre has been under the leadership of co-founder Jerzy Zon for 48 years and Zon created and directed Peregrinus with choreographer Eryk Makohon, inspired by a poem by T.S.Eliot about modern life and its traps. Underscored by vibrant music throughout this is a complete performance that is visually vivid but is also inspiring.

First, for those of us who appreciate original physical theatre it is a triumph of expression and physical storytelling; second, this is a highly entertaining show! The characters came from the grassy Meadows near Summerhall where they interacted playfully with people for about thirty minutes, some of whom following them into the Summerhall courtyard performance area for the start of the show.

Blending satire, spectacle with dynamic movement and choreography, the story shows this group of office workers setting off for work from their homes and what happens when they arrive at work to the end of their day. They travel, sit together, have lunch and do their work almost in unison yet each has their own character traits. It’s a vivid and sometimes playful image of life that we can each reflect and respond to in order to preserve our individuality.

There are some improvised moments that are fun and add depth to the characters and the show. At these times there are individual flashes of personality such as when one of the characters after a brief interaction, motioned to someone in the audience to “call me!”

If you see one show at the fringe, see Peregrinus!

More Information:
https://teatrkto.pl/

Aug 10 2025
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Pickled Republic at Edinburgh Fringe 2025

By Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin
For All Events

Pickled Republic

Ah, the life of a tomato! What are its hopes, dreams and more important, what are its upcoming realities? Doom, to be sure! Or is it? Ruxandra Cantir portrays one of these spirited vegetables to help us understand its plight! A tomato in a garden, next to a fence covered in sprigs of foliage. Voiceovers advise us to wash vegetables but to leave them some breathing room! Cantir’s contorted body of the tomato, in a tomato costume complete with a tomato stalk beret, leads this veggie to lament about life in a florid monologue with spicy attitude! This is a sad, tragic character indeed!

Using witty comments, shrieks, cabaret songs, comedy and fun ridiculousness Cantir changes costumes and characters, wears masks, shimmering dresses, and more to entertain. And entertain she does! After an uneven start with content this is zany and whacky stuff that brings laughs and guffaws as she struts around in support of veggies. With a sweater stretched over her head showing her face and a quif of green hair she approaches the audience with a singular voice and personality. There is some interaction with one or two audience members that is simply lovely, she somehow gains our trust and we dip into her world willingly!

This is part stand up and part clown and her wit and full on enthusiasm grows on you. There are a couple of running jokes with announcements of “fork”, or are the warnings? Just go with it! And there’s Eric the carrot, other relatives and then we get to the Pickle!

Now an imperious pickle limbers up and shows expert skills moving around the space, it’s all impressive from here on, if a bit hilariously ghoulish. Life happens what can we say! Cantir tops it all with a final image of a character introduced earlier. It seems time passed and these veggie will continue to appear – and disappear with the cycle of life. Expect the unexpected and enjoy what unfolds in the global pickled republic! Recommended! 3 Stars!

More information:
https://www.ruxandracantir.com/pickled-republic

Aug 10 2025
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Works and Days at the Edinburgh International Festival 2025

By Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin
For All Events

Works and Days



Works and Days is produced by FC Bergman / Toneelhuis and presented by the Edinburgh International Festival, August 2025 at The Lyceum. FC Bergman’s reflection on the poem Works and Days from the Ancient Greek poet Hesiodos “on living on and with the land” and all of the circumstances between birth, life and death is the starting point for this piece. FC Bergman is a four-person collective that creates site specific productions and installations that focus on themes of the working person.


The collective comprises Stef Aerts, Joe Agemans, Thomas Verstraeten, Marie Vinck who are the Directors, Dramaturgs & Set Designers. They also perform in Works and Days together with additional cast members Susan De Ceuster, Gert Goossens, Fumiyo Ikeda, Maryam Sserwamukoko.


A superb set piece center stage suggests a rusty plough from long ago. In fact, we are being taken back to when people lived on and from the land. The cast of eight characters wear unmatched work clothes in gray and brown tones with costume design by An d’Huys are clearly at home in this stark environment.


This is a world where farmers forge tools with their bare hands and use only body strength to work across fields – sometimes pushing a well used plough to rip up the earth. Others sew seeds as they follow the ploughed earth. Drum beats help the community work together to raise the heavy timber framework of a barn. They find an unsuspecting chicken who gives the townsfolk an egg, the chicken joined in the with sounds and we enjoyed watching its chirruping! Everyone works here to earn a living of the basics, food and a roof over their heads.


From a sacrifice nailed to a pole shows they are really living off the land and use everything – unlike the waste that is produced from our busy lives today. However, this is an offbeat, abstracted expression of daily work and its rituals that is certainly intriguing. Musicians onstage provide the rhythmic strength for everyone to be able to haul up timber structures. Visually, this is theme, design and lifestyle is very appealing and it takes a while to get in step and focus while trying to forget our appendages of technology that most of us insist on carrying around day and night!


While the homesteaders dress up their house with colorful fabric the story reflects how much we pay attention to worldly goods, when we have access to them. However, these townsfolk revere the huge statues of the future by their naked bodies coiling around them. Curious organ music plays at times, or a wonderful haunting tenor sax and more, which add so much to this life before our own reality, from composers and musicians Joachim Badenhorst and Sean Carpio. In fact this is a reality check for us to consider, knowing that there are still people living in these simple times relying on the tried and true farming and harvesting methods, without the technology that we rely on so much today. Highly Recommended!

 4 Stars!


More information:

Edinburgh International Festival
https://www.eif.co.uk/

Aug 09 2025
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Dance People at Edinburgh International Festival 2025

By Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin
For All Events

Dance People

Maqamat, the French-Lebanese contemporary dance company in collaboration with Cie Omar Rajesh present the World Premiere of Dance People at the Edinburgh International Festival, August 2025. Set in the beautiful Old College Quad, choreographers Omar Rajeh and Mia Habis create an innovative promenade performance with their dance company – that also invites the audience to mingle, sometimes join in and become part of the experience!


Ten dancers including Rajesh and Habis move around the huge quad space in combinations of solos, duets and small groups. Sometimes the entire ensemble dances together to original pieces set to vibrant music with dramatic lighting and roaming sets. Their aim is not only to offer a joyful experience but to also welcome the audience in to be more than passive observers. In fact, from the beginning, the space is open for the audience to roam around, watch – or to be among the set pieces comprising huge metal structures with lights and a musician. This sets up an interesting dynamic where audience members are participants when invited and are free to watch all of the production from anywhere in the quad. People are guided by the advance of the tall metal structures that sweep around us, pushed by the company opening or moving the observers to create new performance spaces.


The dancers are outstanding and they also briefly interact each other and everyone watching. A dynamic eclectic colorful costume design by highlights individuality of each performer. Choreography is vibrant and original mainly fast movement with some slower paced motifs. The. Lighting design by Guy Hoare is beautiful and creates not only atmosphere but also highlights performing space. There is no doubt that this show is pushing the boundary between performer and audience – with the addition of how the physical movement of the company spotlights democracy, dictatorship and culture. Later in the piece names of victims of such strife are projected on the set as it moves around reminding us of these times. Lively and soulful music is composed with live interpretation by Mathias Delplanque and Ziad El Ahmadie with voice by Abdul Karim Chaar.

This is a special event with experimental qualities that is moving, meaningful and entertaining. Highly recommended!
 4 Stars!

More information:
www.eif.co.uk

Aug 09 2025
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Tale of a Potato

By Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin
For All Events

Tale of a Potato

What does a potato think about? How are potatoes born and what happens during their lives no mater how short? Batisfera, a theatre company from Italy have the answer in their new show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025! Potatoes are sturdy and functional vegetables and so is the interesting set for his show. We are greeted in a kitchen with an island counter for preparing food but in this case the wooden table top is the stage for the characters or rather the vegetables! 



Our host is performer Valentina Fadda who skillfully moves the potato and its friends and relatives around the stage in a charming tabletop object puppetry style. Valentina developes a rapport with the audience as she begins to narrate the story, intermingled with conversations of the characters through her voice. Let’s start, she proclaims and we are in her care for this thirty minute show. We meet he most important character, the potato, and Valentina calls out it the Protagonist. We follow the potato through parts of its life meeting other vegetables such as the tall aubergine and personable squat cauliflower as the modest potato’s life journey begins.

Written and directed by Angelo Trofa the tale is fascinating and imaginative. Creative lighting design by Luca Carta is simple but effective and transforms with the set seamlessly for different scenes. The music by Luca Spanu supports the mood and action of the story well. Generally the sound levels might benefit from tweaking here and there in this space in order to appreciate and understand the narration when spoken fast or loud music when the narration happens.

Each new character has enough personality to keep this story moving and developing. Some of the most effective moments are when the narrator’s voice shares slowly and softly suggesting a tender moment of the life of our Protagonist Potato.

Months and seasons pass including a beautiful, wintery scene efficiently brought onstage and off. The dark atmosphere with the mini lighting in this bijou theatre is effective for these tubers et al to share their story. The writing moves swiftly from narrative to dialogue and questions for the audience to contemplate. It flows well yet at times I found myself wondering what was happening exactly, matching the narration with the action. There is much charm about this show and no doubt it will develop and finesse as the run progresses. Recommended!

More information:
https://www.batisfera.com/about-2/