The third edition of Croydonites in April/May 2018 featured 12 companies, 7 of them Croydon based. Gill Manly created her first work for the festival ‘Radio Apocalypse’ and Richard DeDomenici brough his Redux project to Croydon to recreate a scene from ‘American Assassin’ (filmed in its original location of St Georges Walk - now partly demolished). Scottee’s ‘Bravado’ came to town, albeit without Scottee who doesn’t perform this particular work. Instead we were lucky enough to have a Croydon local and exceptional performer Jess Mabel Jones in the audience who gamely stepped up to the mike. This was performed in the unusual location of the Croydon Boxing Academy under the flyover. It was a special night.
Parabolic revised their indoor/outdoor immersive ‘Land of Nod’ which took the audience on a rollercoaster ride of Croydon meeting characters (both performers and random locals) on the streets all over the centre of town. It’s the only time I ever need a ‘safe word’ to take part in a show!
Local comedy genius’ Disco Disco were the perfect support act for Sarah Blanc and her giant velvet vagina, and Vinicius Salles gave us dance, graffiti and our own private sound score. More dance from Beeja/Anusha Subramanyam pulled in the crowds for Anusha’s first full length performance in years, whilst Anita Wadsworth’s part workshop, part art event and all anti-anxious-action took place discreetly in doorways in the Whitgift Centre.
The South London Inclusive Dance Experience (SLiDE) relaxed us all in the Braithwaite Hall in a show where the audience invent the title, whilst Pop Up Opera showed us the power of the human voice with buckets of humour at St Andrews Church. We finished off the festival with Natasha Marshall (produced by Soho Theatre and Talawa Theatre Company) in her work ‘Half Breed’, a powerful tour de force about growing up mixed race in rural England. It was a fantastic ending to a packed 3 weeks.
Header photo by Fluid4SIght