Theatre that is transformative is not necessarily professional, or expensive. It is courageous in what it does. It is always offers a new insight and its risk-taking stays with you for years, and when someone asks “the most memorable theatre you have seen”, these productions become your yardstick. So looking back over 2019, what leaps out in my memory? Jay James Moody in Squabbalogics’s Herringbone at the KXT in January launched 2019 for me. I confess to being a fan of Squabbalogic’s work – there is not one musical of theirs that has not pushed us to the edge and challenged with its creativity and innovation.
I think my favourite theatrical venue is emerging as the KXT because the work there is always innovative. Mostly it pays off and when it does not, the misses are minor. An apocalyptic U.B.U was brilliantly reimagined there. Every company performing there takes risks, and theatre should never be a safe place.
So rather than a show as such, I would rather nominate a venue which offers a safe space for companies to be completely unsafe in their creative vision.
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
