News / Le Gateau Chocolat’s Liminal opens at The Kings Head

LIMINAL written and directed by Le Gateau Chocolat.  Co-written and narrated by Tommy Bradson and is performed by Robert Barbaro, Grace Nyandoro, Honey Rouhani, and Dan D’Souza  

Perhaps we need a handle on this word, which is certainly new to me!  LIMINAL: OCCUPYING A POSITION AT, OR ON BOTH SIDES OF, A BOUNDARY OR THRESHOLD.

Exploring the bittersweet richness of the dark, with the creamy decadence of the light, Le Gateau Chocolat joins forces with King’s Head Theatre to create a brand new show. Each night, a specially curated operatic song cycle will offer a meditation on where do we go and who do we become when we lose our anchor?

For years, in a small room at the back of a pub, audiences have seen the greatest operas reworked, reimagined, and updated. But what happens when Tosca takes her taxi home at the end of the night? When Figaro has a zoom meeting at 11.00am?

King’s Head Theatre favourites and some exciting new voices explore the space between the persona and the person in a new honest and emotional response to the world away from the glamour.

Developed and directed by Le Gateau Chocolat, this is a raw personal look at opera and the people who perform it. Different for each cast, opera doesn’t get more intimate than this.

Le Gateau Chocolat’s work spans drag, cabaret, opera, musical theatre, children’s theatre and live art. His bewitching baritone has been heard in previous works Le Gateau Chocolat (2011), I ❤ Chocolat (2012), In Drag (2013 Royal Festival Hall commission) and BLACK (2014 Homotopia commission), which toured with music ensemble Psappha in 2017. His children’s show Duckie premiered at the Southbank Centre in 2016, was included in the Guardian’s ‘6 of the Best Shows for Children’ of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018 and will be at HOME, Manchester this Christmas (2021).

His recent production ICONS has toured the world and an up-scaled version included accompaniment from the Little Coco Orchestra, a Le Gateau Chocolat initiative to support diverse musicians through the creation of an ensemble formed entirely of women of colour.

Le Gateau Chocolat has been invited to perform at prestigious venues including The Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre and Sydney Opera House. He has worked with composers Julian Philips, Jonathan Dove, Jocelyn Pook and Orlando Gough.

Le Gateau Chocolat appeared in Wagner’s Tannhauser, starring Stephen Gould, which opened the 108th Bayreuth Festival in 2019 and attracted headlines around the world for the reaction to his participation as a drag artist of colour. He most recently appeared in Emma Rice’s Bagdad Cafe at the Old Vic Theatre (2021)

It runs at the King’s Head from Weds, 29^th September to & Sat, 23^rd October

Time:  7.00pm (Tues – Sun) / 8.45pm (30^th Sept & 1^st Oct)     (Sat & Sun Matinees – 3.00pm)

If I were you I would call the box office as it sounds like this is an exciting, creative and original piece of theatre

Box Office: 0207 226 8561

Online: www.kingsheadtheatre.com

Author: Paul HegartyPaul is a reviewer and an experienced actor who has performed extensively in the West End (Olivier nominated) and has worked in TV, radio and a range of provincial theatres. He is also a speech, drama and communications examiner for Trinity College London, having directed productions for both students and professionals and if not busy with all that he is then a teacher of English.