seven methods of killing kylie jenner (Oberon Modern Plays)

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In the vacuum of the tweetstorm, Cleo’s childhood friend Kara (Iolanthe) arrives to offer support. With spoken word styling, their fast-and-sharp tweet readings are synchronised with sashaying grace, groovin’ high-definition moves and the high-octane AI thrumming of a chain of identical emojis: hahahahahahahahahaha.

Taking the blessing of community connections to the next level, Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner at the Malthouse Theatre comes with post-show Vyb Nyts. Ambient lights, DJs, performances and delicious food make for the perfect atmosphere to pay homage to women, education, creativity, intelligence and the joy of being part of the brethren. As director, for the Royal Court: Baghdaddy, Maryland, seven methods of killing kylie jenner, Living Newspaper, My White Best Friend (and Other Letters Left Unsaid), This Liquid Earth: A Eulogy in Verse [Edinburgh International Festival], Half Full (& RWCMD), Dismantle This Room.

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Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner’ transfers to the Royal Court’s Downstairs Theatre to open its 2021 season. This review is from its debut Upstairs in July 2019. Leanne Henlon replaces Danielle Vitalis. This is a desperately topical play that wears the politics of gender, identity and race on its sleeve – sometimes too much so. Cleo and Kara openly debate the issues and while they deliver hard-hitting messages, it sometimes feels as if the characters have stepped outside the drama to comment on the world. And despite the intrigue of the title, it feels fairly plotless and sometimes static, even though Lee-Jones’s dialogue is acerbic and entertaining. Cleo wants to kill Kylie Jenner. Her friend Kara just wantsCleo to chill out and stop tweeting elaborate death threats about Insta-celebrities: the title’s ‘Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner’. But for Cleo, the success of 21-year-old ‘self-made millionaire’ Jenner taps into something much deeper. Jasmine Lee-Jones’s powerfully original debut play follows these two female friends having the most blistering, agonising, meme-scattered row of their lives. Nothing’s off-limits, from primary school humiliations to the vast structural privilege that light-skinned women have. Following the successes of its sold-out 2019 premiere and subsequent run in 2021, this award-winning play is now available to stream worldwide for three weeks only.

As Cleo continues her campaign, the tangled throbbing mess overhanging Rajha Shakiry’s dark set lowers ominously over the heads of the characters – the net is closing in. Rajah Shakiry’s set consists of a tangled network of ropes, with dozens of strands hanging down on the performers – the multiple threads of social media made tangible. There are moments of visual wit, too, and Elena Peña’s intricate sound design both drives and punctuates the action.

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Film includes: seven methods of killing kylie jenner, Living Newspaper (Royal Court); HOME(BODY) or The Tall Story (Young Vic); Tiny Dancers (NYT); Yash Gill’s Power Half Hour. When leading international news organisations join the conversation, Cleo is thrilled. Her words are on the world stage, and she is finally heard. Memes of Kermit the Frog sipping tea and Oprah Winfrey colour the conflict, but then the trolls get deeper, darker and dirtier. Offensive to the extreme. As the threats continue, the friendship is put to the test. ‘What’s you’re suffering from is an acute case of lightyitis,’ Cleo tells the paler skinned Kara. ‘You might as well be calling me a half breed,’ Kara retorts. For the Royal Court: two Palestinians go dogging, seven methods of killing kylie jenner, Maryland, Living Newspaper, Baghdaddy. The creative team for seven methods of killing kylie jenner on stage includes: Rajha Shakiry (Designer), Jessica Hung Han Yun and Amy Mae (Co-Lighting Designers), Elena Peña (Sound Designer), Delphine Gaborit (Movement Director), Jemima Robinson (Associate Designer) and Shereen Hamilton (Assistant Director).