Theatre
Nuclear War, Royal Court review - ‘deeply felt and haunting’Saturday, 22 April 2017
Text can sometimes be a prison. At its best, post-war British theatre is a writer’s theatre, with the great pensmiths – from Samuel Beckett, John Osborne and Harold Pinter to Caryl Churchill, Martin Crimp and Sarah Kane – carving out visions of... Read more... |
The Philanthropist, Trafalgar Studios review - 'Simon Callow's direction is underpowered'Friday, 21 April 2017
Christopher Hampton's witty comedy, first performed in 1970, ingeniously inverts Molière's The Misanthrope, centring as it does on a man whose compulsive amiability manages to upset just about everyone.At the heart of the play is Philip, the polar... Read more... |
Whisper House, The Other Palace review - 'a delicately calibrated human story struggling to be heard'Thursday, 20 April 2017
It used to be said that the devil had all the best music. But the devil seems to have lost his touch in this ghost-story rock musical from Duncan Sheik, composer of the stage version of American Psycho and the award-laden Spring Awakening. If the... Read more... |
Guards at the Taj, Bush Theatre review - ‘powerful but ethically troubling’Thursday, 13 April 2017
The Bush is back! After a whole year of darkness, the West London new writing venue has reopened its doors following a £4.3million remodelling and refurb, a project close to the heart of its artistic director Madani Younis. Designed by architect... Read more... |
Carousel, London Coliseum review - 'Katherine Jenkins is game, Boe out-acted by wig'Wednesday, 12 April 2017
“Then I’ll kiss her so she’ll know.” At the sound of his ringing voice, the girls part to reveal him standing there, a hapless monument of rumpled charm. The audience relaxes in pleasure as an easeful actor joyfully shows what you can do with a... Read more... |
The Winter's Tale, Barbican review - Cheek by Jowl's latest wavers in toneMonday, 10 April 2017
This is a well-travelled Winter’s Tale. Declan Donnellan has long been a director who's as much at home abroad as he is in the UK, and with co-production support here coming pronouncedly from Europe (there's American backing, too), Cheek by Jowl... Read more... |
Fracked! Alistair Beaton on his anti-fracking satireSunday, 09 April 2017
If you’d asked me five years ago whether I might one day write a comedy about fracking, I’d have wondered whether you were entirely in possession of your faculties. Not because fracking sounds dull and boring (although let’s be honest, it does), but... Read more... |
Tim Pigott-Smith: from The Jewel in the Crown to King Charles IIISaturday, 08 April 2017
It is the fate of a certain type of well-spoken classically trained actor to wear the livery of the English Establishment. Tim Pigott-Smith, double-barrelled and tall with a high forehead, was one such. But the full arc of his career encompassed... Read more... |
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - 'Damian Lewis devastates'Thursday, 06 April 2017
Asked in an interview if there remained any taboos in the theatre, Edward Albee answered, “Yes. I don’t think you should be allowed to bore an intelligent, responsive, sober audience”. An experienced interviewee, he pokes mischievous fun at a... Read more... |
Expensive Shit, Soho Theatre, review - 'strong but slender'Thursday, 06 April 2017
It’s hot. Real hot. And you’re dancing, just lost in music. You’re at the legendary Shrine nightclub in Lagos, where Afrobeat star Fela Kuti is king. It’s 1994. And it’s hot. Sweat is just pouring off you, no longer in little trickles but soaking... Read more... |
Brighton Festival 2017: 12 Free EventsThursday, 06 April 2017
The Brighton Festival, which takes place every May, is renowned for its plethora of free events. The 2017 Festival is curated by Guest Director Kate Tempest, the poet, writer and performer, alongside Festival CEO Andrew Comben who’s been the event's... Read more... |
Consent, National Theatre, review - thrilling revenge dramaWednesday, 05 April 2017
Rape is such a serious social issue that it’s hardly surprising that several recent plays have tackled it. I’m thinking of Gary Owen’s Violence and Son, James Fritz’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds and Evan Placey’s Consensual. All of these discuss,... Read more... |
