Theatre
Ravenscourt, Hampstead Theatre review - strong, but slenderSaturday, 08 October 2022
Therapy is inherently dramatic. After all, it’s all about character – and it has the aim of producing a recognizable change. But who is the most affected by the process: client or therapist?Georgina Burns, a graduate of Hampstead Theatre’s Inspire... Read more... |
The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Rose Theatre review - new production of classic proves a gruelling experienceFriday, 07 October 2022
Brecht – as I suppose he intended – is always a shock to the system. With not a word on what to expect from his commitment to the strictures of epic theatre in the programme, a star of West End musical theatre cast in the lead and a venue... Read more... |
The Boy with Two Hearts, National Theatre review - poignant yet humorous story of family forced to flee AfghanistanThursday, 06 October 2022
It’s particularly poignant to watch this story in the knowledge that a little over a year after US-led troops withdrew from Afghanistan, women and girls are enduring a renewed repression of their rights under the Taliban. The real-life story of The... Read more... |
James IV: Queen of the Fight, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh review - revelatory historical dramaThursday, 06 October 2022
"The poem is real," intones entertainer-turned-courtier Ellen solemnly as a prologue and epilogue to Rona Munro’s vivid, vibrant new James IV: Queen of the Fight, presented by Scottish producers Raw Material and Edinburgh’s Capital Theatres in... Read more... |
Only an Octave Apart, Wilton's Music Hall review - instant charm, infinite varietyTuesday, 04 October 2022
You know you’re in good company the minute these two appear on stage: they are so splendidly what they are, comfortable in their own skins and perfect in role-play. Justin Vivian Bond, consummate trans cabaret artist, meets Anthony Roth Constanzo,... Read more... |
Iphigenia in Splott, Lyric Hammersmith review - raises as many questions as answersMonday, 03 October 2022
It’s hard to keep up with what terms are in vogue amongst those who insist on classifying and vilifying young people, but one that you don’t hear so often these days is NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Back in 2015 when Gary Owen's... Read more... |
The Crucible, National Theatre review - visually stunning revival of Miller's classic dramaSaturday, 01 October 2022
How can this beauty arise from such ugliness? The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s 1953 drama about the Salem witch trials of 1692, is rife with unwavering prejudices, selfish slander, and sickening motives. But under Lyndsey Turner’s aesthetically... Read more... |
John Gabriel Borkman, Bridge Theatre review - amusing tale of awful peopleFriday, 30 September 2022
It always feels special when a play speaks so directly to an audience that you feel and hear the ripples of recognition across the auditorium. And when disgraced banker John Gabriel Borkman roars that, “There are different rules for exceptional... Read more... |
Jews. In Their Own Words, Royal Court review - calling out ancient prejudiceThursday, 29 September 2022
What is the Royal Court theatre for? Is it a space that stages innovative new writing, or does it prefer to do documentary theatre? Is it concerned with reaching out beyond its regular audiences, or is it more focused on its own internal problems?... Read more... |
Eureka Day, Old Vic review - fun if not entirely fulfillingMonday, 26 September 2022
Can a play peak too soon? That's the quandary that attends the Old Vic airing of Eureka Day, Jonathan Spector's on-point if overextended comedy that was written prior to the pandemic but has absolutely come into its own just now. A skewering of... Read more... |
The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Theatre Royal Stratford East review - wild trip gets a welcome revivalSaturday, 24 September 2022
Lisa has lost an hour in a (somewhat contrived) temporal glitch. As a consequence, her world is always sliding off-kilter, not quite making sense, things floating in and out of memory. A watchmaker (himself somewhat loosely tethered to reality)... Read more... |
'The first thing I do when I wake up is write.' Hilary Mantel, 1952-2022Friday, 23 September 2022
Hilary Mantel, who has died at the age of 70, was a maker of literary history. Wolf Hall, an action-packed 650-page brick of a book about the rise and rise of Thomas Cromwell, won the Man Booker Prize in 2009. Three years later its successor,... Read more... |
