Theatre
I, Joan, Shakespeare's Globe review - a non-binary retelling that's as ebullient as it's irreverentFriday, 02 September 2022
This raw, joyous, irreverent take on Joan of Arc made headlines before opening night for its depiction of the fifteenth-century warrior saint as non-binary. Yet what shines out in Charlie Josephine’s fresh, deliberately pared-down script is that all... Read more... |
Ride, Charing Cross Theatre review - A true story of female empowermentThursday, 01 September 2022
Who tells your story? Something of a theme in new musicals since Hamilton posed the question in those long ago pre-Covid, pre-inflation days. In Ride, the once famous cyclist who had hardly ever ridden a bike, Annie Londonderry, circumvents the... Read more... |
Into The Woods, Theatre Royal Bath review - If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surpriseFriday, 26 August 2022
What will get audiences back into theatres? Revivals of old favourites. Works from popular genres like musicals. Pantomimes. This production of Into The Woods kinda ticks all those boxes, but it also ticks the box that matters most. It is a unique... Read more... |
Treason The Musical In Concert, Theatre Royal Drury Lane review - plenty of musical gunpowder but not enough plotThursday, 25 August 2022
A semi-staged concert performance of a musical is a little like a third trimester ultrasound scan. You should see the anatomy in development, the shape of what is to come and, most importantly, discern a heart beating at its centre. But you can’t... Read more... |
The End of Eddy, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - powerful but lacking compassionTuesday, 23 August 2022
Those working-class people really are appalling, aren’t they? Racist, sexist, definitely homophobic, violent too. Thank god our young hero can escape their clutches into the safety of a nice, bourgeois acting academy where he can be his true self.... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2022 review: The StonesMonday, 22 August 2022
In many ways, The Stones is what the Fringe is all about: a new theatre company (London-based Signal House); a single actor; a small black-box space; just a chair, a bit of smoke and some almost imperceptible lighting changes for a staging. And with... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2022 reviews: Ode to Joy / WilfFriday, 19 August 2022
Ode to Joy (How Gordon Got to Go to the Nasty Pig Party), Summerhall ★★★★★You receive a glossary on your way in to James Ley’s high-voltage, high-camp Ode to Joy in the ancient, steeply raked lecture hall-cum-theatre of Summerhall’s Demonstration... Read more... |
The Trials, Donmar Warehouse review - chillingly compellingThursday, 18 August 2022
Dystopian theatre takes many forms – but this is the first which is a jury-room drama. Dawn King has previously explored the world of double-think and the use of fear and fake news by oppressive regimes in her 2011 drama, Foxfinder, and now... Read more... |
Wonderville Magic and Cabaret review - fast-paced show delivers the promised wonderWednesday, 17 August 2022
There’s nothing quite like magic, live, up close and personal. Sure there are the TV spectaculars, the casino resort mega-shows and even The Masked Magician to pull back the curtains, but there’s a frisson in the air when the card that’s in your... Read more... |
Room, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - decadent, extravagant, and somewhat mystifyingTuesday, 16 August 2022
"I feel I owe you an explanation." That much James Thierrée concedes partway through his sprawling, freewheeling, dream-like, hallucinatory Room in Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre. By which stage, most of the audience was probably in agreement. It’s a... Read more... |
Counting and Cracking, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - ambitious, powerful, but sadly under-attendedSaturday, 13 August 2022
First, a bit of housekeeping. Maybe it was the three-and-a-half-hour duration, or maybe the unfamiliar Sri Lankan subject matter, or maybe even the very un-festival-like hot weather that put people off an evening inside Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre.... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2022 reviews: Temping / Work.txtFriday, 12 August 2022
Temping, Assembly George Square Studios ★★★★Sarah Jane is away in Hawaii. But don’t worry – she’s left plenty of instructions for your day temping in the actuaries’ office, checking voicemails, answering emails, updating spreadsheets. After all, it’... Read more... |
