Theatre Reviews
Hansard, National Theatre review - starry argument ends poorlyWednesday, 04 September 2019
In the current feverish atmosphere at Westminster, with arguments about Brexit becoming increasingly shrill, the time is right once more for political theatre: serious plays about serious issues. Oddly enough, however, while television has effectively dramatized the current crisis, in films such as Channel 4's Brexit: The Uncivil War, theatre seems to take a more oblique approach by setting its stories in the past. Read more... |
The Son, Duke of York's Theatre review - a piercing drama of depressionTuesday, 03 September 2019
A tale of teenage depression and its family resonances, Florian Zeller’s The Son has a devastating simplicity. Read more... |
Bartholomew Fair, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - Jonson's chaotic slice of 17th-century lifeFriday, 30 August 2019
It was a bold choice by director Blanche McIntyre to stage Ben Jonson's seldom performed, sprawling slice-of-life play in the bijou Sam Wanamaker Playhouse rather than Shakespeare's Globe's main stage – even if she has pared down both the script and what seems like a cast of thousands for her modern-dress production. Read more... |
Fleabag, Wyndham's Theatre review - superb swansong for modern classicThursday, 29 August 2019
We're saying goodbye to a much treasured friend. Fleabag will live on, of course – other actresses have and will inhabit the role – but Phoebe Waller-Bridge, its creator, has said this short run at Wyndham's Theatre is the last time she will perform the character on stage. Read more... |
The Secret River, National Theatre review - turbulent tale of Australia's pastWednesday, 28 August 2019
Neil Armfield’s resonant, turbulent production of Kate Grenville’s classic Australian novel The Secret River sing out from the stage of the Olivier like an epic, with its conflicts, culture clashes, and quest for new territories. Read more... |
Appropriate, Donmar Warehouse review - fraught family reunion blisteringly toldFriday, 23 August 2019
You can’t fail to feel the ghosts in Appropriate at the Donmar Warehouse: they are there in the very timbers of the ancient Southern plantation house that is the setting for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s fraught... Read more... |
The Doctor, Almeida Theatre review - Robert Icke's long goodbyeWednesday, 21 August 2019
After six years, associate director Robert Icke bids farewell to the Almeida Theatre. In this time he has pioneered contemporary versions of classic stories, such as 1984, Oresteia, Uncle Vanya, Mary Stuart and Hamlet with Andrew Scott. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2019 reviews: The Red/ Gone Full HavishamSaturday, 17 August 2019
The Red Pleasance Dome ★★★★ Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2019 review: How Not to DrownFriday, 16 August 2019
Urgent, fast-paced, seemingly never pausing for breath, How Not to Drown is a real-life boy’s own adventure, an appeal for compassion towards refugees, and an interrogation of nationality and identity. That’s quite a mix for a show of 100 minutes. Read more... |
Once on This Island, Southwark Playhouse review - folkloric Caribbean musical charmsThursday, 15 August 2019
As British summer really kicks in (umbrellas at the ready), our thoughts might turn fondly to the sunny Caribbean. Good timing, then, for the return of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s 1990 musical set in the French Antilles. Read more... |
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★★★★★
‘A compulsive, involving, emotionally stirring evening – theatre’s answer to a page-turner.’
The Observer, Kate Kellaway
Direct from a sold-out season at Kiln Theatre the five star, hit play, The Son, is now playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited season.
★★★★★
‘This final part of Florian Zeller’s trilogy is the most powerful of all.’
The Times, Ann Treneman
Written by the internationally acclaimed Florian Zeller (The Father, The Mother), lauded by The Guardian as ‘the most exciting playwright of our time’, The Son is directed by the award-winning Michael Longhurst.
Book by 30 September and get tickets from £15*
with no booking fee.
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