Theatre Reviews
Mother Courage, Southwark Playhouse review - this production is not one for our timesThursday, 09 November 2017
One of the questions that can be asked of Brecht is whether for a modern audience his Verfremdungseffekt — or alienation effect — still works as intended, provoking genuine reflections on justice by distancing audiences from emotional entanglement with the characters. At a time when verbatim and community theatre is accomplishing just that with exactitude and force, it appears that inducing audiences to think morally is most effective when delivered in unexpected ways. Read more... |
The Retreat, Park Theatre, review - funny but a bit flatWednesday, 08 November 2017
Is Buddhism a path to finding spiritual enlightenment – or just an excuse for not facing your personal problems? Given that this question is implicit in the debut play by Sam Bain, script co-writer of nine series of Channel 4’s Peep Show, as well as having other credits on Fresh Meat, Babylon and Four Lions, you’d expect the answer to be the latter. Read more... |
Heather, Bush Theatre review - Harry Potter satire burns brightFriday, 03 November 2017
Harry Potter has a lot to answer for. The phenomenal success of JK Rowling’s books, and of their film versions, and of the stage play (now set to remain in the West End for all eternity), has created a template of extravagant cultural impact that must still be bewitching prospective authors of the next big thing, as well as their prospective publishers and prospective readers. Read more... |
Romantics Anonymous, Shakespeare's Globe review - box of delightsThursday, 02 November 2017
It’s all a bit Dairy Milk. That was, to wrap it in purple foil, the critical reaction to Les émotifs anonymes when it was released in 2011. Not in the UK, though, where Jean-Pierre Améris’s romantic comedy never made it to cinemas. Read more... |
The Exorcist, Phoenix Theatre review - see the movieWednesday, 01 November 2017
Although playwright John Pielmeier, who has written this stage adaptation of The Exorcist, reckons that “I adapted the novel, not the film,” the indelible images from William Friedkin’s 1973 movie were always bound to define an audience’s expectations. Read more... |
The Slaves of Solitude, Hampstead Theatre review - crude, over-dramatic and under-motivatedTuesday, 31 October 2017
The Second World War is central to our national imagination, yet it has been oddly absent from our stages recently. Not any more. Read more... |
Insignificance, Arcola Theatre review - once-iconic play feels overwroughtMonday, 30 October 2017
Terry Johnson's award-winning 1982 play Insignificance hasn't been seen in London since the playwright directed a 1995 revival at the Donmar (though Sam West staged his own production a decade later in Sheffield). Read more... |
Young Marx, Bridge Theatre review - fast-moving but over-complicatedFriday, 27 October 2017
Given the rather uneven record of the National Theatre at the moment, there’s already a certain nostalgia for the days, which came to an end two years ago, when it was run by the two Nicks: Nick Hytner and Nick Starr. Together, they transformed this flagship theatre, offering the world some gloriously entertaining and mega-successful plays, from War Horse to One Man, Two Guvnors. Read more... |
The Lorax, Old Vic Theatre review - a sage tale for young theatre goersWednesday, 25 October 2017
With mentions of Theresa May, cricket jumpers and DMs, Trump slurs and a host of characters with Northern accents, The Old Vic's return version of Dr Seuss' The Lorax, proves itself to be poles apart from the recent, popular Universal Pictures movie. Read more... |
Witness for the Prosecution, London County Hall review - favourable verdict on Agatha Christie classicTuesday, 24 October 2017
Some site-specific theatre feels like a really good fit. You could say, in this case, that it seems like poetic justice. 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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