Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s award-winning, critically acclaimed monologue comes to London after a hugely successful Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and it doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. At Soho Theatre. In a play acted and written by the same person, it stands to reason that she will draw most of the focus: in this case, Phoebe Waller-Bridge has long … Continue reading
I had the pleasure of seeing Belarus Free Theatre do their thing last year, so expected their new piece this year to hold few surprises: politics, nudity, angrily-shouted Belarusian, and so on. How wrong I was. At the Young Vic. Belarus Free Theatre are a rather wonderfully odd cultural behemoth – by sheer dint of … Continue reading
We loved The Play That Goes Wrong when it played at the Old Red Lion, and I’m pleased to report that the transfer to Trafalgar Studios has not dented this wonderful new Noises-Off-esque farce – if anything, it’s enhanced it. Mischief Theatre are better known for their improvisational comedy shows, but this scripted departure proves, if anything, … Continue reading
And so on to the second of the Yard’s first week of new work offered through their festival The Generation Game: Bush Moukarzel’s wonderful and elegaic Proustian one-man show Souvenir pastiches À la recherche du temps perdu by deconstructing memory in a collection of beautiful and haunting images. Simply spectacular. Following on from the more experimental To Close Your Eyes … Continue reading
The Royal Court’s 2012 West End season ends with a triumphant transfer of hit show Constellations, which set tongues a-wagging during its first run earlier this year. A beautiful, emotionally powerful and stunning production with a cast of the highest calibre, it easily outstrips most other shows in London for audacity, brilliance and emotional impact. At … Continue reading
John Caird’s varied career has been studded with glittering highs, including directing Les Miserables for the RSC and Hamlet at the National, but this little musical (with a cast of two) has taken a long time to meander its way back to the UK after a successful US tour – a misstep? Good heavens no. … Continue reading
Iqbal Khan’s Indian setting is immediately eye-catching, but this is not just Bhangra Shakespeare. Directed with a subtle eye and with outstanding performances by an excellent cast, this is easily one of the best productions, in terms of detail and enjoyment, that I have seen all year. At the Noel Coward Theatre. Shakespearean comedy set in … Continue reading
Middleton’s nightmare of revenge is once-again played absurdly, but Nicholas Thompson’s production manages to straddle the line between horrifically grotesque and surreal with a dash of 80s flair with aplomb – a brilliant production with excellent performances all round, this is the part of the Old Red Lion’s Rep Season to see! At the Old … Continue reading
Elfriede Jelinek’s postmodern piece Sports Play hits London just in time to comment on the Olympics and the sporting world, be it in a fragmentary and peculiar fashion. It’s great to see this oft-neglected Austrian writer’s work in the UK, and it stands as another great example that there’s much theatre in the wider world that we … Continue reading
Rock of Ages may have just been turned into a lukewarm Hollywood blockbuster, but the West End version still rocks on with exactly the right mixture of silly fun and banging rock classics – a great night out, and exactly what the West End thrives on. At the Shaftesbury Theatre. Like most jukebox musicals, the plot … Continue reading
Three Tom Murphy plays over nigh-on 9 hours may not sound like everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s still every reason to see Druid’s latest mini-season – each individual piece is a remarkable production, but all together they paint a haunting and evocative picture of recent Irish history that will leave you breathless. Conversations on a … Continue reading
Romeo and Juliet, always tragic and often opulent, comes to the wonderfully atmospheric Rose Theatre in an inhouse, “poor theatre” production – and the result is spell-binding, reducing the Shakespeare to pure text and powerful performances by a very strong cast. For a powerful production that analyses the play in all of its beautiful detail, … Continue reading
Ian Michael Fisher’s Lost Musicals have become something of an institution, and it’s easy to see why – he specialises in reviving pieces that haven’t seen the light of day in quite some time, collecting a group of talented performers and producing a ‘rehearsed reading’ of the piece – in this case, Flahooley, an early … Continue reading
Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors is widely regarded as one of the funniest and most successful plays in recent history, receiving rave reviews across the board – the show continues on the West-End with some new cast members. Any worries, however, are swept aside immediately. At the Theatre Royal Haymarket. One Man, Two Guvnors is a … Continue reading
Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is often proclaimed as his masterpiece, and a slew of successful productions and a Tim Burton feature film certainly attest to its lasting appeal. This new West End transfer of the Chichester Festival production, featuring stars Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, captures everything that makes this classic story tick and is a delight to … Continue reading
Brendan Cowell’s play Happy New manages to make the absurd startlingly real, with its tale of brothers raised by chickens, reality TV and the difficulties we all face when we come to leave the nest. With excellent performances all round, this zesty script is brought to energetic life in a production sure to receive the … Continue reading
Winner of Papatango’s New Writing competition 2011, Foxfinder is a haunting and striking new piece. Exceptionally written, directed and performed, this remarkably tense modern parable has all the hallmarks of an instant classic – a superlative achievement from all involved. The rural setting is terse and acerbic, evoking influences from Cold Comfort Farm through Straw Dogs to Kafka, and Dawn King can only … Continue reading
READ THE ORIGINAL REVIEW ON FRINGEREVIEW! LOW DOWN Howard Barker, quite fairly labelled as controversial and difficult to perform, has always been popular outside of his native England, but Good Night Out and the Cock Tavern are now rightly looking to perform more of his work on his native soil – normally territory reserved for … Continue reading
READ THE ORIGINAL REVIEW ON FRINGEREVIEW! LOW DOWN As part of its RediscoveriesUK season, the Finborough Theatre’s revival of Emlyn Williams’ Accolade is another successful revitalising of a powerful, lesser-performed play – a fantastic production, excellently realised with a talented cast, beautiful design and elegant direction, with nary a fault to be criticised. This is … Continue reading
READ THE ORIGINAL ON FRINGEREVIEW! LOW DOWN Bruce Bane is back, this time for a double bill of his impressive one-man shows Bane and Bane 2 in attempt to break the world record for ‘Most Characters Performed in a One Man Show’. While we have reviewed Joe Bone’s one-man performances before, I used the opportunity … Continue reading
Grubby Strugglers 