Theatre
Our Country's Good, Lyric Hammersmith review - lively but patchy revivalFriday, 13 September 2024
The latest Greatest Hit to land at the Lyric is Timberlake Wertenbaker’s 1988 award-winning play about a performance of Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer by British convicts in a New South Wales penal colony. It’s a piece about a true incident... Read more... |
Why Am I So Single?, Garrick Theatre review - superb songs in Zeitgeist surfing showFriday, 13 September 2024
Going to the theatre can be a little like going to church. One communes on the individual level, one’s faith in the stories underpinned by a psychological connection, but also on the collective level, belief rising on a tide of shared emotions.... Read more... |
The Silver Cord, Finborough Theatre review - Sophie Ward is compellingly repellentSaturday, 07 September 2024
One of the Finborough Theatre’s Artistic Director, Neil McPherson’s, gifts is an uncanny ability to find long-forgotten plays that work, right here, right now. He’s struck gold again with The Silver Cord, presenting its first London production for... Read more... |
Art, Theatre Royal Bath review - Yasmina Reza's smash hit back on tour 30 years after Paris premiereFriday, 06 September 2024
For men, navigating through life whilst maintaining strong friendships is not easy (I’m sure the same can be said for women, but Yasmina Reza’s multi-award winning play, revived on its 30th anniversary, is most definitely about men). What brings... Read more... |
The Real Thing, Old Vic review - Stoppard classic keeps on givingWednesday, 04 September 2024
When it was first produced in 1982, The Real Thing was a turning point for Tom Stoppard, the play that added to the existing perception of him as an immensely witty, intelligent, very theatrical crafter of dazzling conceits, albeit perhaps... Read more... |
G, Royal Court review - everyday realism blitzed by urban mythMonday, 02 September 2024
I live in Brixton, south London; in my street, for many years, a pair of trainers were up in the sky, hanging over the telephone wires. They were there for years, getting more and more soggy, more and more decayed. Urban myth called them a tribute... Read more... |
A Night with Janis Joplin: The Musical, Peacock Theatre review - belting Blues singing in an oddly sanitised formatThursday, 29 August 2024
The signs in the Peacock’s foyer warn that this show features "very loud music”. Exactly what Janis Joplin fans want to hear. This is an evening for them, more a concert than a piece of musical theatre.As a gig-musical, it is a five-star belter,... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: L'Addition / Long Distance / The Sun, the Mountain and MeSaturday, 24 August 2024
L’Addition, Summerhall ★★★★ Bert and Nasi – or, more fully, writers/directors/actors Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas – are virtually Fringe royalty, having carved out a niche in recent years with playful, provocative shows that question... Read more... |
Shifters, Duke of York's Theatre review - star-crossed lovers shine in intelligent rom-comFriday, 23 August 2024
Pete Waterman, responsible (some might prefer the word guilty) for more than 100 Top 40 hits, said that a pop song is the hardest thing to write. Boy meets girl; boy loses girl; boy gets girl back – all wrapped up in three minutes. Benedict Lombe’s... Read more... |
The 39 Steps, Trafalgar Theatre review - return of an entertaining panto for grown-upsThursday, 22 August 2024
Before the Plays That Went Wrong and the multi-role six-hander Operation Mincemeat, there was Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of The 39 Steps: four actors on a collision course with feasibility.Barlow is a comedy hero for creating the National... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: REVENGE: After the Levoyah / Puddles and AmazonsThursday, 22 August 2024
REVENGE: After the Levoyah, Summerhall ★★★★★ The Jews have had enough. After decades – centuries, in fact – of suspicion, name-calling, finger-pointing and violent persecution, they can’t even leave their Gants Hill or Barkingside flats, where... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: Òran / This TownWednesday, 21 August 2024
Òran, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ Glasgow-based theatre company Wonder Fools are having a particularly busy Fringe. Alongside a revival of their excellent football drama Same Team at the Traverse Theatre, their far smaller, more intimate show... Read more... |
