Theatre Reviews
The Rink, Southwark Playhouse - lesser-known musical lands afreshWednesday, 06 June 2018
Two dynamite lead performances and the chance to savour an underappreciated score give genuine charge to The Rink, a decades-old Broadway flop that feels reborn for Southwark Playhouse. Read more... |
The Strange Death of John Doe, Hampstead Theatre review - ambitious but not entirely successfulWednesday, 06 June 2018
Regular air travel is a hassle. All that queuing, all that security, all those hot halls, and then the endless waiting, the bawling kids and the limited legroom. Basically air travel sucks. But at least it’s reasonably safe. The same cannot be said for irregular air travel: stowaways who slip into the wheel wells of planes. Some 96 people have tried this way of avoiding border checks – and most have died. Read more... |
Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios review - family drama, creepy and cruelTuesday, 05 June 2018
Right from the beginning of Simon Evans’s production of Tracy Letts's 1993 play, it’s clear we’re in for an intense, raw experience. A storm of almost symphonic musical accompaniment roars, lightning flashing over the claustrophobic trailer interior where the tight two hours-plus run of Killer Joe will play out. Read more... |
The Two Noble Kinsmen, Shakespeare's Globe review - a breezy bromance served up slightMonday, 04 June 2018
Those who find the Bard tough going – wasn't that one of Emma Rice's admissions back in the day? – should beat a path to The Two Noble Kinsmen, a late-career collaboration with John Fletcher that emerges as Shakespeare lite. Read more... |
Fatherland, Lyric Hammersmith review - loud and proud, shame about the contentSaturday, 02 June 2018
Masculinity, whether toxic or in crisis (but never ever problem-free), is a hardy perennial subject for British new writing, and this new piece from playwright Simon Stephens, Frantic Assembly director Scott Graham and Underworld musician Karl Hyde is a verbatim drama made up of... Read more... |
Translations, National Theatre review - an Irish classic returns with cascading forceThursday, 31 May 2018
What sort of physical upgrade can a play withstand? That question will have occurred to devotees of Brian Friel's Translations, a play that has thrived in smaller venues (London's Hampstead and Donmar, over time) and had trouble in larger spaces: a 1995 Broadway revival, starring Brian Dennehy, did a quick fade. Read more... |
Tartuffe, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - dual-language production loses its wayThursday, 31 May 2018
The idea of producing a classic play in a mix of two languages is pretty odd. What kind of audience is a bilingual version of Molière’s best-known comedy aiming at, you wonder. Homesick émigrés? British francophiles with rusty A-level French? Neither constituency is likely to be satisfied by this curious dish that is neither fish nor fowl. Read more... |
Consent, Harold Pinter Theatre review - exhilaratingWednesday, 30 May 2018
Question: is Consent, transferred from the National to the West End, a sharp-tongued comedy or an acute reinvention of a revenge drama? Read more... |
Break of Noon, Finborough Theatre review - irredeemable?Tuesday, 29 May 2018
I’ve forgotten my wallet. Read more... |
Peter Pan, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre review - ensemble playing at its bestSaturday, 26 May 2018
This exuberant production both clarifies and further complicates the conundrum of Peter Pan. In any production true to Barrie there is an underpinning of sadness, an acknowledgement of the losses we must all suffer: children leave home and adult responsibility takes the place of childhood innocence. Read more... |
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Advertising feature
★★★★★
‘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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