Theatre Reviews
Biscuits for Breakfast, Hampstead Theatre review - hunger and an aching humanityThursday, 18 May 2023
Food is the centrepiece of Gareth Farr’s chilling new play Biscuits for Breakfast. Meals are described so delicately that the rich steams of them cooking are almost scented. But though they are prepared, shared and savoured with fondness, crucially, they are never physically there. Read more... |
4000 Miles, Minerva Theatre, Chichester review - brilliant Atkins in a tender playSaturday, 13 May 2023
Of all the theatrical dames, Eileen Atkins is the one with the least predictable face. She doesn’t bring promises in advance of warm or cuddly, or acerbic or flirtatious. She plays her part like a superb poker player, indeed like someone who is also herself a scriptwriter - she never gives the game away. Read more... |
The Circle, Orange Tree Theatre review - acerbic reflections on the price paid for loveFriday, 12 May 2023
Tom Littler opens his account as artistic director of the Orange Tree Theatre with one of the more radical choices one can make in 2023 – directing a 102 year-old play pretty much how it would have been done in 1921. Read more... |
Operation Mincemeat, Fortune Theatre review - high-octane musical comedy hits the big timeThursday, 11 May 2023
It’s back yet again, Operation Mincemeat, a gift of a story that goes on giving. It surfaced as the 1956 film The Man Who Never Was, based on a 1953 book by Ewen Montagu, one of the MI5 types who came up with the 1943 plan of that name. Read more... |
Ghosts, Abbey Theatre, Dublin review - creating tension from desolationWednesday, 10 May 2023
Church and law are enemies of promise in Ibsen’s tragedy-without-catharis. You can see why this devastating attack on, among other things, the syphilitic sins of the fathers being visited on the hopeful young created a ruckus in the 1880s. It’s still potent thanks to the characters’ complex reactions to social constraints. Mark O’Rowe’s new version for Landmark Productons at the Abbey is faithful to the essence, while sets and costumes only reinforce modernity in period dress. Read more... |
Gravity & Other Myths: Out of Chaos, Brighton Festival 2023 review - eye-boggling acrobaticsWednesday, 10 May 2023
With acrobatics at this level, they make it all look so easy, it’s possible for an audience to become complacent. Read more... |
The Motive and the Cue, National Theatre review - theatrical titans face offTuesday, 09 May 2023
Plays about the theatre are many and varied, from Gypsy and Noises Off to the numerous Shakespeare works that absorb theatrical performance into their very fabric. Read more... |
August in England, Bush Theatre review - Lenny Henry monologue lands a painful one-twoMonday, 08 May 2023
Reggae hits are already playing over the speaker system at the Bush when the audience enters, some jigging to the sounds as they find their seats. The set before us is a living room with a bright orange carpet, a squidgy tan faux leather armchair and a cocktail trolley. Read more... |
The Vortex, Chichester Festival Theatre review - naturalism clogs up Coward's pipesSaturday, 06 May 2023
Sometimes I go outside and look at our kitchen drain. Where there should be a vortex there’s a largely static pool. Tree roots have recently grown through the old pipes, their clumps colonised with fat, dog hair and coleslaw bits, and though a bit of handpumping will shift some of the stale water for a while, it really needs systemic attention from Dyno-rod. A good Dyno-rodding is what Chichester’s new production of Noel Coward’s The Vortex needs too. Read more... |
It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure, Soho Theatre review - disability-led comedy hits hardMonday, 01 May 2023
Just when you’ve relaxed a little, privilege duly checked and confident that you won’t be guilt-tripped for nipping into that disabled loo a few years ago at the National (c’mon, the interval was nearly over and needs must), FlawBored drop a bomb into the narrative. 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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