thu 28/11/2024

Theatre Reviews

Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: Bellringers / Suitcase Show

David Kettle

Bellringers, Roundabout @ Summerhall  

Read more...

The Birthday Party, Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath review - Pinter still packs a punch

Gary Naylor

Before a word is spoken, a pause held, we hear the seagulls squawking outside, see the (let’s say brown) walls that remind you of the H-Block protests of the 1980s, witness the pitifully small portions for breakfast. If you were in any doubt that we were anywhere other than submerged beneath the fag end of the post-war years of austerity, the clothes confirm it. And a thought surfaces and will jab throughout the two hours runtime: “How different are things today in, say, Clacton?”

Read more...

Peanut Butter & Blueberries, Kiln Theatre review - rom-com in a time of Islamophobia

aleks Sierz

At one point, in John Fowles’s 1977 novel The Magus, the guru character in the story compares sexuality before and after the 1960s. He says that although “young people can lend your bodies now, play with them, give them as we could not”, there is also a loss – “a world rich in mystery and delicate emotion”.

Read more...

Death of England: Michael / Death of England: Delroy, Soho Place review - thrilling portraits, brilliantly performed, of rebels without a cause

Helen Hawkins

Two boys in east London, one Black, one white, grow up together, play pranks at school, then decades later have a tempestuous falling out. That’s the main narrative arc of these twin plays, but it accounts for none of their extraordinary richness and the superlative acting they entail. 

Read more...

Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: Adam Riches: Jimmy / TERF

Veronica Lee

Adam Riches: Jimmy, Summerhall 

Read more...

Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: The Sound Inside / So Young

David Kettle

The Sound Inside, Traverse Theatre

Read more...

Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: In Two Minds / My English Persian Kitchen

David Kettle

In Two Minds, Traverse Theatre  

Read more...

The Grapes of Wrath, NT Lyttelton review - a bleak journey into migrant purgatory

Helen Hawkins

It’s a brave company that embarks on a staging of John Steinbeck’s award-winning 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. A grim study of human goodness in an unrelentingly cruel universe, it’s a long slog for both cast and audience.

Read more...

The Years, Almeida Theatre review - matchless acting quintet makes for a must-see

Matt Wolf

The title sounds as if we ought to be in for an evening of Virginia Woolf, and, indeed, one of the astonishing women on view (Deborah Findlay) was in fact a co-star of the recent West End version of Orlando. In fact, this late-summer offering is a scorching reminder of the power of European theatre at a venue, the Almeida, that has of late focused its attentions (often very well) on the American repertoire, from Tennessee Williams to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, amongst others.

Read more...

Fiddler on the Roof, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre review - dazzling gem of a production marks its diamond anniversary

Gary Naylor

If I were a rich man, I'd be inclined to put together a touring production of Fiddler on the Roof and send it around the world, a week here, a week there, to educate and entertain. But, like Tevye, I also have to sell a little milk to put food on the table, so I’ll just revel in the delights of this marvellous show in the theatrical village nestling within Regent’s Park.

Read more...

Pages

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.


latest in today

Help to give theartsdesk a future!

It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.

It followed some...

All We Imagine as Light review - tender portrait of three wo...

Documentary maker Payal Kapadia scored this year’s Cannes Grand Prix with her debut feature film, All We Imagine as Light, ...

Album: Hibernacula - Three Cane Whale

Since their eponymous 2011 debut, Three Cane Whale have kept it small without losing scale. A trio of Spiro’s Alex Vann, Get The Blessing’s Pete...

Jeff Young: Wild Twin review - a box of tricks

The writer, performer, and lecturer Jeff Young’s latest, Wild Twin, tells – ostensibly – the story of his barefoot, Beat-imitative...

Album: The Innocence Mission - Midwinter Swimmers

A sycamore tree is described to an appaloosa horse before it is mounted to ride off to visit a friend. The thread used for sewing evokes a map...

Witches review - beyond the broomstick, the cat, and the po...

From James I’s campaign to wipe out witchery to the feuding sister sorceresses of The Wizard of Oz and the new film musical ...

EFG London Jazz Festival round-up review - youth, age, and t...

Jazz music crosses, mixes and unites generations, and the 10 concerts I’ve seen at this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival (out of more than 300 in...

First Person: singer-songwriter Sam Amidon on working in Din...

Walking in the morning from my Airbnb along the road in West Kerry...

EFG London Jazz Festival 2024 round-up review - from Korean...

November can be a month to hunker down for the onset of winter and its weather, and where better to do that than in one of the myriad venues...

All's Well That Ends Well, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse revi...

"All’s well that ends well". Sounds like the kind of phrase a guilty parent says to a disappointed child after they’ve been caught...