Theatre
King Lear, Duke of York's Theatre, review - towering Ian McKellenFriday, 27 July 2018
Jonathan Munby's production starring Ian McKellen, first seen last year in Chichester and now transferred to the West End, reflects our everyday anxieties, emphasising in the world of a Trump presidency, the dangers of childish, petulant... Read more... |
Exit the King, National Theatre review - vivid, brilliant production that somehow leaves you feeling emptyThursday, 26 July 2018
The image of a raging, narcissistic tyrant, convinced that he can crush even death into oblivion, has all too many resonances these days. So this visually spectacular National Theatre resurrection of Ionesco’s 1962 play, adapted and directed by... Read more... |
Spamilton, Menier Chocolate Factory review - fun if overstuffedThursday, 26 July 2018
If it's possible to have somewhat too much of a good thing, that would seem to be the case with the British premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory of Spamilton. The latest in the indefatigable catalogue of New York songwriter-satirist Gerard... Read more... |
Brian Friel, the private playwright of BallybegWednesday, 25 July 2018
Brian Friel, who died in 2015 at the age of 86, was a shy man who shunned interviews, keeping his powder dry for the work and shrouding his personal life in mystique. Not that he never opened his mouth at all. When Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) was... Read more... |
Pity, Royal Court review - whacked-out and wearingSaturday, 21 July 2018
The apocalypse arrives as a series of collegiate sketches in the aptly-named Pity, the Rory Mullarkey play that may well prompt sympathy for audiences who unwittingly find themselves in attendance. Less provocative by far than this same writer's... Read more... |
Allelujah!, Bridge Theatre review - hilarious but dark, darker, darkestFriday, 20 July 2018
The NHS is us. For decades our national identity has been bandaged together with the idea, and reality, of a health service that is free at the point of delivery. Such an object of myth and pride cries out for comic treatment, and now the spritely... Read more... |
A Monster Calls, Old Vic - wild, beautiful theatre that beguiles and bruisesThursday, 19 July 2018
A raw pagan vitality animates this extraordinary story about a teenage boy wrestling with tumultuous emotions in the face of his mother’s terminal illness. Director Sally Cookson has taken the potent blend of myth and realism in Patrick Ness’s book... Read more... |
End of the Pier, Park Theatre review - thought-provoking play about comedy and raceTuesday, 17 July 2018
Les Dennis was once a marquee name on Saturday night television as host of Family Fortunes, but since giving up the light entertainment lark he now plies his trade as an actor, and a very good one at that. If you've not seen it, give yourself a... Read more... |
The Lehman Trilogy, National Theatre review - an acting tour de forceSaturday, 14 July 2018
There's surprising and then there's The Lehman Trilogy, the National Theatre premiere in which a long-established director surprises his audience and, in the process, surpasses himself. The talent in question is Sam Mendes, who a quarter-century or... Read more... |
Alkaline, Park Theatre review - faith, friendship and failureSaturday, 14 July 2018
Britain is rightly proud of its record on multiculturalism, but whenever cross-cultural couples are shown on film, television or the stage they are always represented as a problem. Not just as a normal way of life, but as something that is going... Read more... |
As You Like It, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre review - love among the bucolic hippiesFriday, 13 July 2018
It's been raining in Regent's Park. On a balmy summer evening during a prolonged dry spell – perfect for outdoor theatrics – it seems ironic to tempt fate by creating artificial downpours and thunderstorms. But this music-filled, modern-dress... Read more... |
Pick of the 2018 BBC Proms: women composers first and last, blockbuster BernsteinThursday, 12 July 2018
Let's be honest, this is the least interesting Proms season on paper for years, at least in terms of adventurous repertoire choices, following on the heels of the best in 2017. Yet in statistical terms it's more comprehensive and multi-media-... Read more... |
