Theatre
Oh What A Lovely War, Southwark Playhouse review - 60 years on, the old warhorse can still bare its teethMonday, 27 November 2023
In Annus Mirabilis, Philip Larkin wrote,"So life was never better than In nineteen sixty-three (Though just too late for me) – Between the end of the "Chatterley" ban And the Beatles' first LP."That might be the only point... Read more... |
Ghosts, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - a claustrophobic descent into purgatoryFriday, 24 November 2023
Henrik Ibsen may well have wanted to shake things up, to rile against the social mores of his time. But his visionary critiques didn’t usually come with anything as radical as, say, optimism. And there’s no more of a downer than Ghosts.... Read more... |
She Stoops to Conquer, Orange Tree Theatre review - much-loved classic rumbustiously updatedThursday, 23 November 2023
Oliver Goldsmith was a literary all-rounder – novelist, poet and playwright – remembered chiefly for one example of each discipline, respectively The Vicar of Wakefield, "The Deserted Village" and, of course, above all, She Stoops to... Read more... |
The Mongol Khan, London Coliseum review - unique operatic spectacle utterly overwhelms flaws in pacing and storyWednesday, 22 November 2023
“But that’s what they’re paying for!” replied my son as we, a little shellshocked by the previous three hours, skirted Trafalgar Square on the way home. I had reservations about some key components of the alchemy that produces great theatre, but... Read more... |
Passing, Park Theatre review - where do we go from here?Monday, 20 November 2023
“It’s nothing like Christmas,” Rachel (Amy-Leigh Hickman) hisses at her brother David (Kishore Walker). She’s trying to wrangle her family into their first ever Diwali celebration, but everything’s going wrong. Her dad Yash (Bhasker Patel) is... Read more... |
Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen, Bush Theatre review - charismatic stand-up routineFriday, 17 November 2023
The Comedian runs, bounces even, onto the stage. The audience immediately applauds. He seizes the mic and makes self-deprecatory gestures. Then he rubs the mic stand suggestively. We laugh. When he turns around we can see a laughing mouth printed on... Read more... |
Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, BBC Two review - the Bard's soul bared in hybrid drama-documentaryWednesday, 15 November 2023
Four centuries on from the publication of the First Folio, is there anything new to be said about William Shakespeare? Well, the fact that there is nothing old to be said about him (very little is known about the life of the glover’s son from... Read more... |
The Time Traveller's Wife, Apollo Theatre review - blockbuster 2003 novel does not quite land as blockbuster 2023 musicalMonday, 13 November 2023
You really don’t want to pick up The Time Traveller’s Wife in a game of charades. Half the clock would be run down just showing that it’s a novel, a film, a TV series and a musical. That spawning of spin-offs over the last two decades is a testament... Read more... |
Nineteen Gardens, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs review - intriguing, beautifully observed two-hander tilts power this way and thatSaturday, 11 November 2023
A middle-aged man, expensively dressed and possessed of that very specific confidence that only comes from a certain kind of education, a certain kind of professional success, a certain kind of entitlement, talks to a younger woman. Despite the fact... Read more... |
Mates in Chelsea, Royal Court review – silly rather than satiricalFriday, 10 November 2023
As Christmas looms, ’tis the season for comedy. And even the traditionally austere Royal Court feels obliged to join in. So here we go again with the same team — writer Rory Mullarkey and director Sam Pritchard — who brought the colourfully... Read more... |
Backstairs Billy, Duke of York's Theatre review - starry and gently subversive, tooWednesday, 08 November 2023
Rarely has a play's opening been so opportune. Just when it looked as if the West End was slipping into decline, along comes the smart, shrewd Backstairs Billy to allay mounting fears of late that the commercial theatre had lost all sense of quality... Read more... |
To Have and To Hold, Hampstead Theatre review - funny but flawedWednesday, 08 November 2023
There’s only a couple of things you need to know about playwright Richard Bean: he started out as a stand-up comic, and he comes from Hull. Oh, and he wears Hawaiian shirts to press nights. So that’s three things. Oh, and that his masterpiece One... Read more... |
