Featured Stories
-
Review – Hamlet, Young Vic
27 November 2011 3:35 PM | No CommentsMichael Sheen. Not Martin Sheen.
Read More -
Review – Comedy of Errors, National Theatre
27 November 2011 2:15 PM | 1 CommentA couple of years ago the idea of Lenny Henry as a Shakespearean actor was a joke. No longer.
Read More -
Review – Othello, Sheffield Crucible
22 October 2011 9:50 AM | 4 CommentsA guest blog (guest blog!)
Read More -
Review – Simon Callow in Tuesdays at Tescos, Assembly Hall
20 August 2011 9:28 AM | 1 CommentWhat an embarrassing title. I'm embarrassed by it, and I'm not even Simon Callow. ★★
Read More -
Review – The Wheel, Traverse Theatre
14 August 2011 10:05 PM | No CommentsInteresting and technically excellent, but lacking in characters to care about. ★★★
Read More
-
Archive for 2009
-
Review – The Kreutzer Sonata, Gate Theatre
Posted on December 26, 2009 | No CommentsKreutzer Sonata Theatre monologues are a little bit like David Blane stunts – impressive feats, certainly, but not something which is likely to be interesting to watch all the way through. Clare Higgins’ ability to perform Wallace Shawn’s The Fever was impressive, but it didn’t... -
The decade’s best theatre
Posted on December 24, 2009 | 2 CommentsQuick, the future is coming! -
Review – The Priory, Royal Court
Posted on November 21, 2009 | 1 CommentThe Priory The Priory really is a rather old fashioned play. Cast of seven, same setting throughout, lots of people walking on and off for slightly incongruous reasons so that appropriate plot-driving conversations can take place, dramatic tension, character development, the whole lot. After all... -
Review – Othello, Trafalgar Studios
Posted on November 14, 2009 | 3 CommentsI can’t have been the only person who viewed the Northern Broadsides/West Yorkshire Playhouse’s casting of Lenny Henry as Othello as leaden with potential for a truly disastrous theatre spectacle, a respected regional company sacrificing its hard won integrity in favour of celebrity- and novelty-driven... -
Review – Money, Shunt
Posted on November 10, 2009 | 2 CommentsMoney When did Bermondsey get so trendy? When I first arrived in London, losing sight of the river anywhere east of London bridge was immediate precursor to losing your wallet or several pints of blood. It certainly wasn’t the place to go to enjoy loft... -
Review – The Habit of Art, National Theatre
Posted on November 7, 2009 | 3 CommentsAs I’ve previously written, The Habit of Art is a serious undertaking for the National Theatre. The previous Bennett/Hytner collaboration was the much lauded (and enormously profitable) History Boys which did much to bolster Hytner’s reputation at Sellafield on Thames. The comparisons between the new... -
Theatricalia
Posted on October 25, 2009 | 2 CommentsLaunched on Friday, Theatricalia aims to be a kind of IMDB for the theatre, providing details of current and historical productions and cast and crew. This isn’t the first such effort (there’s the Internet Broadway Database, the Internet Theatre Database, etc, etc.) but there are... -
Review – Pains of Youth, National Theatre
Posted on October 25, 2009 | 2 CommentsPains of Youth The plot of Pains of Youth is not entirely straightforward: Desiree wants Marie; Petrell wants Marie but doesn’t want her mothering him, so ends up with Irene; Freder really wants Desiree, but ends up toying with Lucy instead; Lucy doesn’t know what... -
Upcoming at the RSC
Posted on October 24, 2009 | No CommentsThere’s a bunch of new stuff coming up from the RSC, and a few old favourites. In no particular order: Twelfth Night comes to the Hampstead Theatre this winter courtesy of the unstoppable Gregory Doran. Solid casting include Richard Wilson as Malvolio, James Fleet (who... -
Review – ENRON, Royal Court
Posted on October 11, 2009 | 2 CommentsENRON There’s plenty of blame to go around in the story of ENRON, and it would be easy for Lucy Prebble’s play to descend into a hysteria of finger pointing and indignation. But it doesn’t. The production doesn’t pull it’s punches, but it does present...
