The Barbican The epitome of a cross-channel-life and 1960s cool, Jane Birkin returns to the stage at the barbican after 3 years of absence. The same charm sits quietly with her,  proving she is so much more than an overpriced handbag. Although linked inexorably with the swinging 60s, and Serge Gainsbourg her professional life after their breakup in the 80s ...

Roman Theatre St Albans The tale of deception in the upper classes is given a roaring 1920’s overhaul. Much like the pace of the jazz age the production races around with frantic energy putting on the Ritz. In the process losing some shades of meaning. Oscar Wilde rightfully seizes the name of wit. His work is infused with the dark contradictions of the ...

Sadler’s Wells From its 1605 publication to its 2022 balletic incarnation, Miguel de Cervantes’s tale of the man from La Mancha has captured hearts and imaginations. Can Carlos Acosta and the full might of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia bring their own spark to the quixotic tale? In 1869 the first balletic production premiered in Moscow, choreographed ...

London Palladium A high-intensity, full-on production that might please the kids but is definitely starting to feel dated. The acclaimed, genre-redefining 1991 animated film of Beauty and the Beast, crafted by musical greats Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, subsequently spawned a less-than-positively received 1994 stage adaption. 2017 saw a middling live-action film remake. Now this current revival of the tale as old as ...

Sadler’s Wells Age is still a contentious subject, both in the Dance world and outside the circle of Sadler’s Wells walls. Inside the venue and others like it, the bodies of the young, fit, and predominantly (at least for most of its history) white humans have been the ones presented to us. 2014 brought a celebration of something different, the Elixir Festival, ...

Sadler’s Wells A shining example of the potential of our international-interconnected world, and a warning of the issues that plague it (quite literally in this sense). The first Pina Bausch Foundation (Germany) collaboration with École des Sables (Senegal). This touring production brings together radical new talent from 14 different African countries to 13 cities across the globe. This feat of ...

Barbican Centre The best thing to come out of Ipswich since Ralph Fiennes (I didn’t know either) Gecko’s surrealist romp The Wedding races around the Barbican. Despite some gifted theatrical magic, I had no idea what was going on….but interestingly I don’t count that as a negative. Amit Lahav (the show’s creator) describes it as “the complex idea of belonging, state, ...

Sadler’s Wells Since its inception in 2015 Kyle Abraham’s theatre company, A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham (standing for Abraham in Motion) has been on an impressive trajectory. A “post-Modern Gumbo” as Abraham puts it, of ideas, Black culture, history, and movement. From their home in New York the company’s far-reaching limbs touchdown in little old London. Requiem: Fire in the Air ...

499 Kingsland Rd, London E8 4AU The most varied of the noodle family, bathed in alkalized water for a softer effect and stewed in a pool of umami-infused goodness. With the fall of the Meiji era in Japan, the introduction of Chinese noodles revolutionised Japanese cooking. Now this dish: Ramen, already an amalgamation of cultures takes on another ambitious leap in the ...

Sadler’s Wells Plato waxed lyrical about it, Edith Warton was cynical about it, and now Israeli dance sensation L-E-V has trotted out their final triptych around everyone’s favourite gooey subject…..Love. Scaling-up in Sadler’s Wells and upgrading once more with famous costume design. The question is, how they will conclude on a topic that’s been done to death? Well…… well is the answer. ...