Wilton’s Music Hall The UK premiere of Jake Heggie’s chamber opera with libretto by Gene Scheer, based on Terrence McNally’s original script Some Christmas Letters arrives in the peeling perfection of Wilton’s Music Hall. Despite some gusty vocals, the evening’s entertainment is far from pure perfection. Concerned with the trials and tribulations of three members of the Mitchell family. 1986, ...

Islington Green,  ‘Bubbling atmosphere but a lack of Italian flair’ Pasta. Divine companion of the modern city gal or an overrated carbohydrate out to make you fat, bored, and disillusioned at the dinner table? Chef Louis Korovilas’s new venture, Noci, “experimentally” puts pasta centre stage, so it’s shame that it turns out not to be incredibly talkative. Replacing Côte Brasserie ...

Sadler’s Wells Despite the mind-numbingly bad title this piece is showcasing “what makes Rambert Rambert”. Like Tolkien’s glowing Silmarils these 3 short pieces shine forth: individual, interesting, intriguing. Spawned by Dame Marie Rambert after seeing Isadora Duncan perform, almost 100 years of excellence have passed since then. Rambert2 brings a youth wing out into the world as the Rambert school ...

Almeida Beth Steel’s kitchen sink drama weaves the incongruities of family and the reality of our two-party system into the dreams of the Websters. Heavy going, dense, and delightful in a particularly dreary blood-stained sort of way. Right up my jitty (alleyway for the southerners amongst you)! Having grown up partly in Sheffield the reverberations of Thatcherism, the loss of ...

New Wimbledon Theatre “3 nights only, 3 nights only, that’s all you have to spare” Like the famous song One Night Only reminds us, this fleeting opportunity to see the hit 80s musical Dreamgirls must be snatched, and snatched quickly! Mirroring the rise of the record label Motown Tom Eyen’s snappy script/swinging hits, and Henry Krieger’s bombastic music stays relevant ...

Barbican Centre Some would argue we are living in the age of rage currently; scorched land, storm clouds on the horizon, and the constant scream of the internet. But the ancient Greeks, and more specifically the great tragedians step up, “hold my amphora of wine” they claim, we’ll show you rage. Prestigious director Ivo van Hove rises “Ohh you want ...

Matthias Sperling Lilian Baylis Studio Sadler’s Wells should be rightfully proud of its championing of the new, fresh and unusual side of dance. The Lilian Baylis studio is normally where this wacky world flourishes, a hothouse of creativity if you will. Matthias Sperling’s London premiere of his 2019 piece No-How Generator is certainly an experiment, one that ends not with a bang ...

Solera Sadlers Wells I love a good drink. After all, I am British. So, a show based around solera (a system of aging fortified wines by adding younger wines to mature wines to create a perfectly-aged blend) is going to go down a treat. The deeper concept however is untranslatable and forgotten in our cold rainy lexicon. The idea, applicable to art, architecture, ...

Bourgeois & Maurice Soho Theatre Meaninglessness magicked into merriment, existential dread made entertaining and nihilism turned not-so-bad! Take a dive into the razor-filled bath of Georgeois Bourgeois and Maurice Maurice’s latest show. Taking the world by storm, or raining on its parade, either worksWe are greeted by a classic Soho theatre set, silvery lamé curtains, and a humongous piñata with ...

ISH Dance Collective Peacock theatre “Energy” is a word thrown around a lot nowadays when talking about theatre. “He energetically remained static during the fight scene, her energy during the monologue was outstanding”. Energy: overused and under-appreciated…however ISH Dance Collective under the direction of Marco Gerris have resurrected energy into its good old-fashioned format. a blood-pumping, head-spinning, leg kicking good ...