Barbican, stage review: ‘A Shakespeare classic reborn’A kerfuffle involving ships in the night (almost literally) is the catalyst for possibly the most famous tale of mistaken identity. Farce is given a pleasantly intellectual facelift by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Phillip Breen’s erudite production.Max Jones’ set welcomes us into a world of mid-80’s Middle Eastern luxury. An elegantly crafted recontextualization ...

Rose Lipman Building Nestled amid De Beauvoir Town sits the Rose Lipman community centre, partly Kitsch café/bar, part shared office building, part theatre, and fully intriguing. This is where Foreign Affairs continues its crusade to bring translated plays to the British theatre scene, and where Gens du Pays (Where I Call Home) attempts the leap. The premise and subtext are ...

‘Important but at times formulaic examination of Black masculinity” A lively youthful crowd rustles semi-patiently. The buzzing Yard Theatre is late again. But what we witness is worth the wait – an exploration of Black masculinity and the unequal weights the world loads on individuals. Lanre Malaolu has done it all – film, theatre, choreography, and writing, with a focus on ...

Into the slack, lazy matinee crowd explodes a bull in the Royal Court’s china shop. Thrashing, pointed, and poignant Al Smith’s searing play takes no prisoners, written in the language of power. Having visited the play’s setting myself (the Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia) in my wild and slightly cringe-fueled gap year, my teenaged brain clearly missed the depths, both ...

‘Skewering of Jeff Bezos that sacrifices facts for funny’ In the bowels of the Barbican, two women stand topless, shielded by a plastic curtain and wearing yellow wigs – an unusual start to any Tuesday evening, but one that produces chuckles and cringes in equal measure. Dora Lynn, Kat Cory, and Nora Alexander, also known as In Bed With My ...

Sadler’s Wells Everyone’s favourite equestrian well is alive, half-filled but resounding with tittering shoals of teenagers. My own school trip to Conisbrough Castle seems a little bland in comparison. But it’s fitting that a young audience witness Rambert2, the offshoot of the prestigious elder sibling (Rambert), in its fledgling steps at this venue. 11 dancers battled tooth and elegantly extended ...

Punchy! The Musical comes out swinging. A little like David facing off against Goliath, this ambitious production aims straight at the eyes. Sadly, that’s where the similarity ends, leaving the piece swinging wildly in circles. The premise is an interesting one. It’s based on a true story of mental health struggles and working-class life in 1950s London. George (Punchy) Armstrong (Robert ...

Good things come in threes, the Holy Trinity, the Matrix series, the Sugarbabes. A triptych of exquisite dance under Carlos Acosta’s careful directorship explores different facets of humanity and our relationship to space. They all share one quality: distinctiveness. Kicking things off we have a love letter to Birmingham. A multimedia dive into the city’s industrial past and the contributions ...

‘The right food for the right occasion’ Queen’s Yard is hung with festoons of fairy lights, quietly buzzing on a Tuesday night. Popping up in the cool Howling Hops Brewery, Colombia comes to Hackney Wick. Stepping into the cavernous space, relaxed hip-hop caresses your ears. The pub is more industrial squat than Wetherspoons, with massive silver tanks lining one wall. ...

Peacock Theatre ‘Unpretentious evening of fun’  The Peacock Theatre is packed to the rafters with young and old alike cacophonous in their excitement. All geared up for an evening of energetic Dutch blokes spinning themselves around the stage. The Ruggeds have landed in Holborn. The yearly festival Breakin’ Convention has its fingers in many a creative pie. From the festival itself to Open ...