‘A curious and questioning piece with such scope.” Breathing: involuntary, critical, and often taken for granted. Diane Samuel’s premiere starts with the familiar in-and-out heaving of meditation. Gonging steel pan drums and a lead facedown in lotus position unfurl to a convulsive tale of Europe’s greatest shame and the essence of life itself. Isabella Van Braeckel proves that a basement ...

‘Introducing both Hrůša and Biss, an utterly blissful experience from start to finish.’ The evening has a sense of celebration, of newly minted and upcoming grandeur. Jakub Hrůša’s face is one we will gladly get used to as he takes up his post as musical director of the Royal Opera House. Tonight, he leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra, weaving fellow ...

‘I would defy anyone with a beating heart to stay dry-eyed at some of the masterful performances.’ As Blue Monday billows into our lives, instead of fighting it, why not lean into the misery? Musical Theatre fans rejoice in a rather wet way for this evening of classics, mashups and lesser knowns. Buried deep in the soil of the West ...

‘A middle-of-the-road tale’ Originally an earnest memoir by Sergey Fetisov, Firebird: The Story of Roman morphed into a middlingly successful 2021 film written by Peeter Rebane and starring/written by Tom Prior. Now the King’s Head Theatre has given this tale wings once more. But is this flight doomed to end in a cooking pot? The gist, in case both book and film passed ...

‘Leaving a warm feeling’ As a confirmed Londoner, my experience of British wildlife is pretty drab, with flashes of bushy vermilion tails disappearing into my bins. Elsewhere on these storied Isles, I admit to wonder, but rarely is it the focus of the nature industry’s fisheyed lens. The BBC series, headed by our lord and saviour Sir Attenborough, has other ...

‘Like Italy and New York have made sweet love’ I believe it was Aristotle who once said: “A day with pizza is a better day.” I concur wholeheartedly. However, how does one differentiate between the many pop-ups now hawking Italy’s finest export around London? Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with food-nerd jargon about heritage grains, leopard spotting (the burnt ...

‘Yet in a regularly over-serious world satire is just the kick under the table we need.’ Nick Cassenbaum’s smash-hit Edinburgh fringe show gets its London premiere. Exploding into The Yard is a blast of mimed gunshots, uproarious comedy, and biting satire about the Jewish diaspora. The first show of a new year is an important step in any cultured adult’s ...

‘A temple of festivity.’ There are Irish pubs, there are very Irish pubs, and then there’s Skehan’s. The family-run joint doesn’t have a monopoly on the Irish blend of comedy, revelry, and hospitality (known as craic), but it certainly wears the crown. Perched on Telegraph Hill, overlooking all of London’s splendour, sits this temple of festivity. Publican and Limerick man ...

‘A no man’s land of time and place keeps everything suspended somewhat’ There is neither a silent nor holy night featured in the Almeida’s big December production. Instead, we get all the sweaty sauce-sodden scraping of the Pollitt family in a poisonously un-festive production. Tennessee Williams’s most classical play is a sprawling family drama set (not so shockingly) in the ...

‘More a story of our actor/performer/producer than her subject.’ Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is a mouthful of a name, this equally complex woman is “unveiled” by this solo show at the King’s Head, though with too much force and flourish. Writer Thesy Surface sets her sights on theatre and specifically the sadly under-appreciated life of 18th-century aristocrat, poet, feminist and scientist Lady ...