Upstairs at the Gun There is a saying, recently imported like other Chappell Roan-ims, that states you shouldn’t waste a Friday night on a date. This need not apply to long-term couples, over 30s, or those of us who don’t own a glittery one-piece. Sometimes all you want is dancing candles, white tented tablecloths, goo goo eyes, and an evening ...

Trafalgar Theatre As it my first time at Whitehall’s theatre since its rebrand and absorption by the Trafalgar Entertainment empire, I was wide-eyed. Despite the D and C list celebrities plaguing my memory and the traffic-jammed bar area, the auditorium has been lovingly restored to its 30’s art deco splendour. So, we settle in for a Jacobean revenge tragedy, what ...

‘Much more than quite good’ How do you make Zone 2 of London, less than 15 minutes’ walk from the cacophony that is Dalston Junction, feel like a village? As a restaurant owner, you cannot simply transplant a duck pond, beaming locals or rolling hills. What you can do is craft a cafe seemingly built of pure sunlight and balanced ...

‘Extremes are the rule of the day’ Almeida Theatre Morfydd Clark (centre) shines in Roots. Photograph: Marc Brenner Double trouble indeed. Staging two different plays with the same cast on alternating days is quite the gift for an actor. But what about the audience? The end of the 1950s in England was a time of great political and personal upheaval: post-war, ...

‘An utterly smashing time’ ‘Smashing’ is the new hot food term, the casual dining obsession. But how does something originating in the truck stops of the Great Lakes region settle into our hyper-polished metropolis? Growing up vegetarian, and in the depths of rural Devon, McDonald’s and Burger King were a forbidden world of meaty, smoky sin – only glimpsed on ...

National Changgeuk Company of Korea Barbican Centre Although the traditional Korean art form of Changgeuk, Shakespeare’s King Lear and the Barbican all seem rather randomly thrown together, it’s a delicious concoction that has been brewing for longer than you might have expected. What a way to kick of the 11th year of the K-Music Festival! Now a little (and skin deep) ...

Clod Ensemble & Nu Civilisation Orchestra Barbican Centre Mea culpa, mea culpa, this review will be part apology, part whinge and hopefully just a little amusing. Picture this, a rushed theatre critic, invited by a trusted PR person to his favourite venue, quickly skims the show’s blurb, sees jazz, dance and a transformed space. Scuttles down on the day in ...

‘It’s the little touches that count’ 18 Stoke Newington High St, London N16 7PL This is a tale of food, fire and flood. Let me explain. My predecessor reviewed TA-KO in 2018 when it was already doing a roaring trade in literary-themed cocktails and a fiery combination of Asian-Mexican influences, focused around the little cylindrical taco (did you just get ...

‘Refreshing but unfathomable Park Theatre Two years ago, in this very theatre, I reviewed Carey Crim’s weighty drama, Never Not Once, about the spiralling after effects of rape. Now her new piece, 23.5 Hours, takes a different angle on the subject of sexual misconduct. Crim builds us a happy, all-American, 21st-century family. Carla Goodman’s middle-class living room-cum-diner houses enigmatic teacher ...

‘The preciousness of youth Arcola Theatre At the age of about 30, nostalgia really starts to kick it up a gear. If you’re over that great age, I am sure you will scoff and chuckle at this naive statement. If you’re under 30, or specifically, under 20, stop reading and go and do something foolish that you can be nostalgic ...