Park Theatre American playwright Carey Crim’s gutsy emotional drama takes its first faltering steps in the UK. The play attempts to weave various issues surrounding consent and family into an overarching narrative but gets itself twisted in the process. We are ushered into the domestically blissful world of Alison played by Flora Montgomery and her partner Nadine played by Amanda ...
London Cabaret Club Suited, booted, plucked, and tucked we rustle down to the London Cabaret Club for an event loosely based around ‘The Great Gatsby’. However, the event feels more like a P&O cruise around the Caribbean in 1982 than the thumping pulse of New York in 1922. Situated in the sumptuous 1920’s Bloomsbury Ballroom, the space for this immersive ...
New Wimbledon Theatre ‘The father of the rock ballad’ and creator of a genre (‘Steinmanesque’), Jim Steinman’s songs have permeated the cultural consciousness. However, all the leather, Harley-Davidsons and soaring vocals don’t equate to an easy ride for his most famous musical. Like a mix between Peter Pan and Repo! The Genetic Opera, Bat Out of Hell welcomes us into a badly explained post-apocalyptic world ...
Gielgud Theatre Making the long 5 minute commute from the Noel Coward theatre to the Gielgud and on the way changing cast (bye-bye Lily Allen), 2:22 reopens to much acclaim, proving that in our dystopian present the ghost story still has the power to delight. Rather like a mix of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf and The Woman in Black, 2:22 A Ghost ...
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 ...
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 ...