‘A beautiful parable for modern times’ Dappled light breaks through the boughs of a large oak tree, down into a sad-looking garden that fills the stage at the Almeida – the first and last image of Mike Bartlett’s returning 2017 play Albion. A lot has changed politically since then, but the star-studded, topical and subtle questions of the piece stay with ...
‘Thrilling, inquisitive and well-acted’ Who is safe? How do you know? What if you’re wrong? These are the questions at the centre of Gut, Frances Poet’s thrilling four-hander, performed by recent graduates of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The drama follows Maddy (played by Sophie Doyle) and Rory (Mackenzie Heynes) as they raise their three-year-old son Joshua in the ...
‘If all mime is this energetic, sign me up’ Just at the tail end of the London International Mime Festival is the French company Galactik Ensemble, with their 2017 show Optraken. Normally (and unfairly) I avoid this wonderful festival, having flashes of white face paint, berets, and deathly silence. Although equally French, this daredevil, hair-brained comedy is phenomenal and cacophonous. From ...
It may have bitten off more than it can chew in its themes of pain, lust, longing, comedy, tragedy, horror and humanity, but Sex/ Crime certainly has moments worthy of attention As “I’m So Excited” thumps overhead, we settle in upstairs at the Soho Theatre for an evening promising pain, lust, longing, comedy, tragedy, horror and humanity. And ff you think that’s ...
Jake Brunger’s sexual comedy Four Play returns to the London theatre scene. Snappy, sassy and with a cynical undertow, it is interesting to see how this piece has aged since its 2014 debut, considering the breakneck speed at which the theatre world moves. Focusing on the complications of monogamy within the male gay world, we are introduced to Rafe and ...
‘Lavish, beautiful and devilishly funny’ In the mood for a sumptuous ballet? Craving feathers, frolics and frantic movement? How about this year you give the Bolshoi a break and dive into a double Olivier Award-winning show that will make you laugh? Matthew Bourne’s classic The Red Shoes returns to Sadler’s Wells for the third time, and all we can say is thank you. ...
‘Brave but messy reinvention’ “The course of true love never did run smooth” – although from a different play, the line is fitting for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of the bard’s pastoral comedy As You Like It at the Barbican. Despite some exuberant performances – and a giant! – the piece itself takes a less than direct course. The plot centres ...
‘Slick look at life in all its shades’ After making the journey down from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Bryony Lavery’s tasteful adaptation of Alice Sebold’s bestselling 2002 novel The Lovely Bones proves once again that theatre has a magic like no other medium. Starting with murder, this play is as hard going and terrifying as the book and film before it, and ...
‘Classic family drama is given a good shake’ Exploding out of the maelstrom that was Russia in 1910, Maxim Gorky’s political play Vassa manages what many plays try so desperately to achieve – to transmute a complex cultural message but stay entertaining. With enigmatic performances and a very clever adaptation by Mike Bartlett, the classic Russian family drama is given a good ...
‘A shining cast dimmed by technical flaws’ Theatre of Nations continues its culture-spanning mission of touring Russian literature in its original language. It brought Anton Chekhov’s first full-length play Ivanov to the Barbican Theatre this month, along with a second play centred around Vasiliy Shukshin’s short stories. Interestingly, the company’s headquarters, the Korsh Theatre in Moscow, is the first place Ivanov was ever performed ...