King’s Head Theatre 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 Montagu, rightfully revelling in her taste ...
The Yard As you might have guessed from the title, this will be a reasonably adult review, for a very adult show. So, snatch the paper away from your 7-year-old, or turn off their iPad. Done? Have they gone? Now it’s just us grownups. As Storm Darragh rattled around outside, another maelstrom was raging inside The Yard. Added cushions and ...
London Palladium The best thing about theatre is its ability to revive an esoteric hit. Do you remember fondly the 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine? If yes, how about the subsequent 2004 musical with a book by Jeffery Lane and lyrics and music by David Yazbek? If you answered affirmative to both those questions, then ...
Arcola Think Sex and the City (and Robots) meets a purple-coded Black Mirror, and you are close to David Head’s hit one-man Edinburgh fringe show. But with dystopia very much blending into the daily news, how do you invigorate a crowded genre? I, like many writers, am a bit of a nerd. Big-budget sci-fi sends my pulse racing-distant shifting sands, ...
The Pit, Barbican Centre Halloween (otherwise known as gay Christmas) is an odd festival. Originally Samhain, celebrating “when summer goes to rest”, licked by the fire of the witch trials and now co-opted by the capitalist devils, wrapping everything in plastic and pumpkin-themed tat. Is the aim to be titillated, terrified, or thoughtful about the fleetingness of existence? On the ...
Crazy Coqs Below 21st-century London, 1930’s Weimar Berlin is resurrected this Halloween by a handsome 90-something-year-old vampire, with a flair for theatre and a formidable voice. Spooky season at over, say, age 35 can be tricky. If you are childless and not a costume lover, what can you do to honour Samhain that isn’t just flopping on the sofa trying ...
Empress Place PT Barnum’s shadow looms large over the circus scene, possibly due to the top hat. Supersizing the genre to the “Greatest Show on Earth” his legacy has spawned a 2017 film grossing $459 million worldwide, multiple stage productions and now a “spectacular” in a redeveloped strip under the Mayor’s new Counter Terrorism Operations Centre. Like many musical theatre ...
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 ...
‘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, ...
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) ...