New Wimbledon Theatre and Touring With one of the best origin stories of any book/film/musical, everyone’s favourite personality-filled car (apart from Lightning McQueen and Herbie) soars into the New Wimbledon Theatre. The story of a magic Mercedes chassis saving a single-parent family from a child-hating fictitious Eastern European monarchy still makes little sense, but does it need to? Ian Fleming, of ...
Park Theatre ‘Entertaining and eye-opening’ Did you know that the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) has an erotic section of poems supposedly written by King Solomon? Maybe you did, you clever thing, but I certainly didn’t. The production giving life to this holy book, A Song of Songs, is making its UK premiere at the Park Theatre – educating, entertaining, and opening eyes ...
Barbican Centre Although pity might be thin on the ground for us critics, it is a balancing act of a job. Someone’s baby, their dreams and sometimes livelihoods are affected by our words. Although some would disagree, most of us are not unnecessarily cruel spiteful little sprites. Small-scale or fringe theatre particularly needs a lighter tone and delicate, kinder eye, ...
The Yard When playing nurse and patient gets out of hand. Sami Ibrahim (of Royal Court Two Palestinians Go Dogging fame) explores the culture of aid, grief, and international culpability, all over Tesco meal deal sandwiches. I will explain the latter one, don’t worry. Rosie Elnile’s set is like a cake slice of a training room. Think of the drab ...
Soho Theatre As spring ripens into summer fringe theatre becomes a dangerous activity, temperature-wise. Either the fiery gates of hell or over Aircon ’ed frozen tundra. Emily Woof’s show Blizzard should be the cool blast of air needed in this concrete microwave we call London. Accomplished theatre marker and actor, this show is Woof’s return to the lonely-play-genre. We meet ...
Proud City A Neo-burlesque evening of naughty delight, high on talent but heavy on price. Burlesque’s breadth and variety are commercialised with some success at Proud City, in the bowels of a Neo-gothic temple: The Minster Building: fitting that an architectural revival should be the home of this Neo-burlesque evening of naughty delight. Building from comic shows and musical hall, Burlesque was ...
Almeida Theatr ‘Emotional guts and gore’ In the age of Facebook and Instagram, the whammy of a school reunion is lessened to a certain point. But reuniting with an older version of yourself trapped in the memories of other people is an utterly jarring experience. It is an experience that Branden Jacobs Jenkins tackles with a spectral touch in the ...
Stone Nest Everyone’s favourite 1888 Welsh church-cum-hedonistic-nightclub-cum-theatre-space-cum-downstairs jazz venue plays host to what should be a pertinent evening of theatrical nuptials. “Should be” being the operative statement. In 2015 two convicted criminals, Mikhail Gallatinov and Marc Goodwin married in a civil ceremony in Full Sutton prison in East Yorkshire. Despite bringing no practical change to their prison life, their past ...
Stratford East 2004 was 20 years ago, apparently. I only found this out (and was left aghast) when writing this review. My melted millennial mind still thinks that surely that must be the 90s, and I bet there are those of you out there thinking it’s the 60s. Putting aside the passing of time (as if we could) one positive is that it ...
HERE at Outernet A quantum core of flashing double-storey screens sheathed in a golden skin, and partly to blame for the aggressive modernisation of Soho’s historic Denmark Street, the Outernet building is a diverse piece of 21st-century architecture. However, Simon Phillips’ clever re-staging of a beloved musical in the custom-built glinting theatrical space seems a stroke of PR genius. If ...