REVIEW: ONE DUCK DOWN (VAULTS Festival) ★★★★★
I should probably start this review by letting you know that Faceplant Theatre’s show One Duck Down, that is currently playing as part of The Vaults Festival is one of the best children’s shows I’ve ever seen. If you don’t get any further than this paragraph, please take with you the fact that One Duck […]
REVIEW: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (New Victoria Theatre) ★★★
Guy Haines and Charles Bruno meet on a train and, because they are strangers, they think they can say anything while chatting. Bruno suggests that they could get away with murder – he could kill Guy’s unfaithful wife while Guy could eliminate his hated father, There would be no motive, and in effect a perfect […]
REVIEW: LONDON-PARIS-ROAM (Les Feux de la Rampe) ★★★★
Sarah Tullamore has lived in Japan, Italy, and for the last many years Paris, after following her dreams (and a man) to the most romantic city in the world. Now a woman of a certain age, she has decided it is time to take stock and maybe it’s time for a change? This Cabaret show […]
REVIEW: Again (Trafalgar Studios) ★★
In the intimate Trafalgar studios Studio 2, Mongrel Thumb present Again, a play designed to encapsulate the high tensions, resentments and childlike regressions which lace a family reunion. The set, designed by Anthony Lame is uncomplicated, with floor panelling laid out in a basic house shape. The stage looks rather bare, topped with a few […]
REVIEW: La Voix Meets Psychic Sally Morgan (Live at Zedel) ★★★★
In the second instalment of this year’s trilogy of La Voix Meets, nationally cherished medium Sally Morgan joined the inimitable La Voix at Live at Zédel for an exclusive interview. The pair, who have enjoyed a friendship for many years, spoke openly about Sally’s early life, her work and, most importantly, how her curious ability […]
REVIEW: Gundog (Royal Court Theatre) ★★★
Gundog is written by Simon Longman and directed by Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone. Longman makes his debut at the Royal Court after taking part in the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writer’s Programme in 2013. Gundog is part of the Royal Court’s Jerwood New Playwrights programme. Vicky Featherstone describes the play as, “a bleak […]
REVIEW: Hot Lips and Cold War (London Theatre Workshop) ★★
A weak script, focussing on the lives of JFK, Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, ungently punctuated with curiously forgettable ballads; this is the confused musical from Lizzie Freeborn that attempts to re-tell the story of America’s First Family 1962-63. However, the central narrative – the Kennedy marriage – is consistently undermined by (and eventually lost […]
REVIEW: ALL OR NOTHING (Arts Theatre) ★★
After an extensive UK tour All or Nothing – The Mod Musical has been given a limited season in the West End at the Arts Theatre. The show – conceived by ex-Eastenders’ star Carol Harrison – is another crowd pleasing jukebox musical along the same lines as Sunny Afternoon (which featured the music of The Kinks), […]
REVIEW: MOONLOG (Chickenshed Studio Theatre)
Chickenshed in North London is hosting a month of monologues with four performances each evening in the Studio Theatre; two from known writers and two new pieces by new writers, new directors and new actors, a real Chickenshed experience. The evening begins with a piece from Alan Bennet’s Talking Heads. ‘Her Big Chance’ was performed […]
REVIEW: Long Day’s Journey into Night (Wyndham’s Theatre) ★★★
Your expectations are always going to be difficult to meet when a play not only boasts a stellar cast but is also described as ‘one of the finest American plays of the 20th century’. And as the theatrical heavyweights first take to the stage, the acting credentials are immediately obvious. Wonderfully wordy and poetic dialogue […]