REVIEW: F*CKING MEN (The Vaults) ★★★
With a title as face-slappingly brazen as this, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Joe DiPietro’s renowned play about gay men and their views on sex and relationships would overflow with aggressive carnality and emotional withdrawal. This is of course partially the case, yet F*cking Men is also infused with sobering honesty and a frankly […]
REVIEW: LAZARUS (Kings Cross Theatre) ★★★★
It’s been a few days since I went to see the UK premiere of the David Bowie musical LAZARUS at the newly built venue on the grounds of the Kings Cross Theatre. I’ve been mulling it over in my mind, trying to put the pieces together and figure out what exactly I watched. I’m still […]
REVIEW: LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS (N16 Theatre) ★★★★
LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS is a comedy review played out by five gloriously energetic, crazy, young performers. It contains (as they say on television) scenes of a sexual nature and mild’ish bad language and is all the better for it. Georgia Wilkinson’s impression of a cupboard should be a part of the curriculum of every […]
REVIEW: THE GOOD PERSON OF SZECHWAN (Barons Court Theatre) ★★
An undisputed staple in the contemporary theatre repertoire, the works of Bertolt Brecht have endured the last 70 or so years due to their timeless themes and exploration of moral relativism and social construct. The Good Person of Szechwan forces us to question what actually makes someone a ‘good person’ and explores the delicate balance […]
REVIEW: RUBBER RING (The Pleasance) ★★★★
Rubber Ring is the debut play by Norfolk playwright James McDermott. It’s produced by Velvet Trumpet, a company that aim to present work exploring unexamined lives, championing the work of those we don’t usually see on stage. This tale of growing up in Norfolk is exactly that. McDermott explains, “Rural LGBT stories were rarely represented […]
REVIEW: THE GLENN MILLER STORY (Sunderland Empire) ★★★★
Tommy Steele made his stage debut at Sunderland Empire on 5th November 1956, a month before his 20th birthday. So it seems fitting he should celebrate his 60 years in the business performing at the Empire in the Glenn Miller Story. It’s a difficult review to write because all the single elements of the show […]
REVIEW: KING LEAR (Old Vic) ★★★
This past year, with the celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th birthday, has seen many a production of King Lear. Even with the production at the Old Vic, there is also another running at the Barbican at the very same time. But with the much anticipated return of Glenda Jackson to the stage, the Shakespeare celebrations seem […]
REVIEW: YEAR 10 (Tabard Theatre) ★★★★
Saturday night saw me head along to the Tabard Theatre, in Chiswick. The ”bijou” theatre played host last week for 3 nights only, to the Just AddMilk Theatre company, presenting a condensed version of their show “Year 10” which sold out its run in Edinburgh earlier in the year. The company was founded by 3 […]
REVIEW: THE ACEDIAN PIRATES (Theatre 503) ★★★★★
THE ACEDIAN PIRATES is an incredibly complex, thought provoking and moving play. It asks us to consider our tendency to mythologise certain situations. It is dramatic and funny. It suggests that we should think before supporting causes just because they accord with the wants of our own country, without first considering the morality. Think Syria, […]
REVIEW: HERE’S HOPING (Ovalhouse) ★★★
This is a thought provoking piece of theatre on the theme of hope in a seemingly hopeless world. Do we have hope, do we need hope, do we hope for the right things and do we always understand the effect of actually getting what we hope for? I personally hope that HERE’S HOPING will prove […]