REVIEW: POKER FACE (Kings Head Theatre) ★★★★
POKER FACE is a skilfully written and very funny play, set in Prague in 2011. The action all takes place in the apartment of Jana, a wealthy, hard headed, independent woman and her daughter Pavlina. The feeling is more Woody Allen Hollywood rather than cold European reality. It is literate, even in translated form. The story […]
REVIEW: THE RED BARN (National Theatre) ★★★★
On a winter’s night in 1960s Connecticut, a man disappears into a snowstorm. The man is Ray Sanders (Nigel Whitmey), husband of the impossibly glamorous Mona (Elizabeth Debicki) and best friend of Donald Dodd (Mark Strong). Mona, Donald and his wife Ingrid (Hope Davis) are snowed in at their comfortable Lakeville home and must wait […]
REVIEW: MUSICAL OF THE YEAR (Lost Theatre) ★★★★★
Let me say, at the outset, that this is the most entertaining production I have seen in many years. It is original, in a kind of deliberately unoriginal way. It is incredibly funny, fantastically well produced, acted and sung. I loved it from the beginning to the end. Superficially it is about an unsuccessful American […]
REVIEW: SKIN A CAT (The Bunker) ★★★★
Lovely, stylish girls, with attitude, usher you into the theatre. They are dressed in beautiful red, A Line, dresses with flared, below knee length, skirts. Deep red lipstick completes the fifties image. Their make up and coiffures are immaculate and sensual, their conversation is flirty. There is a great atmosphere even before the play begins. […]
REVIEW: CODE 2021 (Secret Studio Lab) ★★★★
If you’re ever looking for something thrilling to do in London, Secret Studio Lab has the answer you’re looking for. Returning after sold-out immersive productions of SE7EN in Hong Kong and a secret Tarantino Adaptation this summer in London, both adapted and directed by Richard Crawford. Crawford now returns with another immersive experience in the […]
REVIEW: NO MAN IS AN ISLAND / TETRIS (Dance Umbrella 2016 Festival) ★★★★
This double bill of shows is being performed at Artsdepot, which opened in 2004 and has won a number of awards. It is an excellent, comfortable venue with an audience largely comprised of families with young children. No Man Is An Island is performed by Erik Kaiel (also the choreographer) and Joseph Simon. Two male performers, one […]
REVIEW: SHOPPING AND F**CKING (Lyric Hamersmith) ★★★★
Mark Ravehill’s first full-length play, Shopping and F**king made it’s debut in 1996 at the Royal Court Upstairs, before embarking on national and international tours. When first produced Shopping and F**king received mixed reviews due to it’s themes of sexual violence, including a depiction of underage male rape. While more positive reviews commented on the […]
REVIEW: FOOTLOOSE (Sunderland Empire) ★★★★
Footloose tells the story of Ren McCormack, who leaves Chicago with his newly separated mother to move in with his uncle in Bomont, West Virginia. Ren clashes with the locals, especially Rev Moore, who oversees the town council. Following a fatal accident, dancing is banned in Bomont, but Ren takes his friends, including Rev Moore’s […]
REVIEW: THE DRESSER (Duke of York’s Theatre) ★★★★
Ronald Harwood’s 1980 play THE DRESSER is based on his real life past, working as a dresser on tour with Sir Donald Wolfit during the war. The play was well received in both the West End and on Broadway and is now back in London starring Reece Shearsmith and Ken Stott. Now playing at the […]
REVIEW: STRAIGHT TO THE HEART (Above The Arts) ★★★★
New York Times editor Ken Jaworowski recently showcased his work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and now brings three of his short plays to London’s West End for a series of lunch time performances. PULSE tells the story of three separate characters, Charles, Ron and Diane. Charles (played by Alistair Brown) has grown up in […]