Category: Uncategorized
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SCANDALTOWN – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Restoration Comedy meets Ab Fab
SCANDALTOWN By Mike Bartlett Directed by Rachel O’Riordan Lyric Hammersmith Theatre – until 14 May 2022 https://lyric.co.uk/shows/scandaltown/#performances Because simultaneously having a starry revival of your early play selling out nightly in the West End (Cock featuring Jonathan Bailey) and a barnstorming neo-Shakespearean Trump fantasia wowing them at the Old Vic (The 47th) apparently isn’t enough, […]
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SAD – ⭐️⭐️- it’s over-stuffed with ideas but it’s certainly never boring
SAD by Victoria Willing Directed by Marie McCarthy Omnibus Theatre – until 30 April 2022 https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/sad/ The title of Victoria Willing’d fanciful state-of-the-nation tragicomedy could refer to a number of things: Gloria (Debra Baker) has Seasonal Affective Disorder and has retreated to her loft following the death of her mother, to the bewilderment of her […]
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Bram Stoker’s DRACULA – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – a compelling new retelling
BRAM STOKER’s DRACULA Adapted and performed by James Gaddas Directed by Pip Minnithorpe Richmond Theatre – seen on 27 March 2022 – also touring https://www.draculatheplay.com/ There have been numerous screen and stage versions of the Dracula legend over the decades, including a couple of musicals ranging from the misconceived to the riotously camp, but James […]
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THE HUMAN VOICE -⭐️⭐️ – Ruth Wilson and Ivo van Hove are at it again
THE HUMAN VOICE by Jean Cocteau Adapted and directed by Ivo van Hove Harold Pinter Theatre – until 9 April https://thehumanvoiceplay.co.uk/ This is one tough sit. I wonder if this production was conceived during the first lockdown. A Jean Cocteau monologue for a woman unravelling on the phone while her lover leaves her might have […]
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JEWISH HOLLYWOOD – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – does rather more than what it says on the tin!
Written by Chris Burgess Musical arrangements by Andy Collyer Directed and choreographed by Cressida Carré Upstairs At The Gatehouse – until 17 April 2022 https://upstairsatthegatehouse.ticketsolve.com/shows/1173617187/events/428417798 Any study of the history of popular music would be a very slim tome indeed without the contribution of Jewish songwriters, and that’s doubly true when it comes to considering […]
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BACON – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – is it too early to call Best Play of the Year yet?!
BACON by Sophie Swithinbank Directed by Matthew Iliffe Finborough Theatre – until 26 March 2022 https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/bacon/ It may only be February, but the bar for fringe theatre sensation of 2022 has already been set astonishingly high by this firecracker of a show. Not since the original 1993 production of Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing at the […]
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HENRY V – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Kit Harington is a Henry for our times
HENRY V by William Shakespeare Directed by Max Webster Donmar Warehouse – until 9 April 2022 https://www.donmarwarehouse.com/ One of the many fascinating things about Shakespeare’s history play is the ambiguity of the central figure. As a principal character Henry is infinitely malleable, and depending on your point of view, can be seen as hero or […]
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SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER – ⭐️⭐️ – this nostalgia trip has more than a few bumps
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER based on the Paramount/RSO film and the story by Nik Cohn adapted for the stage by Robert Stigwood in collaboration with Bill Oakes Directed by Bill Kenwright Peacock Theatre – until 26 March 2022 https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/saturday-night-fever/ “You should be dancing, yeah!” goes the oft-repeated chorus of the Bee Gees hit that loomed large […]
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AN EVENING WITHOUT KATE BUSH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – get ready to howl: this is a bonkers triumph
AN EVENING WITHOUT KATE BUSH created by Sarah Louise Young and Russell Lucas Soho Theatre – until 26 February 2022 https://sohotheatre.com/shows/an-evening-without-kate-bush/ You don’t have to be one of the Fish People (the collective noun for the community of Kate Bush fans, as well as the name of one of the beloved yet elusive diva’s albums) […]
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THE GLOW – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – dark magic is happening in Sloane Square
THE GLOW by Alistair McDowell Directed by Vicky Featherstone Royal Court Theatre – until 5 March 2022 https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/theglow/ The word ‘astonishing’ gets bandied about a lot, not least by me, when describing pieces of theatre, and it can sometimes feel a little like hyperbole. That is emphatically not the case with Alistair McDowell’s haunting new […]
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