ajhlovestheatre

ANNA X by Joseph Charlton Directed by Daniel Raggett as part of the Re:Emerge season Harold Pinter Theatre – until 4 August https://sfp-reemergeseason.com/the-plays/anna-x/anna-x-ticket-calendar/#/ Here it is then: the last offering in this truly excellent season of new writing, and I for one will be extremely sorry to see it end. Far and away the worst […]

THE INVISIBLE HAND by Ayad Akhtar Directed by Indhu Rubasingham Kiln Theatre – until 31 July https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/the-invisible-hand/ It may only have four actors on a single set, but Ayad Akhtar’s engrossing, explosive piece feels very much A Big Play. A New York-based Pulitzer Prize winner with Pakistani heritage, Akhtar would seem better qualified than most […]

STARTING HERE STARTING NOW Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr Music by David Shire Directed by Gerald Armin Waterloo East Theatre – until 18 July https://www.waterlooeast.co.uk/starting-here-starting-now Although this show and it’s sister revue Closer Than Ever are beloved of musical theatre aficionados, the classy song-writing team of Maltby & Shire has never created a true blockbuster. […]

PIPPIN Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz Book by Roger O. Hirson Directed by Steven Dexter Charing Cross Theatre – until 14 August https://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/pippin Thanks to Broadway master showman Bob Fosse who directed and choreographed the legendary original production, Pippin was perceived for decades as a deathly commedia dell’arte carnival: a troupe of sinister but […]

BE MORE CHILL Music and lyrics by Joe Iconis Book by Joe Tracz Based on the novel by Ned Vizzini Directed by Stephen Brackett Shaftesbury Theatre – until 5 September https://www.bemorechillmusical.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw_o-HBhAsEiwANqYhp34Cj6fcTNItFoRGd86XPch4DCOIG3YT57GP3jxSuKdbWQFyzrAnKBoC440QAvD_BwE Young Adult fiction is a beloved and lucrative literary genre. If there were an acknowledged theatrical equivalent – and if such a thing existed, […]

STAIRCASE by Charles Dyer directed by Tricia Thorns for Two’s Company Southwark Playhouse – until 17 July https://www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/show-whats-on/staircase/ If you haven’t done your research, you might think that “gay plays” generally fall into two camps (no pun intended): either heartwarming, spiky but ultimately feel-good tales like Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing and […]

SEVEN METHODS OF KILLING KYLIE JENNER by Jasmine Lee-Jones directed by Milli Bhatia Royal Court Theatre – until 27July https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/sevenmethods/ Channelling your white hot rage into a work of art is an incredibly powerful act, and it feels like that is exactly what Jasmine Lee-Jones has done in this ambitious, dynamic piece. Ostensibly, it’s the […]

BACH & SONS by Nina Raine directed by Nicholas Hytner Bridge Theatre – until 11 September https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/bach-and-sons/ Music is a potent life force, a non-verbal language capable of cutting right to the heart of an emotion or memory. Nina Raine’s richly engrossing new play also suggests that music can be weaponised, especially by those in […]

by Yasmin Joseph Directed by Rebekah Murrell as part of the Re:Emerge season Harold Pinter Theatre – until 3 July https://sfp-reemergeseason.com/the-plays/jouvert/jouvert-ticket-calendar/#/ Part celebration, part social document, part history lesson, total triumph, Yasmin Joseph’s gorgeous piece, in Rebekah Murrell’s rambunctious production, tears up the rule book for playwriting in much the same way that Sonia Friedman’s […]

Written and directed by Eugene O’Hare Omnibus Theatre until 4 July 2021 https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/the-human-connection/ Eugene O’Hare is truly an actor’s writer, in that he creates richly textured, multi-layered characters that give his casts something to really get their thespian gnashers into: see Miriam Margolyes’s venomously nasty yet oddly haunting old lady in Sydney And The Old […]