After several successful transfers within the West End, 2:22 A Ghost Story the gripping tale penned by award-winning writer Danny Robins, known for the hit BBC podcast “The Battersea Poltergeist,” and directed by Matthew Dunster embarks on a UK tour. Set against the backdrop of a haunted house, the play explores the clash between belief … More 2:22 A GHOST STORY – REVIEW – RICHMOND THEATRE
How far would you go to have a family? Surprising and heartfelt, Breeding builds in power over the course of 120 minutes. It considers the evolution of the ‘queer family’, the inequalities of adoption/IVF and the changing nature of relationships through hardship and conflicting wants. Written by and starring Barry McStay, the return of Breeding … More BREEDING – REVIEW – KING’S HEAD THEATRE
Entering sohoplace theatre is like walking into a football stadium. Performed in the round, all seats have a great view of the square stage marked out as a football pitch, designed by Amelia Jane Hankin. Backpacks lay discarded against the low red metal fence and taking centre stage, a football, inviting someone to play. The … More RED PITCH – REVIEW – @SOHOPLACE
A brilliantly authentic revival, which allows Delaney’s dialogue to shine, with enough alterations to make the restaging worthwhile and optimistic. A Taste of Honey is a giant in British theatre history and therefore is an especially difficult text to stage well. Initially workshopped by Joan Littlewood and premiering in 1958, A Taste of Honey has enjoyed a long … More A TASTE OF HONEY – REVIEW – ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE MANCHESTER
I think it’s safe to say I definitely won’t be sleeping for a while after having watched Murder in the Dark at Richmond Theatre. Haunting, yet comical, this play is sure to have you hiding behind your program, tension building throughout the entire production. Written by Torben Betts and directed by Philip Franks, Murder in the Dark is set … More MURDER IN THE DARK – REVIEW- RICHMOND THEATRE
A swift 45 minutes, this fast & furious chronicle of a young woman’s appearance on reality-show juggernaut “Love Island” confidently manages manifold approaches to the material from the wildly comic to the keenly sad. Writer/director Eleanor Kumar delicately pushes through outrageous surface to coax out the concealed anguish & longing of her cast of characters, … More A BIT OF ME – REVIEW – HOPE THEATRE
In a dank, damp, gritty bedsit (nimbly and effortlessly evoked by the Baron’s Court basement theatre space), three lonely characters, unmoored in singular ways, form a fractured connection that just may prove their salvation. Like the onion of the title, the sharp, essential but fairly elusive ingredient that will perfect the recipe for stew, providing … More STILL LIFE WITH ONIONS – REVIEW – BARONS COURT THEATRE
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy is inspired by For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. Ryan Calais Cameron was struck by how Black women felt seen by For Colored Girls, wishing that there was an equivalent for Black males, he set out to … More FOR BLACK BOYS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE HUE GETS TOO HEAVY – REVIEW – GARRICK THEATRE
Amy catches up with Henry Madd, who wrote and performs in Land of Lost Content at the Arcola Theatre before heading on tour. What does it mean to you to stage your autobiographical show for audiences around the UK? When people ask where I’m from I have this long winded but well-rehearsed spiel along the … More INTERVIEW – HENRY MADD – LAND OF LOST CONTENT
What happens when three best friends, and one-time wannabe boy band, reunite to relive a great lads’ holiday thirty years on – thirty years on, when their lives are so different that they hardly recognise one another anymore? This is the question asked by playwright Neil D’Souza’s Out of Season, as one holiday forces out … More OUT OF SEASON – REVIEW – HAMPSTEAD THEATRE
Alfred Hitchcock’s abuse of his female stars, in particular Tippi Hedren, is well known. Less well known is the conflict between horror stalwart Vincent Price and emerging director Michael Reeves on the film Witchfinder General. In Double Feature, playwright John Logan places both relationships in the same space, allowing us to watch these conflicts play … More DOUBLE FEATURE – REVIEW – HAMPSTEAD THEATRE
Imagine staying at your grandma’s for the weekend. Her friends come for tea, and you hide somewhere comfortable to listen in, curious of the grown-up talk. Welcome to Escaped Alone, a deceitfully light chat between 70-something friends. Having originally premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2016, Escaped Alone is brought to Tron Theatre by … More ESCAPED ALONE – REVIEW – TRON THEATRE
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where your conscience has been threatened? Where you could only choose the lesser evil? And if so, what would it take for you to betray your beliefs? Thomas Ostermeier’s adaption of the unfortunately timeless An Enemy of the People pushes not only the boundaries of theatre but also challenges … More AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE – REVIEW – DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE
There are moments in which you lose faith in humanity, and I expected one to occur when I went to the Calder Book Shop & Theatre to see Theatre for Identity’s production The Trial of Jemmy Button. This play, based on old documents and letters, aims to tell the story of a young aboriginal from Tierra … More THE TRIAL OF JEMMY BUTTON – REVIEW – THE CALDER BOOKSHOP & THEATRE
Shed: Exploded View has powerful language, but the pared-back production fails to communicate the central message. Phoebe Éclair-Powell’s Shed: Exploded View is a character study inspired by Cornelia Parker’s installation Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View. Parker’s piece celebrates the human desire to rebuild, but Powell’s shed symbolises an unattainable ideal of marriage. The language … More SHED: EXPLODED VIEW – REVIEW – ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE
Step inside the Bush’s studio space and you would be forgiven for thinking you were back at the office. Piles of files lie in organised chaos on the hard, carpeted floor, whilst a woman sorts through her NHS Outlook. Welcome to the unglamorous world of NHS admin. Sophie Chetin-Leuner’s play, which was shortlisted for the … More THIS MIGHT NOT BE IT – REVIEW – BUSH THEATRE
When a celebrated playwright and an ingenious director join forces, the expectations are always high. The Hills of California, a new drama written by Jez Butterworth and directed by Sam Mendes has created a lot of buzz and I almost had to wear my noise-cancelling headphones constantly to escape my preview-watching stagey friends’ accounts. The story … More THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA – REVIEW – HAROLD PINTER THEATRE
Amy catches up with Samantha Pears, director of the brand-new play Stitches coming to the Hope Theatre. Hi Samantha, I hope you’re well! Can you tell us a little bit about Stitches? Hi! Yes of course. Stitches is a play about love, life, and loss told through a teddy bear’s eyes of his journey with … More INTERVIEW – SAMANTHA PEARS – STITCHES
Paul Rudd obsessed, Eurovision encyclopaedia, train station signs (not trains! Train STATION SIGNS) lover Paggy Gacheva presents their solo comedy show Stimmicanto, a joyous exploration and celebration of all the neurodivergent brain has to offer. From her observations about autism being like brown sauce (everyone knows what it is but also…. what actually is it?) … More STIMMICANTO – REVIEW – BARONS COURT THEATRE
Two people, A and B, meet in what looks like an interrogation room, a decade after they last saw one another. The twist? B is dead. She was a children’s TV presenter, caught up in the glare of young fame, who died in a car accident after too much alcohol and cocaine. A, her friend … More HOW YOU DIED – REVIEW – OLD RED LION THEATRE
