Tim Hochstrasser

Tim Hochstrasser is a life-long enthusiast for and supporter of the performing arts in all forms, from classic to contemporary. By day he teaches and lectures intellectual and cultural history at LSE and also conducts guided historical walks around London. By night he is usually in a theatre, possibly followed by a cabaret chaser...

REVIEW: Flames, Waterloo East Theatre ✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
Flames at Waterloo East Theatre by Stephen Dolginoff

However, there is an uncertainty of tone about the piece as a whole that does not entirely convince. The evening starts as a straight-forward thriller but then seems to change as the plot twists multiply into a knowing send-up of the genre instead. There is nothing wrong with this, but at points, particularly in the rapid-fire, almost farcical later scenes it was not clear which view should predominate, whether one was supposed to empathise or simply laugh at the characters. On the night I visited there was clearly some laughter in the wrong places, and the audience did not know what to make of the emotional tone.

REVIEW: Kingmaker, Above The Arts, ✭✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
Kingmaker at Above The Arts Theatre

Most immediately Kingmaker recognizes the extent to which the rewards in politics go to those whose priorities remain resolutely fixed on the rules of the game and not to those who pursue resolutions to personal, messy, unpredictable human objectives outside or secondary to those rules. This is not the old argument that politics is about succeeding rather than about implementing policy, but rather the narrower point that politicians will ultimately stick with and support each other because they are comfortable in the knowledge that they understand and speak the same language.

REVIEW: The Twits, Royal Court Theatre ✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
The Twits by Roald Dahl at the Jerwood Theatre

With both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda still playing with great success elsewhere, this is the latest attempt to bring Dahl’s unique alchemy of moralised, uplifting, yet also disturbing, and quirky childhood adventure to the London stage. However, unfortunately this current adaptation cannot stand alongside those two multi-layered yet flexible masterpieces with any great conviction.

REVIEW: Abyss, Arcola Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
Abyss by Maria Milisavljevic at the Arcola Theatre

But in the end the tension between the daily count of the passage of time and the avoidance of narrative direction is too much to sustain and in the final sections we return to a more predictable expositional technique with a measure of relief. Moreover, the performances of the actors notably relax once the abstract, staccato almost hieratic formalism gives way to a more naturalistic presentation.

REVIEW: Two, Above The Arts ✭✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
Two by Jim Cartwright at Above The Arts

Ultimately, TWO is a very fine night out at the theatre that zips through its eighty-minute length in no time, leaving you full of admiration at such detailed building of narrative and character with rare economy of means and a wide emotional palette. The revival is fully deserved and richly rewarding on every level.