Reviews

REVIEW: Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, Trafalgar Studios 2 ✭✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
Four minutes twelve seconds at Trafalgar Studios 2

By the end of the play there is a horrifying awareness that a variation of this story is currently being enacted for real somewhere in the near vicinity: in immediate families, next door, down the road, but certainly not further away than the next suburb. This is a situation, indeed a problem that concerns everyone and there is no doubt that it should be put in front of the eyes and ears of the young people who need to hear.

REVIEW: The Station Master, Tristan Bates Theatre ✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
The Stationmaster at Tristan Bates Theatre

Connor’s score owes a considerable debt to Sondheim, but, that said, it treads in very interesting paths. Complex and intricate, the melodies and harmonies reward careful listening, but there is no danger of a “hummable tune” for the most part, even though individual numbers and vocal lines are quite beguiling, instantly enjoyable.

REVIEW: Waste, National Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Reviews, West End
Waste at the National Theatre

Barker’s play is extraordinary, especially given that it was written over a century ago and revised by him in the late 20’s, the original having been banned from performance. The notions and complex philosophies which underline the narrative are as fresh, vital and important now as then. The need to invest in the future, to educate the young properly. The hopelessness of political cabals. The marginalisation of women. Double-standards in public life. The dirty compromises of party politics. The terror a true rebel with a proper cause can create in the complacent and borne to rule.