Reviews

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Top 10 New West End Plays 30 June 2015

News, Off West End, Reviews, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, To Kill A Mockingbird, West End
To Kill A Mockingbird at the Barbican Theatre

What play should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one – based on our Reviewers’ thoughts. We will update the list regularly so new productions get on your radar and when original casts change that is factored in. Plays which have been running for more than three years are not included – this is a list for new or relatively new productions running in London. So go see them! 1. To Kill A Mockingbird Timothy Sheader’s utterly astonishing, profoundly beautiful, and intensely gripping production of To Kill A Mockingbird, is now playing at the Barbican Theatre. It’s not practically perfect in every way – it is absolutely perfect in every way. In terms of glorious story-telling and superb ensemble acting rapturously telling a richly detailed and extraordinarily resonant – … Read more

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Top 10 New West End Musicals 30 June 2015

News, Reviews, West End
Imelda Staunton to appear in Gypsy at The Savoy Theatre

What Musical should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one – based on our Reviewers’ thoughts. We will update the list regularly so new productions get on your radar and when original casts change that is factored in. Musicals which have been running for more than three years are not included – this is a list for new or relatively new productions running in London. So go see them! 1. Gypsy Everyone in this company is superb in their part, everyone can really sing, really dance and really deliver the goods in terms of dramatic and comic acting. This is that rare beast: an exquisitely cast musical where the requirements of the parts have more importance in the casting process than potential box office draw or Twitter popularity. It … Read more

REVIEW: Amour, Royal Academy Of Music ✭✭✭✭

News, Reviews
Amour at the Royal Academy Of Music

If tonight’s performance represents the future of British theatre then we are in very safe hands indeed. OK, so the story is about as substantial as the walls that kept toppling throughout the production. However, a beautiful score and some first-class performances showed that Amour really can be a labour of love. Now, where can I find a cast recording?

REVIEW: An Oak Tree, National Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Reviews, West End
Tim Crouch In An Oak Tree at The National Theatre

Crouch delights in theatre which unsettles and pushes boundaries and An Oak Tree is no exception. In parts, it is brilliant and it is never less than compelling – at least, so it was when Burnett was the guest actor. On other days, it might be different – better, mostly the same or worse. The dynamics of the performers, usually honed in rehearsal, is here basically raw, and will either work or not. With Burnett and Crouch dancing this tarantella of guilt, grief and occasional guile, it’s a quirky, original and compelling exercise in the extremities of theatrical form.

REVIEW: Asking Rembrandt, Old Red Lion Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
Asking Rembrandt at The Old Red Lion Theattre

There is not much room for manoeuvre upstairs at the Old Red Lion, but the creative team, led by director Jonathan Kemp, have put together a flexible and well dressed set that provides a richly textured backdrop for the play, full of relevant artistic clutter and debris and gorgeous fabrics – self-consciously theatrical in a way that is entirely appropriate for the paintings from this period in Rembrandt’s life. The intimate atmosphere and finely calibrated acting draws you into the relationships and the issues very quickly, and as a result we have a properly tough-minded, and warm-hearted night at the theatre. The play runs until mid-July and is rewarding in every respect. And you may never think of gloves in quite the same way ever again….

REVIEW: The Motherf**ker With The Hat, Lyttleton Theatre ✭✭✭

Reviews, West End
Motherfucker With The Hat review National Theatre

It’s not that this is a bad play; it’s more that it is not really a play at all. It’s a series of separate scenes, mostly two-handers, which chiefly concern the central character, Jackie. It doesn’t really have any compelling over-arching theme, there is no lyrical, poetic or political beauty to the language, and it does not attempt to shine a light on society or culture in any significant way. It looks and sounds like a short film – not a coherent, magnificent drama worthy of the Lyttleton stage.

REVIEW: Joking Apart, Theatre Royal Windsor ✭✭✭✭

Regional, Reviews
Joking Apart by Alan Ayckbourn at Theatre Royal Windsor

As with so many theatres of a certain age, the bar at the Theatre Royal is proudly lined with photos of bygone productions from the golden age of repertory theatre; and there, sure enough, were the production shots of a 1986 production of this very play, Joking Apart – all duffle coats, cravats and tweed jackets, floral print dresses, and big, frizzy hair-dos, taking you straight back to the 1970s. But the lesson of this fine production is that this is a timeless play that holds up as true a mirror to our foibles now as ever it did before.