REVIEW: Hay Fever, Duke Of York’s Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Alice Orr-Ewing, Felicity Kendal and Edward Franklin in Hay Fever at the Duke Of York's Theatre

Felicity Kendal is a triumph as the effervescent, self-indulgent diva that is Judith. Her throaty, raspy tones; the endless lighting and stubbing out of cigarettes; the casual, but persistent, flick of tousled curls; the innocent eyes and the naughty remark and the naughty remark and the innocent eyes; the devilment, the wild abandon, the sneaky confidence, the haughty indifference. Every aspect of the performance is beautifully judged by Kendal.

REVIEW: The Verb To Love, Old Red Lion Theatre ✭✭✭

The Verb To Love a new musical at the Old Red Lion Theatre

The Verb, To Love is a curious and wonderful new musical currently playing at the Old Red Lion Theatre. It’s easy to be impressed by the show’s sole author, Andy Collyer. The plot is clearly taken somewhat from the man’s life, which is, on some level, impressive full stop. Few authors are comfortable “putting it all out there” so blatantly—especially when the story is his own relatively unsuccessful love life and the journey to discovering that one doesn’t need a boyfriend or partner to be validated as a human being. The score is extremely intelligent, with little nuggets of knowing humour for an audience well versed in musical theatre.

REVIEW: A Mad World My Masters, Barbican Theatre ✭✭

A Mad World My Masters at the Barbican Centre

It has everything: dirty, jazzy songs sung lustily; knob jokes; fake brawls; knickers tossed to the audience; knob jokes; sex scenes of all kinds; an altercation with a garbage bin; knob jokes; liquids tossed or splurged onto the audience; dress ups; knob jokes; raunchy scene changes; prostitutes masquerading as Nuns; knob jokes; big items being removed from small, dark places despite security measures including the penis on a small statue of David; fart jokes; and characters called Master Whopping Prospect, Penitent Brothel, Dick Follywit and Mr Littledick. Did I mention there were knob jokes?

REVIEW: Beyond Caring, NT Temporary Theatre ✭✭✭

Beyond Caring at the National Theatre

There is something undeniably fascinating about watching strangers find common ground, about seeing a team form in adverse circumstances, especially where, as here, the pains and troubles which silently vex them remain largely unventilated. The narrative twists might not be very surprising, but the unsparing truth in the playing and the sadly familiar straightened circumstances of these characters, together with the plain hideousness of their employment, combine to make this unsettling, uncomfortable viewing.

REVIEW: American Buffalo, Wyndhams Theatre ✭✭✭

American Buffalo by David Mamet at the Wyndham's Theatre, London

American Buffalo Wyndham’s Theatre 2 May 2015 3 Stars Book Tickets His whole body is a snarl of anger, resentment, pain. His shaved head suggests an innate meanness, but it is just show. His character is weak, lost, desperate to be loved and to be considered part of “the action”. His eyes astonish: one moment, almost lifeless, as if he is elsewhere thanks to drugs in his system or perhaps because he is mentally deficient; the next, they flash into life, presenting tough bravado or lucid hope. His hands and arms seem almost disconnected, as he curves or twists them oddly, fascinatingly, a reflection of his confused, inarticulate demeanour. When, unexpectedly, he is assaulted, his jaw broken by the severity of the blow, you feel the pain as surely as if you had been yourself assaulted. As blood pours from his ears, and he expresses his fear about his state, … Read more

REVIEW: Matchbox Theatre, Hamsptead Theatre ✭✭

Matchbox Theatre by Michael Frayn at the Hampstead Theatre

There is no complaint about the writing. Frayn creates situations and conveys ideas quickly and cleverly. His knowledge of human kind and its foibles, the things which interest and aggravate, is wide-ranging, and there is little in the world that he cannot cover in a comic sheen. Nina Wadia, alone of the six performers, has a very clear idea of the farceur, and she effortlessly creates a string of quite different characters, all of whom tick with eccentricity and tock with energy.

REVIEW: Product, Arcola Theatre ✭✭✭

Product at the Arcola Theatre

Directed by Robert Shaw, this fifty minute satirical monologue is well worth seeing for Olivia Poulet’s gifted comic turn. She extracts the humour rather as a surgeon lances a boil: with swift, sure, incisions that produce copious discharge, some of it unpleasant to think about. I doubt her delivery of the work could be bettered, so carefully thought through and executed is every aspect of her captivating performance.

REVIEW: The Twits, Royal Court Theatre ✭✭

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.