Regional UK Theatre looking forward 2018

NST Studio Theatre City

Mark Ludmon examines the year ahead for regional theatre in 2018. Bolton girl Maxine Peake has made her mark on TV and the London stage but she returns to her roots with her second play, Queens of the Coal Age. Based on the true story of four women in Lancashire during the miners’ strike in the 1980s, it will be at the Royal Exchange in Manchester from 28 June to 21 July. Also at the Royal Exchange, Maxine Peake will star in Sarah Frankcom’s new production of Beckett’s Happy Days from 25 May to 23 June. Other highlights coming up at the Royal Exchange include Julie Hesmondhalgh in Kendall Feaver’s new play The Almighty Sometimes and April De Angelis’s new adaptation of Frankenstein. A new production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard directed by Michael Boyd, the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, will come to the Royal Exchange … Read more

Review: The One, Soho Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

The One at Soho Theatre

The nearest thing I have seen to a perfect play, writes Alex Delaney. Vicky Jones’ award-winning first play, The One, explores the concept of romance in our present age. It is terrifyingly dark, indescribably hilarious, and holds its audience captive from the off. Exquisitely directed and faultlessly performed, it is the nearest thing I have seen to a perfect play. All of which makes it very hard to write a review that doesn’t read like a love letter. ‘The One’ takes place in the living room of a flat shared by Harry and Jo. The space is dominated by a large red sofa, which becomes both battlefield and boudoir as the play unfolds. Classical music swells, a starlit backdrop shimmers; our protagonists glide onto the stage and into a passionate embrace. It is every inch the fairy tale ending, just before ‘happily ever after’. This overblown sentimentality is abruptly and … Read more