Posted by Matt on 11 April, 2010 · Leave a Comment
It’s fair to assume that few people watch porn for the plot, and it’s best to take the same approach to Porn – the Musical.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with abigail guan, barry honeycombe, benedict nightingale, boris cezek, british theatre guide, kris spiteri, malcolm galea, michael billington, paul robinson, paul vale, the guardian, the stage, the times, theatre 503, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 24 March, 2010 · Leave a Comment
4.48 Psychosis is a gift for a director. Kane’s text – her last – is more prose poem than script, lacking stage directions or delineated characters: a nearly blank slate onto which a director can impose context, character and narrative.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with a younger theatre, aleks sierz, barbican, benedict nightingale, british theatre guide, dominic cavendish, grzegorz jarzyna, jake orr, lyn gardner, music omh, neil downden, sarah kane, the collective review, the guardian, the telegraph, the times, theartsdesk
Posted by Matt on 29 January, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The men at the top are on their way out, but does that mean the people below them get a look-in? Does it heck.
Posted by Matt on 17 November, 2009 · 2 Comments
At first glance, Public Property is a boilerplate Trafalgar Studio 2 production. On closer inspection, however, this is something of a rare find: a play about three gay men in which the characters’ sexuality is almost incidental, an extra thematic layer rather than the piece’s raison d’être.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with benedict nightingale, brian logan, british theatre guide, catherine usher, dominic cavendish, evening standard, hanna berrigan, henry hitchings, jane edwardes, karen fricker, michael coveney, sam peter jackson, the guardian, the stage, the telegraph, the times, time out, trafalgar studios, variety, west end whingers, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 24 September, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Like a glass-panelled clock, Deborah Warner’s Mother Courage and Her Children doesn’t just choose not to conceal its inner workings, it displays them, inviting the audience to marvel at the way the pieces fit together.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with benedict nightingale, bertolt brecht, charles spencer, deborah warner, evening standard, fiona mountford, heather neill, london theatre blog, michael billington, michael coveney, music omh, national, stephen crowe, the guardian, the stage, the telegraph, the times, tony kushner, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 20 June, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Only at a Derren Brown show could I have ended up standing on stage in a curtained cabinet with a bag on my head.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with adelphi, andy nyman, benedict nightingale, brian logan, british theatre guide, charles spencer, derren brown, dominic martin, music omh, natasha tripney, terri paddock, the guardian, the stage, the telegraph, the times, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 31 May, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Perhaps under other circumstances having ’solved’ All’s Well would be enough of an achievement, but this is the National we’re talking about; it’s perfectly justifiable to demand more.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with benedict nightingale, evening standard, heather neill, henry hitchings, jon massey, london theatre blog, marianne elliott, michael billington, national, shakespeare, simon edge, sunday express, the guardian, the stage, the times, wharf
Posted by Matt on 18 February, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Incest is a theme that can’t help but eclipse all others in its power to raise a reaction. This play is going to offend some people – and isn’t that the litmus test for vital art?
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with aleks sierz, benedict nightingale, british theatre guide, in-sook chappell, lisa goldman, london theatre blog, michael billington, michael coveney, philip fisher, soho, the guardian, the stage, the times, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 12 February, 2009 · 1 Comment
The play does a great job putting the problems of today’s multicultural London in perpsective, as each generation of immigrants eventually integrates into British life and then takes its turn oppressing the next.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with benedict nightingale, british theatre guide, charles spencer, evening standard, london theatre blog, michael billington, michael coveney, music omh, natasha tripney, national, nicholas de jongh, nicholas hytner, philip fisher, richard bean, the guardian, the stage, the telegraph, the times, what's on stage, william mcevoy
Posted by Matt on 14 January, 2009 · Leave a Comment
In Roaring Trade at the Soho Theatre, playwright Steve Thompson takes the risky stance of apologist for the short sellers, lifting the lid on the cutthroat culture of high-risk bond trading.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with aleks sierz, benedict nightingale, british theatre guide, charles spencer, evening standard, karen fricker, london theatre blog, michael billington, music omh, natasha tripney, nicholas de jongh, philip fisher, roxana silbert, soho, steve thompson, the guardian, the stage, the telegraph, the times, variety
