Posted by Matt on 12 September, 2010 · 5 Comments
If you missed Simon Stephens’s Punk Rock this time last year, now’s your chance to make good. Despite only three of the original cast having survived to join this touring production, in most important respects it’s a facsimile of the premiere.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with a younger theatre, british theatre guide, evening standard, fiona mountford, ian foster, lyn gardner, lyric, matilda battersby, sammi woollard, sarah frankcom, simon stephens, the guardian, the independent, there ought to be clowns
Posted by Matt on 27 August, 2010 · 1 Comment
Six ghosts stationed around the building recount the tale of the Winter Palace music hall and the power struggle between its manager, Mr Hunter (a Mason) and the newest chorus girl, Flora – and it isn’t a tale for the easily-made-queasy.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with alice jones, brian donaldson, british theatre guide, broadway baby, daisy bowie-sell, david leddy, evening standard, fiona mountford, fringe 10, hill street, honour bayes, lyn gardner, margarita semsi, martin gimenez, musicomh, natasha tripney, the guardian, the independent, the list, the observer, the telegraph, threeweeks, tom lamont, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 11 July, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The first and final scenes of this open-air Comedy of Errors feel dashed off, as if director Philip Franks couldn’t be bothered to do much with them. This isn’t as big a problem as it might be in a different play: The Comedy of Errors is mostly middle.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with abi johnson, british theatre guide, broadway world, charles spencer, evening standard, henry hitchings, howard loxton, ian foster, islington tribune, john thaxter, kate kellaway, londonist, maxwell cooter, michael billington, michael coveney, music omh, philip franks, quentin letts, regent's park open air, sam smith, shakespeare, the guardian, the independent, the mail, the observer, the stage, the telegraph, there ought to be clowns, what's on stage, zoe j griffiths
Posted by Matt on 10 April, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Every character in Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train is at peace with who they are and the things they’ve done. This isn’t how prison dramas begin; it’s where they typically end.
Posted by Matt on 3 February, 2010 · Leave a Comment
An original member of La Clique, Martinez exists in the borderlands between stand-up comedy, burlesque dance, stage magic and performance art. Similarly, My Stories, Your Emails is a lecture, a stand-up act, a play, a confession and an autobiography while simultaneously being none of these things.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with barbican, british theatre guide, charles spencer, culture wars, dominic maxwell, evening standard, financial times, henry hitchings, ian shuttleworth, lyn gardner, mark whitelaw, matt trueman, music omh, rhoda koenig, sam smith, the guardian, the independent, the telegraph, ursula martinez
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 22 January, 2010 · 2 Comments
What do you remember about the Noughties? (Yes, it turns out that is what we’re calling them.) Theatre503 asked that question to ten playwrights – five established, five as-yet unproduced – and the result is Decade, a collection of ten ten-minute plays, each one representing a single year.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with amy rosenthal, anthony biggs, antonio ferrara, april de angelis, beth steel, british theatre guide, charlotte westenra, david eldridge, dominic cavendish, dominic maxwell, evening standard, fiona mountford, fraser grace, gemma farlie, gene david kirk, jessica beck, lou ramsden, nimer rashed, phil porter, rex obano, richard marsh, simon sladen, steve harper, the collective review, the telegraph, the times, theatre 503, tim roseman
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 27 September, 2009 · Leave a Comment
In Full Tilt’s revival of Orestes: Re-Examined, the audience is brought forward as jury to judge the case of Orestes’ matricide and its myriad ramifications.
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
