Posted by Matt on 2 November, 2010 · Leave a Comment
I didn’t enjoy the Lyric Hammersmith’s revival of Blasted – but you’d think I was sick if I said I had, right?
Filed under Daydreams · Tagged with @lurkmoophy, a younger theatre, aleks sierz, carousel of fantasies, charles spencer, diana damian, dominic kent, eoghan o'neill, fourth wall, hannah stratton, honour bayes, ian foster, jake orr, lyric, matt trueman, michael billington, michael coveney, paul taylor, quentin letts, sarah kane, sean holmes, the guardian, the independent, the mail, the public reviews, the stage, the telegraph, theartsdesk, theatre thoughts, there ought to be clowns, west end whingers, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 10 October, 2010 · Leave a Comment
If Heroin(e) for Breakfast were the only play to barge down the fourth wall and berate the audience about their lifestyle, it would be groundbreaking, challenging, even blistering in its attack on modern social mores. But Tim Crouch already did it in The Author, Lowri Jenkins did it in 19;29′s Threshold, David Leddy did it in Sub Rosa – and that’s just counting shows at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Posted by Matt on 4 October, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The best bits of Dougal Irvine’s new musical call to mind a sort of booze-hazy Rashomon.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with andrew girvan, british theatre guide, dougal irvine, ian foster, laura rare, matilda battersby, paul vale, pip minnithorpe, the independent, the public reviews, the stage, there ought to be clowns, waterloo east, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 29 September, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The Shadow of Sean O’Casey; “Britain’s most provocative playwright”; “Get dressed. The big fellah’s on his way.”
Filed under Daydreams · Tagged with a younger theatre, aleks sierz, carousel of fantasies, charles spencer, jake orr, lyric, matt trueman, matt wolf, max stafford-clark, michael billington, michael coveney, pirate dog, richard bean, rob walport, the guardian, the stage, the telegraph, theartsdesk, tyro theatre critic, west end whingers, 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 18 June, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Don’t try to deviate from your designated channel through life. It only leads to heartbreak: lost friends and unfulfilled ambitions for Ellie (Jessica Clarke), the main character in Nimer Rashed’s Wild Horses, and a near-fatal final act derailment for the play itself.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with british theatre guide, dominic cavendish, honour bayes, lyn gardner, matt trueman, nadia latif, nimer rashed, sally stott, the guardian, the stage, the telegraph, theatre 503, time out, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 6 June, 2010 · Leave a Comment
This is an admirably efficient Romeo and Juliet; but it can’t pretend it has anything whatsoever to say about Fascism.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with british theatre guide, edward lukes, elizabeth vile, ian foster, leicester square theatre, linnie reedman, paul vale, shakespeare, the london magazine, the public reviews, the stage, there ought to be clowns
Posted by Matt on 28 May, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Poor Toussaint L’Ouverture is reduced to a bit player even in the play that bears his nom de guerre.
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 16 March, 2010 · Leave a Comment
James Holmes plays Sandy, houseproud proprietor of a Weston-Super-Mare B&B. Lonely since the departure of his much younger “houseboy” and (it’s heavily implied) lover, he’s taken to date-raping his guests after plying them with Bailey’s and Rusty Nails, then in the morning blaming it on his mentally unstable identical twin brother Jimmy. Or has he?
