Wild Horses
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.
Tape
The production crams Tape’s big themes – can people change? does true forgiveness exist, and if people can change sufficiently, do we need it to? – into the intimate space that is the Old Red Lion, with explosive results.
Alice’s Adventures in the New World
From a nymphomaniac poet, who advises forsaking polite society altogether in favour of self-gratification, to a New York debutante interested only in snaring a wealthy husband, to the sage wisdom of one Mr Wilde, Alice’s journey is a parade of entertaining archetypes.
The Stefan Golaszewski Plays
Two one-act plays back to back don’t usually make a successful two-act play. Right? Which suggests it’s probably no coincidence that Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved and Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower work so well as a double bill; it seems likely they were always meant to be performed together.
Public Property
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.
The Author
In the final 15 minutes, The Author is revealed for what it has really been all along: a daring act of self-flagellation by Crouch on behalf of provocative art and controversial artists.
Money
The machine is the undisputed star of the production, which, after a few deliberately confusing false-starts, eventually reveals itself as a parable about the dangers of stock market speculation.
Tunnel 228
Tunnel 228 isn’t meant to be found (i.e. stumbled upon at random); you’re meant to find it (i.e. actively seek it out).
The Contingency Plan
If anthropogenic climate change is the greatest challenge currently facing mankind, then right now Steve Waters’ The Contingency Plan at the Bush Theatre is the most important artwork in the country.
A Place at the Table
A Place at the Table has a couple of rock-solid concepts – the subject matter and staging – at its heart, but glommed around them is a mass of shiny little distractions that serve only to obscure the truths verbatim theatre is supposed to expose.
