-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
The New Wimbledon Theatre is currently championing a season of brand new plays, including Hijinks and Caviar. From the writing duo Moody & Moody, Hijinks and Caviar is billed as a comedy musical which will offer a night of murder mystery fun with a side helping of ridiculousness. This is an excellent premise and has the…
The New Wimbledon Theatre currently plays host to a touring version of Hairspray. Based on John Water’s 1988 film of the same name, Hairspray is a staple feel-good musical. The musical’s first iteration on Broadway won 8 Tony Awards and then went on to win 4 Olivier awards in the West End. This current tour version…
The New Wimbledon Theatre currently plays host to the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Jesus Christ Superstar. With strong vocals, a stark and simple staging and stunning choreography (which earned an Olivier nomination in its first iteration), there is much to enjoy here for fans of this Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber…
In Blizzard, now at the Soho Theatre, writer and director Emily Woof has created a one-woman poignant and at times both physical and philosophical comedy that taps into the midlife neuroses and daydreams we all ponder. Middle-aged, married and muddled, Dotty (Emily Woof) and her husband, neuroscientist (also nicknamed Dotty) are growing apart as their…
How many words do you need to tell a story? Do words get in the way of story? Can you tell a story without them? Director Shu-wing Tang explores just this with his King Lear, which has had its European Premiere at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, ahead of a European tour. It will then…
Based on the popular DreamWorks Animation film, Madagascar the Musical follows four animal friends who escape from New York’s Central Park Zoo and find themselves on an unexpected journey to Madagascar. The production is a co-production between Selladoor Worldwide and the Theatre Royal Plymouth. Selladoor Worldwide were also responsible for the earlier version of the…
The early days of parenthood are exhausting, destabilising and throw every relationship into a starker relief than previously. Too often in theatre and TV, these days are presented for either their comedy value or through an idealistic lens of the love which new parents feel for the new person they have created. It is refreshing…
Thirty years since the Rwandan Genocide, Agathe at the Playground Theatre is a powerful piece of theatre storytelling, casting a research-informed gaze on a little known (and, as it turns out, short-lived) Rwandan leader, Agathe Uwilingiyimana. Playwright Angela J. Davis researched many testimonies and the play is a reminder of theatre’s ability to teach and…
Based on the short story by American science fiction writer Philip K Dick, Minority Report in an adaptation by David Haig (on tour, currently at Lyric Hammersmith) explores the age old debate between pre-destiny and free will. Absolutely extraordinary staging places the action firmly in 2050, as the pre-crime foundation celebrates its 10th anniversary and…
Based on the true story of Marie-Berthe Cazin, a ceramic artist in 1930s Paris, In Clay (most recently at Upstairs at the Gatehouse) is a tender and moving one-woman musical. As she waits for her friend – fellow artist Henrietta Tirman – Cazin tells us her life story and examines its triumphs, trials and frustrations.…
Birds of Paradise theatre are a Scottish touring group with disabled and non-disabled actors and a disability-led managing team. This structure brings a backdrop of authenticity to Don’t.Make.Tea. at the Soho Theatre which, while it is a farce, touches on some very real modern issues. The audience did not always find the play easy. You…
Tender love story Shifters by Benedict Lombe has been a sell-out success at the Bush Theatre and it seems hard to believe we might not see it in another incarnation soon. The Bush, under the artistic direction of Lynette Linton is going from strength to strength and Shifters is another triumph for them. Des(tiny) (Heather…
Power of Sail at the Menier Chocolate Factory examines and explores the limits of free speech. Even if we have the right to say anything do we have the right to say it anywhere? And what are the implications of that choice? Former protégé scholar Baxter Forrest (Giles Terera) alludes to Popper’s paradox that in…
Just For One Day at the Old Vic revisits the seminal Geldof fundraising concert of 1985, the events that led up to it and all that came after. It is estimated that Live Aid was shown live in 150 countries and although I managed to live in one of the few places not showing it,…
At the MacGregor Plantation the Old South is alive and well. The heat in the air, the cotton fields and the power of the whip. Yet nothing is quite as it appears… or maybe it is. The most Tony Nominated play of all time (described as iconic, controversial, ground-breaking) comes to London. Jeremy O.Harris’s play…
The King and I (touring) is now playing at the Dominion Theatre where it offers a traditional staging of this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Led by Helen George (of Call the Midwife fame) and Darren Lee (an experienced “King”), the performance ably presents the story. All of the cast are strong singers. There is, however,…
Lemn Sissay, Lyric Hammersmith, Frantic Assembly, Kafka: this play had excellent credentials and there was every reason to hope for a profound and interesting show. Unfortunately, directorial choices had the cast hollering and the audience left feeling battered by the one-note performances. Any nuance of dark and light was gone with moments which might have…
It may be only February, but now is the time to grab the seats you want at the English Ballet nutcracker. Book now for Southampton and London
Red Bus Londinium Life 