Lynn Nottage’s play Clyde’s picks up where Sweat, also staged at the Donmar Warehouse in 2018, left off. Life in the margins of society, but with a sense of hope, hard-earned pride and camaraderie nonetheless. Clyde’s It’s not even remotely possible to see every play in London, but sometimes I wish I could go back […]
Haruki Murakami’s 1999 novel Sputnik Sweetheart comes to the Arcola stage, with all its ambiguity, loneliness and longing. Sputnik Sweetheart The novels of Haruki Murakami are not easy ones to stage. Ambiguous, with frequently charismatic yet unreliable narrators, and other worlds as metaphorical plot devices. I’ve read other works by the author, but not Sputnik […]
A world premiere in Hornchurch as Killing Jack takes the stage, reclaiming the stories of the five women whose lives have been overshadowed by their deaths in the autumn of 1888. Content warning: contains references to (sexual) violence, death and grief. Killing Jack Whitechapel, 1888. Five murders take place from September to November. All women, […]
Spooky thrills and laughs: it’s time for another pre-Halloween treat in the form of The Nag’s Head, brought to London’s Park Theatre by Make it Beautiful Theatre Company. The Nag’s Head ‘Tis the season and all that. OK, not quite that season yet, we have the spooky season of Halloween first. And an evening of […]
An eery retelling of a Victorian tale of the supernatural, Casting the Runes is a perfect pre-Halloween treat. Casting The Runes My favourite type of horror story does not contain slasher gore or lots of jump scares. I prefer horror in its original sense, where the focus is on creating a sense of fear. A […]
James Graham tells the story of Gareth Southgate’s England team in Dear England, an insightful play which also examines the place of individual, team and national psychology in sport and society. Dear England Dear England is a play about football. What do I know about football? Not a whole lot, really. But Dear England is […]
A clever little story about a very Victorian scandal, The Flea shows just what an impact something seemingly insignificant can have. The Flea Well, which flea? The flea. That started it all. The flea that bit the rat, which spooked a horse, which kicked a man, which… so on and so on. OK, not a […]
Japanese theatre company tarinainanika brings the story of artist Rey Camoy to Bloomsbury Festival audiences. Powerful, moving and at times disturbing, this is a tour de force of physical theatre. Content warning: mentions of suicide and substance abuse. Bloomsbury Festival 2023 I have been known on occasion to say that the most interesting, creative works […]
One of London’s newer pub theatres hosts one of the UK’s most established theatre companies as People Show 145: The Diviners takes over the Golden Goose Theatre. The Diviners: People Show 145 The show opens on a simple set. A coloured square on the floor, with footstools in each corner: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. […]
A humorous, fast-paced and witty play, Amendments: a Play on Words is a politically incorrect take on political correctness. Amendments: A Play On Words You don’t see too many plays in London which could be described as a farce. Amendments: a Play on Words is almost one, but is also something slightly different: a farce […]
