Theatre Reviews
Boudica, Shakespeare's Globe review - ancient history made compellingly contemporaryThursday, 14 September 2017
History comes to the stage of the Globe only rarely – at least if you compare the frequency of productions there from that segment of the Shakespearean canon against the tragedies and comedies – which is certainly one reason to welcome Boudica. Read more... |
What Shadows, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh review - compelling, urgent, unashamedly provocativeThursday, 14 September 2017
You’ve got to hand it to David Greig. The artistic director of Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre has shown quite a knack for surfing the zeitgeist with his programming – and more importantly, tackling urgent political issues in a properly theatrical way. Read more... |
The March on Russia, Orange Tree Theatre review – vividly funny amid the bleaknessWednesday, 13 September 2017
The late David Storey spoke movingly, elsewhere on The Arts Desk, of his sense of overwhelming powerlessness at the challenge of accepting his father’s death. “I was quite racked by his death, and what death had become as an abstraction - in other words, what's my death, what's death itself?” he said. Read more... |
The Blinding Light, Jermyn Street Theatre, review – Jasper Britton is fascinatingly febrileWednesday, 13 September 2017
Anyone who likes playing “Spot the weirdo” will find themselves instantly at home in Howard Brenton’s new play, which has its world premiere in this West End fringe venue, a stone’s throw from Piccadilly Circus. Its subject is Swedish playwright and writer August Strindberg, and the psychological crisis which he suffered while he was living in Paris in 1896. Read more... |
Follies, National Theatre review - Imelda Staunton equal first in stunning companyThursday, 07 September 2017
Of Sondheim’s half-dozen masterpieces, Follies is the one which sets the bar impossibly high, both for its four principals and in its typically unorthodox dramatic structure. Read more... |
Richard III review - Temple Church venue is the star of the showThursday, 31 August 2017
Temple Church gained worldwide fame when Dan Brown included a major plot point there in his mega-selling novel The Da Vinci Code in 2003, but it has been standing, minding its own business, since the late 12th century. Read more... |
Late Company, Trafalgar Studios review - visceral production of Jordan Tannahill's lean, pained dramaTuesday, 29 August 2017
Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill wrote Late Company when he was only 23. It would be an impressive achievement at any age, but it seems all the more remarkable that so stark a dissection of the consequences of a tragedy should have come from so young a writer. Written in 2013, it was his fifth play. Read more... |
Loot, Park Theatre review – dizzyingly enjoyableThursday, 24 August 2017
Fifty years ago this month, playwright Joe Orton was murdered by his lover Kenneth Halliwell. His debut play, Entertaining Mr Sloane, had both outraged and delighted West End audiences in 1964, and his follow-up a year later was Loot, which was a flop at first and then a hit when restaged in 1966. Read more... |
Knives in Hens, Donmar Warehouse review – Yaël Farber not symbolic enoughWednesday, 23 August 2017
Hark, is that the call of the earth I hear? In a frenetic urban world, the myth of rural simplicity exerts a strong pull. Surely a simpler life is possible; a more natural rhythm and a slower pace? Read more... |
Edinburgh Festival and Fringe 2017 reviews round-upMonday, 21 August 2017
Wondering what on earth to choose between as you tramp the streets of the festival? These are our highlights so far. STANDUP Athenu Kugblenu, Underbelly Med Quad ★★★ Strong debut hour of political and identity comedy |
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★★★★★
‘A compulsive, involving, emotionally stirring evening – theatre’s answer to a page-turner.’
The Observer, Kate Kellaway
Direct from a sold-out season at Kiln Theatre the five star, hit play, The Son, is now playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited season.
★★★★★
‘This final part of Florian Zeller’s trilogy is the most powerful of all.’
The Times, Ann Treneman
Written by the internationally acclaimed Florian Zeller (The Father, The Mother), lauded by The Guardian as ‘the most exciting playwright of our time’, The Son is directed by the award-winning Michael Longhurst.
Book by 30 September and get tickets from £15*
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