Theatre Reviews
The Seven Streams of the River Ota, National Theatre review - theatre at its transcendent bestMonday, 16 March 2020
If you want to pinpoint the genius of Robert Lepage’s multi-faceted seven-hour epic, that has returned to the National Theatre 26 years after it first dazzled British audiences in 1994, you might as well begin with a stethoscope. Read more... |
Love, Love, Love, Lyric Hammersmith review - a stinging revivalFriday, 13 March 2020
The Beatles lyric that gives Mike Bartlett’s terrific play its title dates to 1967, which also happens to be the year in which the first of Bartlett’s three acts is set. What follows are two further scenes in the evolving relationship between Kenneth (Nicholas Burns) and Sandra (Rachael Stirling), set in 1990 and then 2011. Read more... |
On Blueberry Hill, Trafalgar Studios review - superb acting, specious plotThursday, 12 March 2020
Some wondrous acting is sacrificed on the altar of an increasingly wonky plot in On Blueberry Hill, the first play in 10 years from Sebastian Barry, the Irish playwright and novelist whose onetime Royal Court entry The Steward of Christendom showcased a treasured theatrical memory in the leading... Read more... |
Blithe Spirit, Duke of York's Theatre review - Jennifer Saunders in serious comedyWednesday, 11 March 2020
Jennifer Saunders is a one-woman tickle machine. As her countless appearances in television shows such as French and Saunders and Ab Fab prove, this triple BAFTA winner is box office magic. The mere incantation of her name is enough to sell out any West End show. Read more... |
Mrs Puntila and Her Man Matti, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh review - a drink-sodden slogWednesday, 11 March 2020
If there’s one certainty about the Edinburgh Lyceum’s production of Mrs Puntila And Her Man Matti – and there aren't many in this unsatisfying, overlong revival – it’s that Elaine C Smith makes a terrific drunkard. Read more... |
Shoe Lady, Royal Court review - Katherine Parkinson is a footsore BeckettianTuesday, 10 March 2020
On my way to see this show, I see an urban fox. Before I can take a photo, it scrambles away. And I'm sure that, as it goes, it winks at me. This weird moment is a great prologue to EV Crowe's new play, virtually a monologue starring Katherine Parkinson, which is weird, and then some. And then some more. Read more... |
Not Quite Jerusalem, Finborough Theatre review - theatrical hit from 1980 now feels flat and staleMonday, 09 March 2020
It may seem strange to watch a play about four English people on a kibbutz in the Seventies, and find yourself thinking about Brexit, but that’s precisely what springs to mind here. Read more... |
The Last Five Years, Southwark Playhouse review - an inspired actor-musician take on a cult classicThursday, 05 March 2020
There’s concept on top of concept in this revival of Jason Robert Brown’s beloved 2001 musical, which charts the ebb and flow of a relationship by juggling timelines: aspiring actress Cathy’s story is told in reverse chronological order, while aspiring writer Jamie’s moves forward. Read more... |
The Revenger's Tragedy, Piccolo Teatro di Milano/Cheek by Jowl, Barbican review - fun, but not enoughThursday, 05 March 2020
Vendetta, morte: what a lark to find those tools of 19th century Italian opera taken back to their mother tongue in a Milanese take on Jacobean so-called tragedy, where the overriding obsession is on mortalità. It would take a composer of savage wit like Gerald Barry to set Middleton's satirical bloody-mindedness to music today. Read more... |
The Special Relationship, Soho Theatre review - informative, but uninspiringWednesday, 04 March 2020
Since 2000, Esther Baker's Synergy Theatre Project has worked with prisoners, ex-offenders and young people at risk of offending to produce powerful dramas about some of the most fraught social situations you can imagine. Read more... |
Pages
Advertising feature
★★★★★
‘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*
with no booking fee.
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Russell Howard Live at the Palladium review - feelgood philo...
This special, available for a limited time only, acts as a sort of appetiser for the next leg of a mega tour that started in 2023, and still has...
Album: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Purple Bird
Somewhat astoundingly, The Purple Bird is Will Oldham’s album number 21 using his Bonnie “Prince” Billy alias. A fine set of alt...
Catherine Airey: Confessions review - the crossroads we bear
Anglo-Irish author Catherine Airey’s first novel, ...
theartsdesk on Vinyl 88: Violent Femmes, Ringo Starr, ARXX,...
VINYL OF THE MONTH
Buñuel Mansuetude (Skin Graft/Overdrive)
...
RAM Song Circle, Wigmore Hall review - excellent young music...
After a week of illness, heading out into the Sunday afternoon cold and rain was not something I was overjoyed to undertake. But in the event this...
Album: Gary Kemp - This Destination
If I’d listened to this blind, I would have absolutely no idea who it was by. This isn’t the voice I remember...
Music Reissues Weekly: New York Dolls - Showdown At The Merc...
“A band you’re gonna like, whether you like it or not.” The proclamation in the press ads for the New York Dolls’ debut album acknowledged they...
Flight Risk review - the sky's the limit for Michelle D...
Director Mel Gibson probably made Flight...
Presence review - Soderbergh's haunted camera
The camera is the ghost in Steven Soderbergh’s 35th feature, waiting in a vacant house for its buyers, ambitious Rebecca (Lucy Liu, ...