family relationships
Hedda, Orange Tree Theatre review - a monument reimagined, perhaps even improvedWednesday, 29 October 2025
Hedda Gabler is a Hollywood star of The Golden Age – or rather, she was. She walked off the set of two movies into a five-film deal and didn’t come back. Millions watched her, but only a very select few saw her, and that paradox became insupportable... Read more... |
Mary Page Marlowe, Old Vic review - a starry portrait of a splintered lifeFriday, 24 October 2025
I came late to the Old Vic's shimmering production of Mary Page Marlowe, Tracy Letts's Off Broadway play from 2018 which has arrived in London with Andrea Riseborough and Susan Sarandon leading a sizable and uniformly excellent cast. And I hope... Read more... |
The Unbelievers, Royal Court Theatre - grimly compelling, powerfully performedThursday, 23 October 2025
Change, we're often told, is the engine of drama: people end up somewhere markedly different from where they began. So the first thing to be said about Nick Payne's blistering new play The Unbelievers is that its concept is as brave as leading lady... Read more... |
Troilus and Cressida, Globe Theatre review - a 'problem play' with added problemsSaturday, 11 October 2025
The Globe’s authenticity is its USP, so don’t expect the air-conditioning, the plush seats and the expectant hush of the National Theatre some 20 minutes walk away along the Thames. There’s not quite Elizabethan levels of discomfort to endure, so no... Read more... |
I Swear review - taking stock of Tourette'sFriday, 10 October 2025
People sometimes go to the movies for the violence and maybe even for the sex. Until recently they didn’t particularly buy a ticket for the bad language, but lately, British cinema has been making this a selling point. In Wicked Little Letters (2023... Read more... |
Clarkston, Trafalgar Theatre review - two lads on a road to nowhereFriday, 10 October 2025
If you’re a Gen Zer, you’ve probably heard of Heartstopper’s Joe Locke. I’m pretty sure ATG’s Gen Xers in the back office had also heard of him, as tickets are priced up to and beyond £100 for a 100 minutes all-through, 10-years-old three-hander... Read more... |
Measure for Measure, RSC, Stratford review - 'problem play' has no problem with relevanceFriday, 03 October 2025
An opening video montage presents us with a rogues' gallery of powerful men who have done bad things. Plenty of the usual suspects appear to stomach-churning effect, but no ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, sentenced last week to five years in prison by... Read more... |
50 First Dates: The Musical, The Other Palace review - romcom turned musicalFriday, 26 September 2025
About halfway through this world premiere, I realised what was missing. Where is the sinister lift, where are the long corridors and, most of all, WHERE IS MR. MILCHICK? 50 First Dates: The Musical may indeed be the sunnier cousin of Severance, but... Read more... |
The Harder They Come, Stratford East review - still packs a punch, half a century onWednesday, 24 September 2025
The impact of great art is physical as much as it is psychological. I recall the first time I saw Perry Henzell’s 1972 film, The Harder They Come. I’d been in the pub and, as we did then with just four channels, slumped in front of the television to... Read more... |
Reunion, Kiln Theatre review - a stormy night in every senseFriday, 19 September 2025
If you ever wanted to know what a mash up of Martin McDonagh and Conor McPherson, stirred (and there’s a lot of stirring in this play) with a soupçon of Chekhov, Ibsen and Williams looks like, The Kiln has your answer.Mark O’Rowe’s feuding family... Read more... |
The Lady from the Sea, Bridge Theatre review - flashes of brillianceFriday, 19 September 2025
Like the lighting that crackles now and again to indicate an abrupt change of scene or mood, Simon Stone's version of The Lady from the Sea is illuminated by the sense of adventure and excitement one has come to expect from this singular artist.... Read more... |
The Courageous review - Ophélia Kolb excels as a single mother on the edgeFriday, 05 September 2025
“I never abandoned you,” says Jule (Ophélia Kolb; Call My Agent!) to her 10-year-old daughter Claire (Jasmine Kalisz Saurer), setting a fairly low bar as far as motherhood is concerned.Swiss-American director Jasmin Gordon’s first feature, with a... Read more... |
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