family relationships
Fun Home, Young Vic review - a simply sublime musical memoirThursday, 28 June 2018
It seems only too fitting that David Lan’s luminous reign at the Young Vic should draw to a close with this bold, creatively thrilling international import. Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s Tony-winning musical, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2013,... Read more... |
The Ciambra review - supremely effective storytellingThursday, 14 June 2018
The Ciambra is a wonderful and subtle piece of filmmaking. Director/writer Jonas Carpignano captures the genuine heart and fire of family relationships with an amateur cast of relatives, led by the magnetic young Pio Amato. By trusting the audience... Read more... |
Monogamy, Park Theatre review - Janie Dee in dark family dramaTuesday, 12 June 2018
Forget about dark alleys, deserted parks and slippery slopes: the most dangerous place in the world is likely to be your family. That’s where the traps are, the minefields and the surprise betrayals. As its title suggests, Torben Betts’s new comedy... Read more... |
My Name is Lucy Barton, Bridge Theatre review - Laura Linney is luminous in a flawless productionThursday, 07 June 2018
In Harold Pinter’s memory play Old Times, one of the women declares, “There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened.” Elizabeth Strout’s heroine in My Name Is Lucy Barton is in the reverse position. When it comes to... Read more... |
La finta semplice, Classical Opera, QEH review - consummate musicianship stokes early MozartThursday, 07 June 2018
You can always be sure of impeccable casting and spirited playing as Ian Page takes his Classical Opera through Mozart year by year. Just don't expect more than the glimmer of genius to come in 1768, though. It doesn't matter in those admirable... Read more... |
CD: Lily Allen - No ShameThursday, 07 June 2018
Lily Allen has long been an unlikely inhabitant of the tabloid sphere. She was born into it and her pop career sealed the deal, rendering her a recalcitrant victim of paparazzi fishbowl idiocy, ugly magazines and online sidebars. She is, however,... Read more... |
The Rink, Southwark Playhouse - lesser-known musical lands afreshWednesday, 06 June 2018
Two dynamite lead performances and the chance to savour an underappreciated score give genuine charge to The Rink, a decades-old Broadway flop that feels reborn for Southwark Playhouse. A short-lived star vehicle for Chita Rivera (who... Read more... |
Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios review - family drama, creepy and cruelTuesday, 05 June 2018
Right from the beginning of Simon Evans’s production of Tracy Letts's 1993 play, it’s clear we’re in for an intense, raw experience. A storm of almost symphonic musical accompaniment roars, lightning flashing over the claustrophobic trailer... Read more... |
Fatherland, Lyric Hammersmith review - loud and proud, shame about the contentSaturday, 02 June 2018
Masculinity, whether toxic or in crisis (but never ever problem-free), is a hardy perennial subject for British new writing, and this new piece from playwright Simon Stephens, Frantic Assembly director Scott Graham and Underworld musician Karl Hyde... Read more... |
Consent, Harold Pinter Theatre review - exhilaratingWednesday, 30 May 2018
Question: is Consent, transferred from the National to the West End, a sharp-tongued comedy or an acute reinvention of a revenge drama? There are more than enough smartly placed laughs throughout the tart, increasingly taut first act, to make you... Read more... |
Sarah Kendall, Soho Theatre review - a superb storytellerThursday, 17 May 2018
For her past few shows, Sarah Kendall's stock in trade has been intricately crafted stories that mix fact and fiction, drawing on her childhood in Newcastle, New South Wales, and observations about the world she now lives in. Her latest show, One-... Read more... |
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Brighton Festival review - a dynamic dedication to an artist's museThursday, 10 May 2018
They say that behind every successful man is a strong woman. The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk is as much – if not more so – the championing of the unsung hero in this story of the famous early modernist artist, Marc Chagall. His wife, Bella – early muse... Read more... |
