London
Rebecca, Charing Cross Theatre review - troubled show about a troubled house nonetheless divertsSaturday, 23 September 2023
There are times when it’s best to know as little as possible before taking one’s seat for a show – this new production of Rebecca would be a perfect such example.It was once talked up as the new Phantom, the next smash hit musical that would do on... Read more... |
Pygmalion, Old Vic review - zappy wit and emotional intelligenceWednesday, 20 September 2023
Many of us have perhaps grown too accustomed to the friendly face of My Fair Lady. George Bernard Shaw’s very original play is sharper, less sentimental yet ultimately more profoundly human. Its wit and wisdom zip along in Richard Jones’s... Read more... |
Top Boy, Season 5, Netflix review - grime and punishmentSaturday, 16 September 2023
And so Ronan Bennett’s Hackney gangster odyssey reaches its conclusion, having made the leap from its Channel 4 origins back in 2011 to become, over its last three series, one of Netflix’s top-rating and most acclaimed shows. And it has managed to... Read more... |
The Yellow Wallpaper, Lilian Baylis Studio review - a tense and intimate monodramaSaturday, 16 September 2023
What a difference a few years make. In 2019 I reviewed composer Dani Howard’s first opera, Robin Hood, also produced by The Opera Story, and commented on the fundraising success that enabled a cast of six and an ensemble of 10.Fast forward through... Read more... |
That Face, Orange Tree Theatre review - in-yer-face family dramaFriday, 15 September 2023
Playwright Polly Stenham MBE had a meteoric rise with this play, her award-winning 2007 debut which she wrote aged 19 and whose original Royal Court cast featured Lyndsay Duncan and Matt Smith, and earned a much-lauded West End transfer. I remember... Read more... |
Infamous, Jermyn Street Theatre review - Lady Hamilton challenges the patriarchy and losesThursday, 14 September 2023
Towards the end of the 18th century, Lady Emma Hamilton (like so much in this woman's life, hers was a title achieved as much as bestowed) was the “It Girl” of European society.They’ve always been around – women who have the combination of... Read more... |
AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T Rex review - musical doc falls between two stoolsThursday, 14 September 2023
Seeking to be both a documentary and a musical tribute to Marc Bolan, AngelHeaded Hipster doesn’t quite pull it off on either count. It’s based around the making of an album (whence the film gets its title) of versions of Bolan’s songs by an... Read more... |
'We wanted to make a record we really love': The Rolling Stones at Hackney EmpireFriday, 08 September 2023
One day, someone will compile a full illustrated history of Rolling Stones press conferences, going right back to Mick and Keith in 1964 buying a couple of pints in a pub in Denmark Street for journalists from the NME and Melody Maker – both now in... Read more... |
Zadie Smith: The Fraud review - the trials we inheritFriday, 01 September 2023
Zadie Smith’s latest novel, The Fraud, is her first venture into historical fiction – a fiction based on a factual trial and a real, forgotten Victorian author. While the premise is interesting and the story is engaging in itself, this book perhaps... Read more... |
Scrapper review - home alone, but then Dad turns upFriday, 25 August 2023
It’s the summer holidays, and though Georgie (Lola Campbell) is only 12, she’s managing to keep her council house looking just the way her mum liked it. There may be a few spiders hanging around but they have names and personalities and there’s food... Read more... |
Makeshifts and Realities, Finborough Theatre review - Edwardian dramas with a pinch of ChekhovFriday, 18 August 2023
We’re in (pretty much literally so in this most intimate of venues) an Edwardian sitting room, time hanging heavily in the air, gentility almost visibly fading before our eyes. Two sisters (young, educated, attractive) bicker with each other. But... Read more... |
Prom 43: Endgame, BBC Scottish SO, Ryan Wigglesworth review - beautiful sounds but slow, slow dramaFriday, 18 August 2023
György Kurtág is 97 and the last man standing of the post-war generation of avant-garde composers. Last night the Proms staged the UK premiere of his first opera, started in his eighties and premiered in 2018, a setting of Samuel Beckett’s typically... Read more... |
