playwrights
Scenes with Girls, Royal Court review - feminist separatism 2.0Wednesday, 22 January 2020
Last night, I discovered the gasp index. Or maybe just re-discovered. The what? The gasp index. It's when you see a show that keeps making you exhale, sometimes audibly, sometimes quietly. Tonight I gasped about five times, then I stopped counting... Read more... |
Snowflake, Kiln Theatre review - strong but clumsy generational warTuesday, 17 December 2019
The prolific Mike Bartlett – from whose pen have leapt television series such as Doctor Foster and Press, as well as stage hits such as King Charles III – has two things to celebrate tonight. On ITV his new three-part psychological drama, Sticks and... Read more... |
A Kind of People, Royal Court review - multiculturalism falls apartThursday, 12 December 2019
The trouble with prejudice is that you can't control how other people see you. At the start of her career, playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's work was set in her own Sikh community. But, like other playwrights from similar backgrounds, she has tended... Read more... |
The Wind of Heaven, Finborough Theatre review - a welcome, if strange, Emlyn Williams rediscoverySaturday, 30 November 2019
This is the third Emlyn Williams piece to be presented here in a decade: The Druid's Rest in 2009 was followed by the enormous success of Accolade, directed by Blanche McIntyre, two years later.If it's a truism that neglected plays may well have... Read more... |
The Arrival, Bush Theatre review - boys will definitely be boysWednesday, 27 November 2019
Family dramas are a staple of British new writing, but as well as talking about our nearest and dearest, can they also say something about the wider society? The Arrival, by director turned playwright Bijan Sheibani, who won an Olivier award for... Read more... |
Sydney & the Old Girl, Park Theatre review - black comedy too melodramaticWednesday, 06 November 2019
Actor Miriam Margolyes is a phenomenon. Not only has this Dickensian starred in high-profile shows both here and in Australia, a country whose citizenship she took up in 2013, but she is also Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films. And a... Read more... |
First Person: Simon Stephens - the contemplation of kindnessTuesday, 29 October 2019
Light Falls is the sixth play that I have written for the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester and the fourth that its outgoing Artistic Director, Sarah Frankcom, will direct.She directed On the Shore of the Wide World, Punk Rock and Blindsided. In... Read more... |
First Person: Hannah Khalil on museum as metaphor in her new play for the RSCTuesday, 22 October 2019
It all started in 2009 in the National Portrait Gallery. I’d had a meeting nearby so popped in to get a cuppa and stare at the beautiful rooftop view of London from their top-floor café, but a picture caught my eye. It was part of an exhibition of... Read more... |
[Blank], Donmar Warehouse review - strong but dispiritingFriday, 18 October 2019
Clean Break, the theatre company that specialises in working with women in the criminal justice system, is doing a lot of celebrating. It's the 40th anniversary of this unique female organisation and already this year they have put on a variety of... Read more... |
A History of Water in the Middle East, Royal Court review - feminist dreams and passionsTuesday, 15 October 2019
Sabrina Mahfouz is a British-Egyptian writer who has explored issues of Muslim and British identity in various formats. Her work includes poetry, fiction, anthologies and performances, as well as plays. And she's pretty prolific. Since her Dry Ice... Read more... |
Baby Reindeer, Bush Theatre review - break, break, breaking GaddSaturday, 12 October 2019
True stories, even in a fictional form, have the power to grip you by the throat, furiously shake your body and then give you a parting kick in the arse. This is certainly true of stand-up comedian Richard Gadd's Baby Reindeer, a blistering... Read more... |
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Trafalgar Studios review - tragi-comic masterpieceWednesday, 02 October 2019
Playwright Peter Nichols died aged 92 last month, just before the opening of this starry West End revival of his most celebrated masterpiece. A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1967) is based on his own family experience of bringing up his disabled... Read more... |
