Royal Court
The Nether, Royal Court TheatreThursday, 24 July 2014There is so much public anxiety about paedophiles on the internet that it’s surprising that so few plays tackle the issue. Now Los Angeles playwright Jennifer Haley brings her new play on the subject, which won the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize,... Read more... |
Adler & Gibb, Royal Court TheatreThursday, 19 June 2014Theatre-maker Tim Crouch has a thing about art. One of his plays, ENGLAND, was performed in art galleries across the world; another was called An Oak Tree, after the 1973 conceptual art piece by Michael Craig-Martin. In fact, Crouch even looks like... Read more... |
Khandan (Family), Royal Court TheatreThursday, 12 June 2014Some days, I feel very sorry for playwrights, especially those that become notorious through no fault of their own. If their most famous play causes enough controversy, it can take decades before people forget it. So now, 10 years since Gurpreet... Read more... |
The South Bank Show: Abi Morgan, Sky Arts 1Thursday, 05 June 2014It’s been a decade since the television drama Sex Traffic brought writer Abi Morgan into the mainstream. It won an impressive collection of awards, and its tale of international prostitution networks, and their brutality, was as harsh and under-the-... Read more... |
Birdland, Royal Court TheatreThursday, 10 April 2014If rock is magic, then what about its creators? Are they wonderful magicians, or empty charlatans? Infused by the spirit of the Patti Smith song of the same name, playwright Simon Stephens’s new play puts a rock star centre stage — and then lets him... Read more... |
Let The Right One In, Apollo TheatreWednesday, 09 April 2014Flying masonry put the Apollo in the headlines late last year when part of the theatre’s ceiling collapsed; now an airborne vampire and an impressive refurbishment give it new life. A cyclorama of dark tree branches and cloud-scudded skies covers... Read more... |
The Mistress Contract, Royal Court TheatreThursday, 06 February 2014What exactly is unconventional about an unconventional couple? In Abi Morgan’s new two-hander, an adaptation of last year’s book of the same name by She and He (a West Coast American couple now aged 90ish), the situation is simple. Boy meets girl at... Read more... |
The Resurrection of Conor McPhersonThursday, 23 January 2014The transfer this week to the West End of The Weir has reminded theatre-goers of Conor McPherson’s hypnotic powers as a dramatist. In the Donmar's revival of the play you can palpably feel the playwright’s storytelling magic casting its spell all... Read more... |
The Pass, Royal Court Jerwood Theatre UpstairsMonday, 20 January 2014You don't have to know the difference between Dennis Wise (who is referenced during it) and Ernie Wise (who is not) to be immensely gripped by The Pass, the scorching new Royal Court play that traffics ostensibly in the world of football only to... Read more... |
Not I, Footfalls, Rockaby, Royal Court TheatreTuesday, 14 January 2014In many ways, the darkness is the most memorable aspect of this production. It's so deep and all-encompassing that your eyes start to play tricks on you, seeing spots of light and shadow where there is only blackness. Because of this, when Lisa Dwan... Read more... |
Gastronauts, Royal Court Theatre UpstairsSaturday, 30 November 2013For increasing numbers of people, food is theatre, so what better time to combine the two into the slight, sweet, determinedly socially conscious evening that is Gastronauts? The Royal Court "happening" of sorts is catering to audiences of 60 per... Read more... |
The Culture Show: Vicky Featherstone - All Change at the Royal Court, BBC TwoThursday, 28 November 2013I guess the BBC can't afford researchers or fact-checkers these days. If they could, perhaps something of substance might have arisen from their vacuous Culture Show profile of Vicky Featherstone, the gifted new artistic director of the Royal Court... Read more... |