Recent times have taught us that the novel ‘dark romantic comedy’ genre can work in popular culture. Tim Burton even created such a style that is now synonymous with his namesake. Corpse Bride, for example, shows that the motif can succeed in straddling the line between the macabre and the touching without falling too far onto one side or the other. It Happened […]
It is remarkable that the principal themes of Machinal, an expressionist 1928 play by Sophie Treadwell, should resonate so acutely with the dominant questions of the modern world. Ideas of a woman’s role in an industrial and patriarchal society, whether one can be trapped by society and whether there is any ‘way out’ are in many […]
Follies is, in one way, exactly what you might expect from a 1971 work by the noted musical dramatist Stephen Sondheim, in that it’s a true spectacle, with lyrics that bounce effortlessly off its superb score, and huge, colourful and bombastic set-pieces that leave the audience in awe. On the other hand, the latest revival […]
As the festivities on London’s South Bank get under way the big purple tent opens its bovine-adorned folds up to a fitting act of spectacle and astonishment. Catch Me (or Attrape Moi) comprises a group of young artists and circus performers from Quebec—a proving ground for the talented entertainers of this sort of thing. Running […]
With a rock opera-esque musical, you usually know the kind of thing you’re going to get: a focus on song over story, a tendency for melodrama over subtlety and a production design which more resembles a rock concert than a traditional stage; these quirks can succeed if the songs and performances are strong. Lizzie adheres […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2016 MyTheatre Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Nominated for Best Original Work in this year’s London My Theatre Awards, Neil McPherson is the writer behind It Is Easy To Be Dead, a play which follows the life of war poet, Charles Hamilton Sorley, during the […]
It must be difficult basing a play around a group as well-known and held in such high esteem as the Marx Brothers while still retaining the sense of individual character that a standalone play offers. Such a concept can be an opportunity to investigate and explore the wider, metaphysical nature of its subject matter in […]
Having completed my first run-through of Dishonored 2 (the sequel to the excellent 2012 original from Arkane Studios), I feel some sort of pride in my ‘sneak around and don’t kill anyone unless absolutely necessary’ approach. Sure, I probably didn’t have as much fun as I could have had if I had taken the ‘high […]
Recounting the short but significant life of Charles Hamilton Sorley, a Scottish poet of World War One, It is Easy to Be Dead is a sombre take on the brutality of war. Told through a collection of letters and poetry, the play follows Sorley from his time at Cambridge to his studies in Germany before […]
Adapting a novel for the stage is certainly no easy feat. Sacrifices and changes must be made to slim down what can be a lengthy and detailed narrative into a coherent, streamlined and more visual medium. The risk lies in the impact this conversion can have on the end-product, specifically whether what works on the […]
Following its sell-out premiere at the Spitalfields Music Summer Festival, Sister is the latest production from Born Mad. It’s an experimental piece, using music and vocals to delve into the many aspects of family life and, particularly, the nature of sisterhood. Its two leads, Daisy Brown and Nia Coleman, present an anthology of different memories, […]
With such a small cast and situated within the intimate Trafalgar Studios, Vanities: The Musical relies strongly on its trio of female leads. Lauren Samuels, Ashleigh Gray and Lizzy Connolly certainly deliver deft and formidable performances as the central characters of Mary, Kathy and Joanne—a closely-knit group of friends who begin as peppy cheerleaders, only […]
It is always difficult to adapt something that is as ingrained in popular culture as the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, particularly when such a film’s very title and premise have entered the modern lexicon. The musical certainly had a large degree of hype behind it, not least owing to the news that the book and lyrics […]
Following a successful run at the Chichester Festival Theatre, a trilogy of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s plays (adapted by David Hare) are now showing at the National Theatre in London. Regarded as the first of his four major plays, The Seagull is an interesting commentary on the struggle to create ‘the new’ against the obstinacy […]
Staged within the pretty grounds and interior of the wonderfully fitting 17th century St Paul’s Church (the Actor’s Church) and situated in the heart of busy Covent Garden, Treasure Island is the second in-house summer production by the Iris Theatre. It is a new take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, billed as an immersive, swashbuckling […]
You certainly can’t fault Remedy’s Quantum Break for trying out something a bit different. The whole idea of a hybrid video game/TV show should provide an interesting new take on the broadly defined action/adventure genre. The novel format suggests a new sense of immersion, with computer-rendered mo-cap performances interspersed with the genuine article in a […]
Tales from the Borderlands is a welcome return to form from the episodic player-influenced storyteller Telltale, providing a unique genre-twisting take on Gearbox’s Borderlands universe in a funny, enjoyable and thoroughly charming way. It is a fine example of what good writing can bring to a, by this point, already well-used format, surpassing many of […]
Matthew Perry is an actor that many of us are acutely aware of for his portrayal of the awkward, joke-spinning Chandler from the sitcom Friends. What people may not be aware of is that he is currently starring as the lead in a play of his own creation in the West End, presently at the […]
Brutal, frustrating, challenging, heart-breaking and joyous are just some of the adjectives that best fit the follow-up to the acclaimed tactical turn-based sci-fi strategy game, XCOM Enemy Unknown – a game which I actually count as the best game of 2012 (Sorry Mass Effect 3). On the one hand, rarely have I uttered the phrase […]
One of the latest revivals to hit the West End, Guys and Dolls is a classic piece of light-hearted entertainment, a thoroughly enjoyable romp which is sure to cure those pesky January blues. Set in a dizzying yet dazzling den of debauchery within the New York City underworld, Guys and Dolls tells the tale of […]
One of the latest franchises to be given a shiny new reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider is the sequel to its descriptively to-the-point predecessor, Tomb Raider. Obviously having not risen enough during her first outing, Rise of the Tomb Raider sees Lara Croft on yet another adventure, this time to restore her father’s tarnished […]
As is the case with many who count the 2003 film Elf, as one of the best Christmas films out there and a staple of the holiday season, its musical iteration has been anticipated by many in the run-up to its recent opening at the Dominion Theatre. Such excitement has manifested itself in not just […]
With the festive season fully in swing, it is unsurprising to find a number of plays in London which are adaptations of children’s novels, particularly of those set during the Second World War. There is something about the war-time spirit that appeals at Christmas. Perhaps it’s the feelings of togetherness and shared effort that characterize […]
Minor spoilers from the TV series to follow, primarily up to the end of Season 3 (specifically, the ‘Red Wedding’ event). Following on from the success of the excellent The Walking Dead series, Game of Thrones is one of the latest franchises to be given the cell-shaded, decisions-based treatment from Telltale Games. Overall, the decisions […]
*Minor spoilers ahead, but only for the first hour or so. Playing any Fallout game is an unusually strange and charming experience. Set in a future post-apocalyptic Boston, but in an alternative timeline in which the world never really got over the 1950s, there are few games with such vaulting ambitions as Fallout 4. But […]
The Screenwriter’s Daughter is a compelling piece of theatre: a humorous, entertaining and historically enlightening new play currently showing at the Leicester Square Theatre. It revolves around the later life of Ben Hecht, a relatively unknown yet prolific and successful screenwriter during Hollywood’s Golden Age, and his increasingly tearaway daughter, Jenny, a counter-cultural revolutionary and […]