There was a buzz in the air as I found my seat at the Tarragon Mainspace at the opening night of Wormwood. The theatre was packed to see the latest from Tarragon’s Playwright-in-Residence, Andrew Kushnir. Audience members trickled in from the lobby where Ukranian folk singers had just entertained the crowd. An announcement was made […]
Workshop productions aren’t really supposed to be reviewed, especially when they’re only playing for one weekend and the reviewer can’t make it on opening night. So, I suppose, you shouldn’t really call this a review. It’s more of a monologue about Holger Syme’s wonderful new adaptation of Ödön von Horváth’s Casimir and Caroline with The […]
Historically, operas that choose to focus on love tend to privilege sweeping romances, richly orchestrated melodrama, couples separated by social mores, and, more often than not, a gloriously tragic finale. If you’re going to have several dozen musicians thrumming beneath your story of romantic entanglement, then it seems more than fair for your performances to […]
Did this play deserve its Olivier Award nomination last year? Absolutely. Its development of character, slow revelation of plot and bitingly black humour make James Fritz’s work a triumph of new writing. The story revolves around two parents, Di and David (Kate Maravan and Jonathan McGuinness), whose son Jack has been beaten up on his […]
Belarus Free Theatre can claim that not only is it underground in form but also in substance. What it discusses in its plays is subversive: it challenges basic principles that constitute modern society. Of course, the substance of the underground exists on a spectrum, all the way from Dostoevsky to VICE magazine. After seeing four […]
Not since 1605 has Guy Fawkes night brought the British government so close to destruction than on this past November 5.* Parliament was dissolved. The monarchy was threatened. The United Kingdom lay on the verge of total collapse. At least, that is the reality that played out on the Music Box Theatre stage in Mike […]
People are shouting to me about the dangers of capitalism and I think I am liking it—let me explain how I got here: the Belarus Free Theatre, an unregistered, underground theatre company, have partnered with the Young Vic all the way from their home country to bring Staging a Revolution: a series of performances centred […]
Age of Arousal (Factory Theatre) The best thing I’ve seen at the Factory Theatre in ages, Linda Griffiths’ Age of Arousal is funny and sad and executed with plenty of pathos to balance its slight lecturing vibe. As the lone man in the play, Sam Kalilieh is the exact kind of charming that leaves you […]