01 December 2017
Manwatching Gavin Crawford
By Lisa McKeown // Theatre (Toronto)
Manwatching is a one-man show written by a woman. That’s all I know about the author going in to see the show, because she remains anonymous. And each night a …
13 October 2017
Victory Condition at the Royal Court
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
Chloe Lamford’s set presents a box in the Jerwood Downstairs surrounded by scaffolding, which contains the kind of modern, expensive, prefab apartment you see in every part of Central London. …
18 June 2017
Two Shows from The Site
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
The Royal Court’s associate designer, Chloe Lamford, got five writers ‘exploring performance through language, physicality and the power of the imagination’. They wrote a piece each. I caught two of …
10 May 2017
The Ferryman at the Royal Court
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
It was an Event. Jez Butterworth is The Playwright. An Architect. Racy and gnomic. Not a priori great—David Hare was The Playwright and he’s made no great work since Skylight. …
27 April 2017
The 2016 MyTheatre Award Winners: London
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
Okay, time for another round. For some reason I forgot why I chose Best Actor/Best Actress categories—was there a special reason for that? They seem like a 1950’s vestige. Who …
01 April 2017
The Kid Stays in the Picture at the Royal Court
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
‘Why?’ is what you leave with. It’s what you come in with, too, but you have an answer to that. ‘It’s Simon McBurney. It’s Complicite. It’s about a plainly interesting …
27 September 2016
Father Comes Home from the Wars at the Royal Court
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
It’s a grind to attend three hours of theatre. But grinds aren’t always bad. Sometimes, the alienation that accompanies “why I am watching this?” can induce some valuable critical distance. …
24 September 2016
Torn at the Royal Court
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
A lot of Royal Court’s Upstairs programming is too dry for its own good. Not this. Nathaniel Martello-White’s Torn wears complexity on its sleeve. Angel arranges a circle of seats …
07 April 2016
X at the Royal Court Theatre
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
A research base orbits Pluto. There has been no communication with Earth for three months, far longer than normal. A crew member is hallucinating and time is not as linear …
16 March 2016
I See You at the Royal Court Theatre
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
It is always stimulating to see drama from an area that British theatre usually does not touch. Post-apartheid South Africa is perfect center for such drama, investigating the tension between …
16 September 2015
Lela & Co at the Royal Court Theatre
By Oliver Simmonds // Theatre (London)
It is best to see Lela & Co without knowledge of it beforehand—if you want to see worthwhile theatre then stop reading this and go see it, essentially. The reason …
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