Copyright Christmas

As the financial chill cuts even deeper and credit cards buckle under the strain of present-buying, performance group Duckie’s immersive satire on the cult of Christmas consumerism – directed by Mark Whitelaw and designed by Robin Whitemore – should be a belt-tighteningly relevant experience. But beneath the colour and the … Continue Reading Copyright Christmas

The Ladykillers

In the summer of 1954, while living in Hampstead, screenwriter Bill Rose had a dream about five criminals sharing a house with a little old lady. This stage adaptation of 1955 Ealing comedy The Ladykillers, the film it inspired – now at the Gielgud Theatre following a successful stint in … Continue Reading The Ladykillers

Cinderella

Alex Young deserves top marks for bringing a touch of magic to west London with his ambitious revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s sweeping musical fairytale. Designer Christopher Hone takes the tiny space and creates a toy-box world filled with illuminated houses stacked like presents. While not the song writing duo’s … Continue Reading Cinderella

Orpheus in the Underworld

Scottish Opera and Northern Ireland Opera’s co-production of Jacques Offenbach’s 1858 comic opera maintains the cheeky spirit of previous versions, updating the composer’s bawdy take on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth to mirror the world we live in now. Gone is the original’s mockery of Parisian life in Napoleon’s Second … Continue Reading Orpheus in the Underworld

TaniwhaThames

Something ancient is lurking in the Thames in this company-devised piece. The shapeshifting Taniwha of Māori legend has travelled oceans to lure men and women into the murky depths of England’s most famous river. After a rather forced start where you’re encouraged to toast the Taniwha with a shot of … Continue Reading TaniwhaThames

Love, Question Mark

Are swans the only monogamous species on the planet? And is it really possible to distinguish love from sex? These are among the questions writer and director Robert Gillespie (of That Was the Week That Was fame) tackles in this wry look at sexual politics and social conventions. Unfortunately, the play’s … Continue Reading Love, Question Mark

Death and the Maiden

There’s an intense physical vulnerability to Thandie Newton as an actress. Fine-boned and slender, just her presence draws your attention to how awkward, unyielding and harsh a place the world can be. This effect is something that director Jeremy Herrin successfully harnesses in his production of Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the … Continue Reading Death and the Maiden

Inadmissible Evidence

For many writers, the stage is where they put the inadmissible in their lives; twisting it, obscuring it, trying to make sense of it. Here, John Osborne closes the fractured family photo album of Look Back in Anger to present us with something that is less explicitly autobiographical but no less personal … Continue Reading Inadmissible Evidence

Third Floor

Watching Canadian playwright Jason Hall’s new play, inspired by his purchase of a flat, is like being told a story by a friend who thinks it’s absolutely hilarious. The problem is that it isn’t as funny as it could be and the punch-line, when it comes, isn’t justified by the … Continue Reading Third Floor

Saved

Since its debut at the Royal Court in 1965, Edward Bond’s Saved has become as notorious for its impact on British theatre as for its bleak depiction of a society in freefall. The Lord Chamberlain’s decision to ban it because of a scene in which a baby is stoned to … Continue Reading Saved

Ragtime

Clutching the baby she has recently tried to bury alive, young black girl Sarah sings ‘Your Daddy’s Son’. Her face is etched with pain and her voice with sorrow and confusion. It’s one of many electrifying moments in Robert McWhir’s skilful and hugely evocative re-staging of ‘Ragtime’, first performed on … Continue Reading Ragtime

Disco Pigs

This production of Enda Walsh’s dazzling early play Disco Pigs begins with a discomfiting antagonism between audience and stage. A pinch-faced girl sticks her head out from behind a sheet and snorts at our heels as we take our seats. Nearby, a boy thrusts a crackling cassette player into our faces, his … Continue Reading Disco Pigs

The God of Soho

Towards the end of Raz Shaw’s production of Chris Hannan’s new play, Clem (Iris Roberts) shrugs off her clothes and proudly stands naked on the Globe stage. It’s a surprising move, but there was a bigger reaction from the audience to the shocked gasp of “Oh my God” that rang … Continue Reading The God of Soho

Bernarda Alba

Katherine Hare’s assured production of Michael John LaChiusa’s musical adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba – first staged in New York in 2006 – combines beautiful choreography, clever staging and full-blooded performances to strike a shattering emotional note that never seems strained. Antonio María Benavides, scourge of serving … Continue Reading Bernarda Alba