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

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This conceptually muddled production of Shakespeare’s enduring comedy successfully realises Theseus’s smugly affluent court on the first-floor terrace of the plush Bermondsey Square Hotel, but fudges the crucial distinction between city and countryside. Problems start with director Jayne Dickinson’s choice of ’70s fashion for every character except the fairies (dressed … Continue Reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Alma Mater

Empty rooms and family photos are reminders of things past, good and bad, now silent and packed away. It’s this sense of loss that Fish & Game’s haunting second piece captures so beautifully, weaving technology into dark fairytale. Given an iPad and headphones, you’re placed, alone, before a closed door. … Continue Reading Alma Mater

Loyalty

We feast on political memoirs, greedily devouring their tales of what went on behind closed doors while the flashbulbs of the press were pinging outside. When seasoned with events that have sparked public outrage, their appeal is irresistible. And recently there has been no greater touchstone for the people’s distrust … Continue Reading Loyalty

The Tempest

Principal Theatre Company’s winning run of outdoor summer Shakespeare continues with a spellbinding version of ‘The Tempest’. Paul Gladwin has skilfully navigated the play’s darker undercurrents to produce a child-friendly, laughter-filled show that stays on the right side of pantomime. Rupert Wickham is a stern but not unbending Prospero; raging … Continue Reading The Tempest

For Services Rendered

Melancholy pervades James Bounds’ heartfelt revival of Somerset Maugham’s tale of a wealthy family struggling to adapt in the aftermath of the Great War, which has left Sydney, the only son, blind. The diffuse yellow light that plays across the set, a country-house conservatory, evokes a summer’s day drawing to … Continue Reading For Services Rendered