The Writer is and should be a show that will divide audiences, but while the piece is pointed social commentary, it also has dramatic flaws that start to put out its own fire.
In what has been a slightly over-earnest Winter season for the Royal Court, Instructions for Correct Assembly is their best show since Anatomy of a Suicide last summer, and both use a family structure as the basis for explaining the long-term effects of grief and loss.
The Donmar’s new version of William Congreve’s play has plenty of musings on marriage and the role of women which still feel extremely pertinent; it just needs to even out the tone to make this restoration comedy really fizz.
The structure of The Best of James Bond is simple but effective, taking each film in turn, with the occasional digression into the wider cultural context, which makes for an entertaining and satisfying tribute to the continuing influence of the franchise.
Although This House was written in 2012, the cyclical nature of politics means that the play is just as relevant now, with a Government attempting a major democratic change on a tiny majority, having to make unholy alliances just to get things done.
The business of Summer & Smoke at the Almeida Theatre is handled with such subtly that it allows the deep emotional connection at the heart of the story to flourish. With a magnetic central pairing, Rebecca Frecknall’s production is unmissably beautiful, and the Almeida at its finest.
Here at the National, as with many other attempts, the production’s vision lacks real purpose and fails to engage with the complex motivation of Macbeth himself, leaving him and us nowhere to go.
Well performed and interestingly staged, Frozen’s most important effect is in reflecting society’s unhealthy obsession with serious crime, making us complicit in its presentation as entertainment.
Nothing feels rushed in Robert Hastie’s wonderful new production of The Yor Realist at the Donmar Warehouse, allowing this beautifully sad production to really touch the heart. A modern classic and a Yorkshire Brief Encounter indeed.
The Bristol Old Vic’s production of Long Day’s Journey into Night at Wyndham’s wrings excellent performances from its leads and brings clarity to O’Neill’s huge canvas.
