Misfits, from the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, comprises four excellent fractured monologues, written by Kenny Emson, Sadie Hasler, Guleraana Mir and Anne Odeke, which focus on Essex,
Mates blogger: Aleks Sierz
Aleks Sierz is one of over 45 theatre bloggers who are part of the MyTheatreMates collective. This page features Aleks's posts on MyTheatreMates. Take a look at our full list of theatre bloggers and our aggregated feed of all our Mates' posts. We’re always looking for new theatre bloggers. Could that be you? Learn about how to join us.
Aleks Sierz FRSA is a theatre critic, and author of the seminal study of new 1990s playwrights, In-Yer-Face Theatre. His other books include Rewriting the Nation, The Theatre of Martin Crimp, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights and Modern British Playwriting. His latest book (co-authored with Lia Ghilardi) is The Time Traveller’s Guide to British Theatre. He also works as a journalist, broadcaster, and lecturer. Aleks blogs independently at www.sierz.co.uk and tweets at @alekssierz.
The latest from Aleks on MyTheatreMates
‘Positively electrifying stuff’: LITTLE WARS (Online review)
There’s plenty to enjoy in Little Wars’ jokes, and then, later on, the final harrowing monologues about the genocide are both powerful and deeply moving.
’It’s definitely essential viewing’: A COIN IN SOMEBODY ELSE’S POCKET – Theatre Uncut & Traverse Theatre
Originally commissioned as part of The Power Plays produced by Theatre Uncut in 2018, A Coin in Someone Else’s Pocket is a wonderfully thoughtful meditation on what it means to be a female Muslim writer.
‘Melancholic & funny’: IN A NUTSHELL – Lost Dog (Online review)
Theatre is just different organisms in close proximity. It’s a great image, and one of many that float gently to the surface in Ben Duke’s In a Nutshell, a monologue which explores with a marvellously tentative touch the nature of theatre, meaning theatre as it was until the pandemic struck.
‘Blends wry reminiscence, personal experience, poetry & music’: AN EVENING WITH AN IMMIGRANT – Bridge Theatre
This is a masterly revival of An Evening with an Immigrant, Inua Ellams’ 2016 autobiographical one-man show which is both poetic and engaging.
’An insightful & fascinating journey of exploration’: ABOUT WE ARE SHADOWS – Brick Lane
Although I have visited Brick Lane a number of times over the years, much of We Are Shadows: Brick Lane this was refreshingly new to me and the adventure was a delightful experience.
‘Marvellously inventive & thoroughly compelling’: BLINDNESS – Donmar Warehouse
Simon Stephens and Juliet Stevenson create a perfectly beautiful and haunting installation for our times in The Blindness at the Donmar Warehouse.
‘Beautifully conveys its emotional & political charge’: SCROUNGER – Finborough Theatre (Online review)
The bright colours of the performance underline the surrealism of Scrounger’s quest for justice, and Athena Stevens, the first actor in a wheelchair nominated for an Offie, performs her story brilliantly.
‘This is a play that certainly repays interest’: JANE CLEGG – Finborough Theatre
A rediscovered Edwardian problem play gives a clear picture of marriage and morals in a bygone era.
‘Psychologically convincing & fiercely compelling’: CONTINUITY – Finborough Theatre (Online review)
In Continuity, Gerry Moynihan explores the men’s fanaticism and the effects of their frustrated masculinity on their political beliefs.
‘Theatre is rarely so forceful or so urgent’: THE PROTEST – Bush Theatre
This venue’s urgent response to the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter campaign is powerfully realised.
‘Mark Gatiss’ mesmerising acting dominates the play’: THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III – Nottingham Playhouse (Online review)
Alan Bennett writes that “I’ve always had a soft spot for George III”, for no better reason than that he had studied the monarch’s reign at secondary school and then again at uni.
‘A real gem’: Philip Ridley’s online series The Beast Will Rise is ‘sublime storytelling’
The problem with creating theatre in an era of lockdown is that the constraints of working online tend towards a uniformity of creativity
Unprecedented or uninteresting? Do bad times provoke bad art?
We are living, I have frequently been told, through weird times. Maybe. But do weird times necessarily require weird art? Do bad times provoke bad art?
‘Diana Quick gives a bravura performance’: MIDNIGHT YOUR TIME – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
This revival of a 2011 HighTide hit, reconceived for streaming, stars Diana Quick and is intimate and quietly moving.
‘Gillian Anderson’s performance is a scorcher’: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE – Young Vic Theatre (Online review)
World on fire: The NT Live recording of this classic Young Vic production stars Gillian Anderson and is genuinely unmissable.
‘This is our humanity. And sheer genius’ – Andrew Scott in SEA WALL
Lockdown occasionally spawns some real delights. Like the surprise appearance of a strange creature from the profoundest depths. One of these must be Andrew Scott’s superb performance in Simon Stephens’s Sea Wall.
‘The camera captures Benedict Wong’s perfectly nuanced performance’: THE ARREST OF AI WEIWEI – Hampstead Theatre (Online review)
Howard Brenton’s docu-drama about the harassment of the Chinese artist is imbued with fresh urgency and relevance.
‘It is also about the elemental longing of all of us for human connection’: FRANKENSTEIN – National Theatre (Online review)
The megahit NT Live version of this iconic tale of creative hubris features a dynamic acting duo, but it is not perfect.
‘A joyous celebration of the magic of theatre’: WISE CHILDREN – York Theatre Royal (Online review)
Emma Rice’s version of Angela Carter’s last novel is a beautifully bizarre celebration of alternative families.