The Vampyre, adapted from John Polidori’s 19th-century novella by Laurie Toczek, who also performs, comes to this year’s Camden Fringe.
‘Uncannily accurate’: QUENTIN CRISP: NAKED HOPE – Stream Theatre (Online review)
The fourth and final Cultural Recovery Fund funded show from production company Seabright has been, like its predecessors, filmed at Wilton’s Music Hall before a live audience and is being streamed via stream.theatre. This is Mark Farrelly’s homage to wilful eccentricity and outré lifestyle Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope.
‘It is an experiment which OTC should consider repeating’: A COLD SUPPER BEHIND HARRODS – Original Theatre Company (Online review)
In what I think may be a first, Original Theatre Company has released a filmed-as-live, onstage rehearsed reading in the shape of A Cold Supper Behind Harrods.
‘Ian McKellen scales new heights’: HAMLET – Theatre Royal, Windsor
Ian McKellen has never been an actor to shirk a challenge — or do things by halves. Having first played the title role of Hamlet fully 50 years ago, aged 31 — the age that Hamlet is at the end of the play — he has now returned to it, aged 82.
NEWS: Forgotten music hall male impersonator celebrated in Marie Lloyd Stole My Life
Forgotten music hall star Nelly Power makes her Camden Fringe debut care of Blue Fire Theatre Company in Marie Lloyd Stole My Life, running for three festival dates only.
‘Gleefully brings the comedy of the piece to life’: THE GAME OF LOVE & CHANCE – Arcola Outside ★★★★
This brand new English version of Pierre de Marivaux’s classic comedy The Game of Love and Chance, adapted by Quentin Beroud and Jack Gamble, takes great delight in modernising this almost 300-year-old French play. There is a knowingness to the adaptation that adds yet more comic layers to the wonderfully silly piece.
‘Freedom Day has turned into closure day’: A cry for help or a bid for headlines?
The press performance of Cinderella on Monday got cancelled, and so did last night’s “gala opening”; Andrew Lloyd Webber has now threatened to pull the plug on the entire show…. or has he?
‘Murphy is a master of his craft’: Friend (The One With Gunther) – Stream.Theatre (Online review)
Definitely a bold valley to travel down, Friends fans should explore Friend (The One With Gunther), a nugget of not-so-guilty pleasure watching.
‘A fierce West End debut’: ANNA X – Harold Pinter Theatre
Who are we and who are the people we meet? These rather profound questions have, in one way or another, been at the heart of Sonia Friedman’s brief Re:Emerge season at the Harold Pinter Theatre which concludes with Anna X.
Streaming now: Mark Farrelly celebrates the legendary Quentin Crisp in Naked Hope
Quentin: Crisp, written and performed by Mark Farrelly and directed by Linda Marlowe, is now available globally via Stream Theatre until Sunday 1 August 2021.
‘The writing is gripping’: …cake – Theatre Peckham
Theatre Peckham’s artistic director Suzann McLean hits the target as she notes that …cake is a bold new play which honours intersectionality.
NEWS: Witness for the Prosecution announces new London cast
Casting has been announced for for Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution, due to return to London County Hall from 14 September 2021. The production is booking through to 20 March 2022.
‘Valuable additions to the expanded series’: QUEERS – Old Vic (Online review)
The first new piece for Queers references a moment in history while the second takes a broader more contemporary sweep of recent events but what unites them is that they present the experiences of wider elements of the LGBTQ+ community who also happen to be black; the original series was rather under representative in this area.
‘Witty, weighted & lyrical’: LAVA – Bush Theatre ★★★★
Last year a critic described a dramatic response to the Black Lives Matter protests, to which Benedict Lombe contributed, as ‘more lecture than theatre’. The quote is projected onto the set of her debut play, Lava, at the Bush Theatre.
NEWS: Covid-enforced absences result in the cancellation of Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s production of The Browning Version
Due to an increasing number of Covid-enforced absences, the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company/Fiery Angel new production of Terence Rattigan’s play The Browning Version, due to play at London’s Riverside Studios from 5-29 August 2021, has had to be cancelled.
‘I can’t wait to see & hear the children’s reactions to the play’: Peter Glanville on Polka’s pop up show Maanika & The Wolf
The Polka Theatre’s artistic director chats to Love London Love Culture about the theatre’s pop up performance of Maanika & The Wolf.
Your chance to be in the room where it happens with creative producers of theatre
So many amazing inspiring potential entrepreneurs have been in the room at Chris Grady’s workshops, networks and CGO Institute events, but now I want to look out for a much broader ‘audience’ of people who have never come across one of my workshops or networks
A double whammy of encore performances proves to be a pleasure
Regular readers will know that I like nothing more than seeing shows I’ve already seen and loved again… and again. As a critic, you see shows under specific circumstances — as invited by the production.
‘An interesting take on the Oscar Wilde classic’: DORIAN: A ROCK MUSICAL – Stream.Theatre (Online review)
Dorian: A Rock Musical is an interesting take on the Oscar Wilde classic, probably better suited to live & in-person shows – Bart Lambert gives an arresting performance as Dorian Gray.
‘It is an intoxicating world’: ANNA X – Harold Pinter Theatre ★★★★★
Anna X by Joseph Charlton is a fresh, contemporary play set in New York that explores identity and acceptance in the modern age.