Here’s a selection of the latest updates from My Theatre Mates co-founders Mark Shenton and Terri Paddock, plus other contributors. To filter by author, date or category, fiddle with the controls to the right. You can also search all of our content by keyword using the universal search in the top right of the site’s navigation bar above.
FEATURED SHOW: Arabian Nights at Hoxton Hall, first ★★★★ reviews are in!
23rd September 2018
Iris Theatre has made its first family show foray outside Covent Garden in years and, judging by initial critical reactions to its adaptation of Arabian Nights and transformation of historic Hoxton Hall, the risk has paid off. We've collected some of our favourite highlights.Read more...
‘Toxic masculinity drowns the tension’: THE SWORD OF ALEX – White Bear Theatre ★★★
23rd September 2018
Any surprises in The Sword of Alex come from violent acts rather than revelations but I don't think that is the play it sets out to be.Read more...
‘There is an awareness in Rynne’s writing’: Hear Me Howl – Old Red Lion Theatre ★★★★
23rd September 2018
Written by Lydia Rynne and directed by Kay Michael, Hear Me Howl looks at Jess (Alice Pitt-Carter) a young professional whose life mirrors many women in Britain.Read more...
‘Hauntingly beautiful’: 4.48 PSYCHOSIS – New Diorama Theatre
23rd September 2018
Now at last my prayer has been answered. Deafinitely Theatre currently brings a bilingual approach to 4.48 Psychosis – spoken English and British Sign Language — to the play, using an all-male cast.Read more...
‘The evening is full of invention’: ARABIAN NIGHTS – Hoxton Hall
23rd September 2018
It is in the telling of the tales, though, that Arabian Nights really comes alive. Iris Theatre uses a spectacular array of puppets, from a towering, glowing-eyed King Shahryar to birds, ships and sea monsters. Read more...
Sizing up the casting issues
22nd September 2018
You are not supposed in 2018 – George Orwell’s Thought Police have certainly arrived – to notice or comment on the body shapes of actors. Read more...
‘Informative, fascinating & barmy’: AN EVENING WITH BRIAN BLESSED – Birmingham ★★★★★
22nd September 2018
An evening with the extraordinary gentleman Brian Blessed promised to be informative, fascinating and barmy. It was all of those things and more. Read more...
‘A grim tale of human endurance & sacrifice’: EYAM – Shakespeare’s Globe ★★★
22nd September 2018
Eyam, the final production of The Globe’s summer season, drags in the autumn with a grim tale of human endurance and sacrifice, reimagining for the stage the true story of a plague-ridden parish in 1655. Read more...
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Foxfinder at the Ambassadors Theatre
22nd September 2018
Iwan Rheon and Heida Reed star in the West End premiere of Dawn King’s thriller Foxfinder, now playing at the Ambassadors Theatre. Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews…Read more...
‘A visual, aural, emotional & intellectual invigoration’: MISTY – Trafalgar Studios
22nd September 2018
Arinze Kene’s visceral writing for Misty places us from the offset within the throbbing organ that is London; packed night buses in its veins, we are its cells colliding against each other with our own truths.Read more...
‘Well-crafted, gently allusive & pulsing with warm humanity’: LOSING VENICE – Orange Tree Theatre
22nd September 2018
Losing Venice at the Orange Tree Theatre is a remarkable rediscovery by this ever-enterprising venue and is a well-crafted and elegantly written curiosity.Read more...
‘Dark, sharp new comedy’: HOLY SH!T – Kiln Theatre ★★★★★
22nd September 2018
The renamed Tricycle (no, I am not taking sides) is open: its leader Indhu Rubasingham launches her sprauncy new theatre with Alexis Zegerman’s dark, sharp new comedy about one of the great corruptions of British society.Read more...
‘A captivating world of magic and mystery’: ARABIAN NIGHTS – Hoxton Hall
22nd September 2018
Arabian Nights is highly recommended for an evening of high-quality escapism and entertainment, presented by a talented and incredibly hard-working cast – with a little help from some seriously cool puppets.Read more...
‘It demands that you listen’: Hear Me Howl – Old Red Lion Theatre
22nd September 2018
One woman, her drums and a whole lotta rage against the patriarchy, Hear Me Howl is a defiant roar at the Old Red Lion Theatre.Read more...
NEWS: Love Island’s Dani Dyer to make stage debut alongside her father in the London run of Nativity! The Musical
21st September 2018
Dani Dyer will be joining her father Danny Dyer in Nativity! The Musical this Christmas at the Eventim Apollo, from 19 to 31 December.Read more...
Album Reviews: Renée Fleming / The Quentin Dentin Show
21st September 2018
Two new music releases – Renée Fleming tackles Broadway classics in style, and The Quentin Dentin Show releases its cast recordingRead more...
‘Boldly brash & and brazen with it’: BENIDORM LIVE – Touring ★★★★
21st September 2018
However, by the time the whole auditorium is on its feet for the finale, dancing along to Y Viva Espana, you’d be forgiven for forgetting how many cracks in the Benidorm carapace have been papered over to get there.Read more...
‘Nothing short of superb’: QUEEN MARGARET – Manchester ★★★★
21st September 2018
Queen Margaret is an extraordinary production which combines the insight and depth of a Shakespearian history play with contemporary humour and ingenuity.Read more...
‘One of the best shows I’ve seen this year’: SYLVIA – The Old Vic
21st September 2018
Sylvia is one of the best shows I’ve seen this year. So therefore what follows isn’t a review, not really (I’m not going to tell you what the very evident issues were, for a start). It’s just some thoughts, gut reaction, rendered into something.Read more...
NEWS: Nessah Muthy follows Arabian Nights with Sundowning premiere for Kali Theatre
21st September 2018
Following this week's opening of Arabian Nights, her adaptation of ancient Arabic folk tales One Thousand and One Nights, award-winning playwright Nessah Muthy premieres her new, contemporary play Sundowning, exploring the true cost of social care in the UK, with Kali Theatre. Time to.Read more...