Billed as an hilarious and heartfelt comedy for those who are thinking of starting a family, have already done so, or just love babies, betting, and Brooklyn, Over Here Theatre Company’s UK premiere of Eric Henry Sanders’ award-winning play Maybe, Probably continues at London’s Old Red Lion Theatre until 15 October 2022, directed by Lydia Parker.
News, Reviews and Features
These are all of our in-house news and features as well as syndicated article excerpts from our 45+ theatre bloggers. You can also access All Our Mates' Posts in comprehensive list form and view individual author pages.
New post-show Q&A: Philip Ridley’s The Poltergeist goes from online to the Arcola Theatre & Terri Paddock is on hand to find out more
After post-show Q&As for Tonight with Donnie Darko, Vincent River, Angry and Tender Napalm, I’m delighted to be invited to chair another discussion with Philip Ridley, one of the UK’s greatest and most innovative living playwrights. This time for the live stage premiere of his online lockdown hit The Poltergeist.
‘Powerfully switches between the personal & the public’: FOR A PALESTINIAN – Camden People’s Theatre
Identity is the sum of the stories we tell ourselves. Some of these are personal, and some political. Sometimes they blend, sometimes clash. In Aaron Kilercioglu and Bilal Hasna’s excellently staged and thought-provoking For a Palestinian, the performer and co-author Hasna tells two stories: one about himself and his new love for Palestine, and the other about the Palestinian activist and translator Wa’el Zuaiter, and his love affair with Australian-born painter Janet Venn-Brown. Her 2006 book, For a Palestinian, tells the story of Zuaiter and his assassination in Rome in 1972 by Mossad.
‘There is a good play somewhere in here’: THE SNAIL HOUSE – Hampstead Theatre
The set (by Tim Hatley) is absolutely beautiful in the much anticipated, new original play The Snail House from celebrated theatre director Richard Eyre, giving a sense of occasion and opulence. Portraits look on in the private school room, wooden surfaces hold the marks of a long history.
NEWS: Guinea Pigs premiere marks 70th anniversary of first British nuclear detonation
Guinea Pigs, a new play that shines a light on Britain’s decades-long nuclear testing cover-up, written by the daughter of a test veteran, premieres next month at London’s The Space, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Operation Hurricane, Britain’s first nuclear detonation.
‘You will still jump out of your seat’: 2:22 – A GHOST STORY – Criterion Theatre ★★★★
It is a testament to Danny Robins’ 2:22 – A Ghost Story at the Criterion Theatre that many people go back for a second viewing – this is lots of fun as you try to spot what is going on and notice foreshadowing. But you will still jump out of your seat!
‘Highly watchable comedy drama’: BRIGHT HALF LIFE – King’s Head Theatre ★★★
As it is, Bright Half Life has much to recommend it, especially the nimble, inventive direction of Steven Kunis which plays out under a rather beautiful kite shaped neon lighting grid (kite flying is a recurring motif in the text) and the exquisite, detailed performances of Eva Fontaine and Susie McKenna as the women who fall in and out of love across decades but never in a chronological order.
‘Couldn’t be more topical’: EUREKA DAY – Old Vic Theatre ★★★★★
So we know where we are with Eureka Day at the Old Vic: joyfully satirising middle-class liberal-cum-hippie angst, parental protectiveness and the age of offence-taking, as in beloved recent comedies like God of Carnage and Clybourne Park. But as it heats, the focus shifts to the even more topical theme: digital misinformation, rumour and fake news getting indiscriminately sucked in and solidified into identity politics.
‘Harold Shipman was my GP for four years’: Writer & performer Edwin Flay on depicting the serial killer in The Quality of Mercy
The Quality of Mercy, a new one-man play about notorious British serial killer Harold Shipman, premieres at London’s Courtyard Theatre this month. Taking a break from rehearsals, writer and performer Edwin Flay told us more about his very personal family connection to Shipman’s crimes.
‘I was hooked from the first number’: Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch – Touring ★★★★★
There’s nothing to dislike about Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch, I was hooked from the first number. As a company, they have set their sights on performing in the West End and I honestly think they have an excellent chance of fulfilling that dream.
‘Experience it if you can’: ROSE – Park Theatre
September 2020 and the pandemic was quietly raging. So too was Maureen Lipman in Hope Mill Theatre’s online production of Martin Sherman’s intense monologue Rose; her performance was routinely recognised as a tour de force. The piece won many plaudits including an Off West End Offie and featured as one of my 20 For 2020. Since then it has been restreamed more than once and also appeared on Sky Arts – indeed it is still available on their catch up channel Now TV. But for the real undisputed deal, and if you’re near enough, head to the Park Theatre in Islington where the production is playing until mid-October.
‘Powerful without being sentimental’: THE APOLOGY – Arcola Theatre
Kyo Choi’s new play, The Apology, looks at sexual slavery in the Second World War and insists that a tactical political apology isn’t remotely enough for the women and their families denied official acknowledgment of responsibility from modern governments.
It always takes one lone voice, someone brave enough to stand up and speak about what happened to them. Soon, others will follow inspired by that first individual and that is how truths eventually come to light. With Maria Schrader and Rebecca Len…
‘Dialogue whizzes back & forth like leather on willow’: STUMPED – Original Theatre (Online show)
When in 1964 Samuel Beckett (Stephen Tompkinson) and Harold Pinter (Andrew Lancel) play in the same cricket match in the Cotswolds, you might expect something out of the ordinary. Filmed live at Lord’s, the ‘home of cricket’, Original Theatre’s Stumped imagines what might have happened in such a meeting between two playwrights known for pauses and a sense of the absurd.
NEWS: Follow the trail of Kemp’s Jig, an Elizabethan tale of bruised egos & sore feet, from Norwich to London
In 1600 English Will Kemp triumphantly arrived in Norwich after Morris dancing the entire 125-mile journey from London. Now audiences can relive his one-man romp through the country lanes of Elizabethan England in Blue Fire Theatre Company’s production of Kemp’s Jig which is heading to those very locations: the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich on 28 September 2022 and Hampton Hill Theatre in Richmond on 1 October.
NEWS: Harold Shipman records his confession in The Quality of Mercy premiere
A new one-man play about notorious British serial killer Harold Shipman, written by a former patient and relative of one of his victims, receives its world premiere this month in London. Time to get booking!
‘Deeply human & beautifully performed’: AGE IS A FEELING – Soho Theatre
Hayley McGee’s monologue Age Is A Feeling at the Soho Theatre, narrating an unnamed person’s life, from age 25 through the years after the they die, hones in on key episodes that irrevocably define them and their future, as well as drawing attention to death’s inevitability. As sombre as this piece is, it also adeptly encapsulates moments of joy. As a whole, it’s deeply human and beautifully performed.
‘Hard to imagine a better production of the play than this one’: DISTINGUISHED VILLA – Finborough Theatre ★★★
The Finborough has a rich and noble history of rediscovering lost dramatic gems, alongside their programme of new work (this year’s Bacon and Pennyroyal are two of my favourite new plays since theatres reopened post-pandemic), and Kate O’Brien’s family tragicomedy Distinguished Villa, seldom seen since its 1926 premiere, continues that line of programming.
VIDEO & PHOTOS: A devilish Q&A with the company of Lazarus Theatre’s Doctor Faustus
What might entice you to sell your soul to the devil? Fame? Riches? Immortality? World peace? A rent-free London flat? Four pints of Guinness? At my post-show Q&A for a production of Doctor Faustus, that was an irresistible question to pose to the company. But before that, we covered much else to do concerning adaptation and the creative process, with a lot of fun and laughter.
‘Excellent in its writing, staging & acting’: THE P WORD – Bush Theatre
Britain is a divided nation, but one of the divisions that we don’t hear that much about is that between Pakistani gay men. Written by Waleed Akhtar (who also stars in this impressively heartfelt two-hander), The P Word is about the differences in life experiences between one asylum seeker and one Londoner, and comes to the Bush Theatre in a production which has been supported by Micro Rainbow, the first safe house in the UK for LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees. So what’s it all about?
‘A smart adaptation that works well in surprising ways’: THE CHERRY ORCHARD – The Yard
The Yard, London – until 22 October 2022 Through his most recent play An Adventure, writer Vinay Patel proved he can masterfully sustain family dramas grappling with big themes. By sticking close to Chekhov’s original story, this adaptation of The Cherry Orchard set in the distant future does similar. A spaceship replaces the estate, but the strict social stratification with …