With its focus on the small things, Sam Steiner’s play You Stupid Darkness! is a delicate but delicious thing at the Southwark Playhouse.
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.
‘Delights & inspires in equal measure’: EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE – West End ★★★★
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a show which delights and inspires in equal measure and is sure to retain its spot in theatre lovers’ hearts for the foreseeable future.
FEATURED SHOW: ★★★★ reviews are in for the premiere of Janice Okoh’s new history play The Gift
Janice Okoh’s “enthralling” new Black British history play The Gift has premiered to a tranche of ★★★★ reviews at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre at the start of a UK-wide tour. We’ve rounded up our selection of favourite review highlights. Time to get booking!
‘Oily Cart still put access at the heart of their work’: ALL WRAPPED UP – Touring
Oily Cart, the creators of All Wrapped Up, makes gently immersive, highly sensory performances for people under five years old, and people with complex needs.
‘Tea & manners link throughout’: THE GIFT – Belgrade Theatre & touring ★★★★
This complex play covers a vast but nourishing soup of issues that impact relationships between cultures, races and people in the modern world.
‘Given a new lease of life’: TEN TIMES TABLE – Touring
A review of Ten Times Table by Alan Ayckbourn currently at Richmond Theatre . Still has resonance.
Meet the cast: Who’s who in the world premiere of Tom Stocks’ Netflix & Chill?
Who’s who in the cast of new mental health comedy Netflix & Chill? What have you seen them in before? Check out full biographies – and sneak a peek what they’ve been up to behind the scenes.
‘Oakley was absolutely stunning’: WAITRESS – West End
We were incredibly excited to learn that we would instead be seeing Desi Oakley, who had formerly played Jenna in the US tour, and had been flown over especially to cover the sickness spreading through the Waitress diner.
VAULT Festival: Former stripper Diane Herbert makes playwriting debut with Angels, based on her experiences
Aiming to challenge audiences’ preconceptions about strippers, new play Angels, written by former table dancer and first-time playwright Diane Herbert, premieres at this year’s VAULT Festival, running for six performances from 19 to 23 February 2020 in the Cavern at The Vaults, Leake Street.
‘Power to move & inspire’: THE CANARY & THE CROW – Arcola Theatre
The Canary and the Crow is full of humour and warmth and describes the challenging reality of being trained to be the “acceptable” face of Black Britain and how that impacts identify and worth.
FIRST LOOK: Eclipse Theatre premiere The Gift juxtaposes Victorian & modern Britain
Janice Okoh’s new Black history play The Gift juxtaposes a story from Queen Victoria’s 19th-century royal circle with the present day. Just opened at Belgrade Theatre, it now transfers to London’s Theatre Royal Stratford East as part of a UK-wide tour. Take a look at our production shots gallery – and then get booking!
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Les Misérables at Sondheim Theatre
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for the newly opened production of Les Misérables.
NEWS: Hassan Abdulrazzak returns to Soho with The Special Relationship, a new play about transatlantic deportees
Multi-award-winning Iraqi-born playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak returns to London’s Soho Theatre, where he had a breakthrough hit in 2007 with Baghdad Wedding, now returns with his timely new play The Special Relationship. Time to get booking!
NEWS: UK’s longest-running alternative theatre company brings People Show 137 to Southwark
Ahead of a short tour, pioneering theatremakers People Show bring their latest devised creation People Show 137: God Knows How Many to London’s Southwark Playhouse for a limited season from 5 to 29 February 2020, with a press night on 7 February.
NEWS: Annawon’s Song explores the often unseen casualties of conflict at VAULT Festival
Playwright Beverley Andrews shines a light on less obvious casualties of war in new play Annawon’s Song, which runs as part of VAULT Festival next month. Book your tickets now!
Text of the Day: The Tyler Sisters
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
REHEARSAL PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of the page-to-stage premiere of Crongton Knights
Can you stick to the beat? Looks like it’s a prerequisite for the cast of the new beatbox-infused adaptation of Alex Wheatle’s award-winning 2016 Young Adults’ novel Crongton Knights. Sneak a peek inside the rehearsal room – and then get booking!
‘Continues to relate in the 21st century’: STREET SCENE – Touring ★★★★
Street Scene is an enjoyable production with outstanding performances from the cast and its diverse and reflective music accommodating the reality of living in a tenement in the 1940s.
BEHIND THE SCENES: What’s happening in rehearsals for On McQuillan’s Hill?
It’s all fun and smiles until it gets physical! That’s certainly what rehearsals for On McQuillan’s Hill look like if these rehearsal images are anything to go by. Take a look, then book your tickets.
‘All a bit too minimalist’: BECKETT TRIPLE BILL – Jermyn Street Theatre
A man sitting behind a table, a man sitting on the edge of an unmade bed, two men sitting on a park bench. These are the settings in the Samuel Beckett Triple Bill currently at the tiny Jermyn Street Theatre and directed by theatre legend Trevor Nunn.