In his latest, Blackout Songs, a powerful 95-minute two-hander, Joe White uses a flexible structure to represent some excruciating emotional material, and the result gives an almost overwhelmingly sense of the horrible realities of addiction, both to alcohol and to people.
‘Either way the play does make you feel’: BAGHDADDY – Royal Court Theatre
At best Baghdaddy at the Royal Court Theatre is a surreal trip into traumatic memory, at its worst it’s a self-indulgent mess. If you think that American crime are worse than Saddam’s you’ll love this show; if you like playwrights wagging their finger at you, you’ll love this show; if you believe that parental trauma can be inherited and then self-consciously joked about, you’ll love this show.
‘Told with oodles of meta-theatrical wit’: MARVELLOUS – @sohoplace
Nica Burns’ choice of an opening production for @sohoplace is Marvellous, a celebratory bio-drama about Newcastle-under-Lyme’s local legend, the irrepressible Neil “Nello” Baldwin, whose amazing career proves that disability can be overcome — a heartwarming message in these turbulent times.
‘What you remember is the power of the characters’ emotions’: RAVENSCOURT – Hampstead Theatre
Therapy is inherently dramatic. After all, it’s all about character – and it has the aim of producing a recognisable change. But who is most affected by the process: client or therapist? Georgina Burns, a graduate of Hampstead Theatre’s Inspire course for emerging playwrights, examines the issues in her debut play, Ravenscourt.
‘Smoothly watchable’: JEWS. IN THEIR OWN WORDS – Royal Court Theatre
If you accept the documentary verbatim style of Jews. In Their Own Words at the Royal Court, and don’t mind the lack of any real drama, this is an intelligently crafted and committed piece of political theatre that tackles an issue too often swept under the carpet. But I’d love to see a proper play about the subject.
‘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.
‘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 moving experience’: SILENCE – Donmar Warehouse
In Silence at the Donmar Warehouse four British playwrights have adapted Kavita Puri’s book Partition Voices: Untold British Stories in a joint production between Donmar Warehouse and Tara Theatre.
‘Convincing & urgent’: THE TRIALS – Donmar Warehouse
In developing The Trials, the Donmar worked with more than 1,300 young people plus a further 200 in workshops at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and National Youth Theatre. Director Natalie Abrahami, helped by designer Georgia Lowe and video maker Nina Dunn, has created a compelling production, with more than half the cast making their stage debuts.
‘Informs, educates & entertains’: ALL OF US – National Theatre
If the plotting is predictable, and the story arc unremarkable, the image of life represented is both strongly compassionate and often very pleasurable. In true welfare state style, comedian Francesca Martinez’s debut play All of Us at the National Theatre not only informs and educates, but also entertains.
‘Inspiring & acutely relevant’: CHASING HARES – Young Vic
With its energetic arguments, moments of great charm, gritty humour, and mix of filth and idealism, Sonali Bhattacharyya’s Chasing Hares at the Young Vic is both relevant and contemporary.
‘A heartfelt epic play’: THE FELLOWSHIP – Hampstead Theatre
With Windrush Day being 22 June, last week was originally going to be the opening night of Roy Williams’ new Hampstead Theatre play, The Fellowship, until plans had to be changed because Lucy Vandi, who was to play the main character, fell sick and performances were postponed. Cherrelle Skeete bravely takes on this major role and her dynamic stage presence, partly with script in hand on press night, is one of the evening’s highlights.
‘There’s a joyous post-pandemic vibe about this gig’: BANGERS – Soho Theatre
Bangers at the Soho Theatre has a fine buzz of the contemporary and a real sympathy for sexual confusion and other experiences such as the loss of a parent.
‘Intricate without being illuminating’: THAT IS NOT WHO I AM – Royal Court Theatre
if you buy a ticket you will not see That Is Not Who I Am by Dave Davidson (who doesn’t exist), but instead you will experience Rapture by Lucy Kirkwood, who is an established playwright. It’s a kind of postmodern, post-truth gimmick. But does it work?
‘An excellent piece of deeply felt new writing’: HOUSE OF IFE – Bush Theatre
Beru Tessema’s drama House of Ife, about an Ethiopian-British family facing a tragic loss, is deeply felt and emotional and marks a good start to this venue’s 50th anniversary season.
‘Good to hear new voices’: LOTUS BEAUTY – Hampstead Theatre
Satinder Chohan’s Lotus Beauty at the Hampstead Theatre, a loving portrait of a Punjabi family-run beauty parlour in west London’s Southall, is an uneasy mix of comedy and tragedy.
‘A bit of a muddle’: MIDDLE – National Theatre
David Eldridge’s trilogy about relationships, which started in 2017 with the hit show Beginning, now reaches its second part with Middle, which has opened at the National Theatre.
‘Entertaining in its populist stress on feelgood comedy’: THE CORN IS GREEN – National Theatre
Even 20th century drama is under threat. So can the National Theatre buck this trend with this rediscovery of The Corn Is Green, and some help from its star, Nicola Walker?
‘A disappointingly toothless & rather dreary non-satire’: SCANDALTOWN – Lyric Hammersmith
Mike Bartlett is very prolific, but this Restoration-style satire on society at London’s Lyric Hammersmith is sadly timid and predictable.
‘Portrays the male black British experience with joy as well as pain’: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy – Royal Court Theatre
Ryan Calais Cameron does it again: he portrays the male black British experience with joy as well as pain.