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‘It’s just all very beautiful’: NOISES OFF – Bath & Touring ★★★★★

In Opinion, Other Recent Articles, Plays, Regional theatre, Reviews, Touring by Libby PurvesLeave a Comment

Millions know it by now, but in case like my enthralled companions last night you aren’t among them, grant me a moment or skip the the penultimate paragraph. Noises Off has been a national treasure since 1982, written by Michael Frayn after realising that the hurtling backstage business of doors, props and actors under stress is funnier than most actual farces. He wrote a squib called EXITS, the great producer Michael Codron encouraged something fuller.

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‘An exquisitely paced production’: REVEALED – Bristol ★★★★

In Other Recent Articles, Plays, Regional theatre, Reviews, Touring by Kris HallettLeave a Comment

Daniel J Carver’s Revealed at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory has been heralded as the most important work the space has ever presented. Perhaps the pitch pushes this conceit a little far, but what is presented is a cracking three-hander that explores what it means to be a black man in contemporary Britain.

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NEWS: Director Peter Brook returns in National Theatre season which also features new plays from Nina Raine & Anthony Neilson

In London theatre, Musicals, Native, News, Plays, Press Releases, Sticky by Press ReleasesLeave a Comment

Details have been announced for the National Theatre’s season running from July 2018 to January 2019. Highlights include Peter Brook returning to direct at the NT for the first time in 50 years with The Prisoner, plus new plays from Nina Raine and Anthony Neilson.

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COMMITTEE – Donmar Warehouse

In London theatre, Musicals, Opinion, Reviews by Ian FosterLeave a Comment

There’s a rather lazy trope around ‘unlikely subjects’ for a musical which accompany any show that deviates from the apparent norm. Yet given that the Best New Musical Olivier award winners over the past few decades have covered Argentinian politics, Scouse twins, confused animals, missionaries in Africa and post-Impressionist painters, I’m not entirely sure what counts for normal here!

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42nd STREET – Paris

In International, London theatre, Musicals, Opinion, Reviews by Jonathan BazLeave a Comment

Dan Burton who plays Sawyer’s love interest Billy Lawlor is another of Mear’s regular ingénues, last seen in the West End’s Gypsy. Arguably the best of his generation in musical theatre dance, Burton has a grace in his movement that has to be seen to be believed alongside perfectly pitched, mellifluous vocals. Other Brits in the cast include Alexander Hanson, Ria Jones and Jenny Dale.

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NEWS: City Stories sets new London dates at Wilton’s Music Hall

In Cabaret, Concerts, London theatre, Musicals, News, Opinion, Plays, Press Releases by Caroline Hanks-FarmerLeave a Comment

City Stories returns to London for two nights only on 20 and 21 October 2016. A suite of short plays set to music, the fully-titled City Stories: Tales of Love and Magic in London is a sequence of interwoven love stories written and directed by award-winning playwright James Phillips in an ode to our beloved capital.

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THE TRUTH – West End

In London theatre, Opinion, Plays, Reviews by Jonathan BazLeave a Comment

Florian Zeller is a precocious writing talent. The Truth is his third play to enthral London theatregoers in a year. While the French playwright’s breakthrough import The Father reduced some viewers to tears with its poignant and painful depiction of dementia. The Truth, a modern day farce about lies and adultery, brings tears of laughter.

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Plays for my Brexit & Chilcot mood: The Truth, Faith Healer, The Spoils

In Features, London theatre, Opinion, Plays, Reviews by Terri PaddockLeave a Comment

Has anyone else had difficulty getting back into their theatregoing after the results of the EU Referendum? The two – excellent – plays I have managed to see since the UK voted to leave on 23 June, have both, in a strange way, deepened my Brexit despair too. Neither Florian Zeller‘s The Truth nor Faith Healer by […]

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THE TRUTH – West End

In London theatre, Opinion, Plays by Matt MerrittLeave a Comment

Florian Zeller’s name is fast becoming a byword for gripping, fascinating and often brilliantly funny theatre. Productions of The Mother and The Father have racked up critical raves and when The Truth opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory, it was greeted with equal fervour.