There is fine work from Jodie McNee as Johanna Faustus in Faustus: That Damned Woman but the piece is overshadowed by a disappointing structure that sidelines real, factual female achievement in praise of the patriarchy.
‘Jodie McNee’s leading performance burns with energy’: FAUSTUS: THAT DAMNED WOMAN – Lyric Hammersmith
In opening-up the female experience of the era in Faustus: That Damned Woman, Chris Bush reinforces the decision to switch the gender of the central character.
‘Surprising & endlessly entertaining affair’: PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF) – Touring ★★★★
Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) has a superbly wide frame of reference, and which is thought-provoking as well as being sheer good fun.
’True testament to the power of music & storytelling’: WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF – Soho Theatre ★★★★★
Loud, bold & full of heart, What Girls Are Made Of is full of dynamic performances – a true testament to the power of music & storytelling.
‘It’s impossible to not be won over’: PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF) – Bristol ★★★★
Much like Six, that pushes King Henry to the sidelines to place the spotlight on his long-suffering wives, here the Bennett sisters get to take complete ownership of the stage and the story they tell in Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of).
‘Truly special’: WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF – Touring ★★★★★
Bursting with emotion and tuneful energy, the return to the Traverse of What Girls Are Made Of is a thing of wonder.
‘Promises to be real marmite’: TWELFTH NIGHT – Bristol ★★★
If nothing else Wils Wilson has produced a rollicking evening of entertainment in Twelfth Night at Bristol Old Vic, even if it is only a surface level take on this most beguiling of masterpieces.
‘There is a woozy melancholy at this production’s heart’: TWELTH NIGHT – Edinburgh ★★★★
Shifting emotions are filtered through autumnal sunlight in the Lyceum’s Twelfth Night, with as much defiant sadness on view as happy resolution.
COCKPIT – Edinburgh ★★★★
There are huge and troubling resonances throughout the Lyceum’s startling Cockpit. Fascinating staging and committed performances make for a thoroughly vital production – albeit one that falls tantalisingly short of greatness.
COCKPIT – Edinburgh ★★★★
There are huge and troubling resonances throughout the Lyceum’s startling Cockpit. Fascinating staging and committed performances make for a thoroughly vital production – albeit one that falls tantalisingly short of greatness.
DAPHNE ORAM’S WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOUND – Touring
There is a freshness and infectious enthusiasm to Daphne Oram’s Wonderful World of Sound. This, allied to a magnetic central performance, overcomes oddities in the script and staging to create a thoroughly pleasing whole.
CHARLIE SONATA – Edinburgh
Three friends from university in the 1990s occasionally stage reunions that show how two of them – Gary and Jackson – have moved on to careers and respectability (or something approximating to them), while Chick remains a drifting figure, wedded to alcohol.
WISH LIST – Royal Court
You could call it the Corbynisation of new writing. In the past couple of years, a series of plays have plumbed the lower depths, looking at the subject of good people trapped in zero-hour contracts and terrible working conditions. Like Ken Loach’s dreary film, I, Daniel Blake, these plays have integrity, but very little dramatic content.
WISH LIST – Royal Court Theatre
New play about casual work and disability is a thinly written Corbynesque drama.
THE DRIVER’S SEAT – Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
The National Theatre of Scotland’s adaptation of Muriel Spark’s The Driver’s Seat has a righteous fury, combined with a drive born out of cleverly harnessed technology and a tight ensemble. However, it does not always seem sure of itself and as a result is a curiosity rather than a convincing piece of theatre. Taking a stress-induced holiday from her job in an unspecified ‘North’, Lise travels to Naples, apparently seeking romance. It is not much of a spoiler to say she will end up murdered, as we are told this very early on. Instead the focus is on how and why this will happen.