James McAvoy triumphs in Martin Crimp’s magnificent makeover of the French classic Cyrano de Bergerac: a jaw-dropping success.
‘The beauty and rawness of it pull you in’: CYRANO DE BERGERAC – West End ★★★★★
The beauty and rawness of Cyrano de Bergerac pull you in and envelopes you and the performances combined with the tragedy of the story haunted me for days.
‘An achingly modern & exciting version’: CYRANO DE BERGERAC – West End
Reimagined for the modern stage with a contemporary cast led by James McAvoy, Jamie Lloyd’s production of Cyrano de Bergerac feels at every moment like theatre at its most exciting, liberating and inclusive.
‘Heroic & beautiful & serious’: KING LEAR – West End ★★★★★
For this third time in the role we are told that Ian McKellen deliberately chose to play it in the intimacy of Chichester’s Minerva last year; here in the West End a reconfiguring of the Duke of York’s maintains much of that atmosphere.
‘Something a little extraordinary’: GROTTY – Bunker Theatre
Izzy Tennyson’s Grotty at the Bunker Theatre is a brutally frank depiction of an element of LGBT life not much explored on London’s stages.
‘A very candid affair’: GROTTY – Bunker Theatre
Semi-autobiographical in nature, Grotty – which is written by Izzy Tennyson and directed by Hannah Hauer-King – looks at the Dalston lesbian subculture in east London.
‘Peppered with witty observations & dark humour’: GROTTY – Bunker Theatre ★★★★
Grotty is a sharp new play that’s full to the brim with humour, as well as hiding a dark heart – cleverly directed and brilliantly performed.
‘A terrifying introduction to the dark & baffling gay scene’: GROTTY – Bunker Theatre
Theatre has recently taken on more female queer stories with Turkey, Lobster, The Gulf and now Grotty featuring prominently in fringe theatre seasons.
‘Not for the faint-hearted’: GROTTY – Bunker Theatre
A look around at audience reactions is enough to confirm that Grotty does what it sets out to do: bring an often overlooked subculture into the spotlight in a way that’s both educational and inclusive.
‘Tries to say so much, but ultimately says very little’: GROTTY – Bunker Theatre ★★
Grotty is a dark, grimy, and vivid exploration of the subcultures of London’s lesbian scene. The end result is a play about nothing in particular. Much like its lead character, Grotty tries to say so much but ultimately, says very little.
Mind the Blog’s best shows of 2017
Any number of shows could have been included in this post; frankly it’s ludicrous that I decided to stick with my whole top 12 idea… As I’ve seen about 90 more individual shows than last year.
Mind the Blog’s top 2017 performances
This year variety has been the thing (though I’ve still managed to stack up certain repeat attendances), so that means I’ve seen a serious amount of performers – some even two or three times!
TWELFTH NIGHT – Shakespeare’s Globe
Emma Rice’s Summer of Love got off to a slightly sticky start at the Globe with a mystifying take on Romeo and Juliet from Daniel Kramer and as we move onto Twelfth Night, which she is directing herself, there’s a similarly uncompromising attitude in place.
Podcast: Girls is about the girls, not Boko Haram’s Chibok kidnapping
Listen to the podcast from the post-show Q&A chaired by Mates co-founder Terri Paddock with multi award-winning debut playwright Theresa Ikoko and the cast of GIRLS at Soho Theatre.
GIRLS – Soho Theatre
New captive drama is well-written in a symbolic vein that helps to humanise the story behind the headlines.
FURY – Soho Theatre
New drama about a desperate single mother is powerfully written and raises some disturbing issues.
Titus Andronicus – Review
Greenwich Theatre, London****Written by William ShakespeareDirected by Yaz Al-ShaaterSmooth Faced Gentlemen’s all female Titus Andronicus is a deftly trimmed take on Shakespeare’s most bloody tragedy. Amidst some cracking performances, a company of 8 c…