Just a little bit late… Here’s 10 of my favourite shows, both online and onstage but fully acknowledging that I saw a lot less than usual, I might actually have broken the back of this theatre obsession – it just took a global pandemic to do it…!
‘The music provides a haunting, grounding overlay’: THE COMEDY OF ERRORS – Barbican Centre (RSC)
It might seem a bit odd to come out of a Shakespeare play raving about the singing and music. Yet these elements are part of what lifts Phillip Breen’s captivating new RSC production.
NEWS: Anything Goes sails back to the Barbican in July for an eight-week run
The smash-hit revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes is sailing back to London’s Barbican Theatre next summer for an eight-week run from 15 July until 3 September 2022. Casting for the new dates is still to be announced.
NEWS: Rachel York & Haydn Gwynne join the cast of Anything Goes at the Barbican & extra dates added
Broadway star Rachel York and Tony and Olivier nominee Haydn Gwynne will join the cast of critically-acclaimed Anything Goes for the final weeks before the show must end on 6 November 2021.
NEWS: The RSC’s production of The Comedy of Errors transfers to the Barbican in November 2021
The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced that The Comedy of Errors will transfer to the Barbican for a strictly limited London run following a season in Stratford-upon-Avon and a short national tour.
Mark Shenton offers a bittersweet celebration of his Top Ten Favourite West End Theatres
My latest ShenTens is particularly bittersweet, as we can’t actually go to any at the moment: my favourite West End theatres.
NEWS: Felicity Kendal & Gary Wilmot join the cast of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre
Award winning actress Felicity Kendal will make her West End musical debut starring as Evangeline Harcourt, alongside leading actor Gary Wilmot as Elisha Whitney, in Anything Goes at London’s Barbican Theatre, running for a strictly limited season from 5 June to 22 August 2021.
What productions Love London Love Culture is looking forward to in 2021
Emma Clarendon selects the shows that she is most looking forward to catching in 2021.
NEWS: Will & Grace’s Megan Mullally will make her West End musical debut in Anything Goes opposite Robert Lindsay
Emmy & SAG Award winner Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) will make her West End musical debut as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes opposite Tony, Olivier & BAFTA Award winner Robert Lindsay as Moonface Martin, running from 8 May 2021 (press night is 20 May) until 22 August at London’s Barbican Theatre.
‘A powerfully resonant, relevant & riveting watch’: It’s True, It’s True, It’s True – Breach Theatre (Online review)
The BBC film version of a Renaissance rape trial is powerfully resonant, relevant and a riveting watch.
20 shows to look forward to in 2020
Looking ahead to some of 2020’s exciting shows, most with an emphasis away from the West End and instead focusing at the London Fringe and across the UK.
‘Peake guides us expertly through worlds of pain’: AVALANCHE – Barbican Theatre
Maxine Peake is magisterial at the Barbican in this heart-breaking monologue Avalanche; A Love Story.
NEWS: RSC returns to the Barbican with three new Shakespeare productions
Later this year, the three Shakespeare productions from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) summer 2019 Stratford season transfer to the Barbican from 26 October 2019.
‘A sobering, haunting journey’: AVALANCHE – Barbican Theatre ★★★★
Avalanche is a sobering, haunting journey that carries as much warning as it does perhaps solace to those thinking of having IVF or have had it as well as a kind of delight in the sheer beauty and bravura of Maxine Peake’s performance.
‘It is a play that requires you to feel rather than to understand’: GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS – Barbican Theatre
Grief on stage and in popular culture is rarely considered as a psychological state of its own but as a means or driver for other behaviour.
‘Combines bravura acting with a battery of visual effects’: GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS – Barbican Theatre
Enda Walsh’s adaptation of Max Porter’s contemporary classic gets the big-stage treatment, starring Cillian Murphy. With mixed results.
Twenty shows to look forward to in 2019
So many of the recommendations for shows to see next year focus on the West End. And for sure, I’m excited to catch big ticket numbers like All About Eve, Come From Away and Waitress, but I wanted to cast my eye a little further afield.
‘Modern & moving’: ROMEO & JULIET – Barbican Theatre
It’s sometimes a little difficult to take seriously how old everyone is meant to be in Romeo & Juliet but Erica Whyman’s modern-day production for the RSC, playing in rep now at the Barbican, never lets you forget.
NEWS: Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar transfers to the Barbican Theatre in 2019
Following its sell-out success in 2016 and 2017 at the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park, the multi-award-winning production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Chris Superstar transfers to the Barbican Theatre for just 60 performances in 2019, running from 4 July to 24 August).
‘Lacks clarity & intent’: MACBETH – Barbican Theatre
Despite a cast including Christopher Eccleston and Niamh Cusack, this proves another disappointment of a Macbeth as the RSC starts is autumn residency at the Barbican.
- Page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2