New docu-drama The King of Hell’s Palace about the Chinese blood-contamination scandal of 1990s is about corruption and cover-up.
‘Unfolds with depressing predictability’: THE KING OF HELL’S PALACE – Hampstead Theatre
The King of Hell’s Palace is a play brimful of good intentions but with virtually no artistry or dramatic tension.
NEWS: Roxana Silbert stages six premieres in her inaugural Hampstead Theatre season
Ahead of Hamstead Theatre’s 60th birthday next year, new artistic director Roxana Silbert recently announced her inaugural season at the north London venue, including six premiere plays written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Jordan Tannahill, Tom Morton-Smith, Al Blyth, Ruby Thomas and Chinonyerem Odimba.
Text of the Day: Jude
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Jude at Hampstead Theatre
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Edward Hall’s production of Howard Brenton’s latest play Jude.
‘In the end this is more comedy than tragedy’: JUDE – Hampstead Theatre
Jude, Howard Brenton’s new cerebral tragi-comedy about a Syrian refugee’s Oxford dreams, is just too gnomic.
‘It’s a storming performance from Isabella Nefar’: JUDE – Hampstead Theatre ★★★★
Howard Brenton’s new play Jude is a deliberate echo of Thomas Hardy’s darkest work, Jude the Obscure: an updated riff on his angry theme of how passionate genius in humble people is stifled and thwarted by society.
‘Here is an authentically individual voice’: THE PHLEBOTOMIST – Hampstead Theatre ★★★★
The Phlebotomist is an exceptional concept for a ‘first play’ and Hampstead has made a real discovery in Ella Road and partnered her script with Sam Yates’ slick direction.
‘There’s no denying the play’s relevance’: THE PHLEBOTOMIST – Hampstead Theatre
Ella Road’s resonant new play about genetics, The Phlebotomist, is mostly well-written and gets an exciting staging.
Text of the Day: Eden
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
‘For all its good intentions, I just didn’t believe any of it’: EDEN – Hampstead Theatre
New play Eden at the Hampstead Theatre, about corporate capitalism and local resistance, is let down by poor and unbelievable writing.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Cost of Living at Hampstead Theatre
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living.
‘Refreshingly bold & honest’: COST OF LIVING – Hampstead Theatre ★★★★
Cost of Living is a refreshingly bold play, it presents disability in a matter of fact way focusing on relationships while challenging inhibitions.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Paradise at Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre presents the new comedy Paradise from Dusty Hughes, directed by Alice Hamilton. Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews.
Mark Shenton offers his Year in Brief: The Best & Worse of 2018 in Review
I finally saw sense — or admitted defeat, depending on how you look at it. After what feels like a lifetime of chasing my tail as I tried to see everything – or at least everything that was hotly tipped and/or well-reviewed — I simply gave up the battle.
‘It never quite unites as tidily & explosively as it promises to do’: CAROLINE, OR CHANGE – West End
Caroline or Change has a lot going for it and three potentially interesting plot lines that should fully engage, yet it never quite unites as tidily and explosively as it promises to do, the wackier aspects serving to alienate rather than enhance the rest of the story.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Uncle Vanya at Hampstead Theatre
Alan Cox stars as Vanya in Terry Johnson’s new adaptation of Chekhov’s classic play Uncle Vanya at the Hampstead Theatre. Find out what the critics made of it with Love London Love Culture’s review round up…
NEWS: Adrian Lester will star in the UK premiere of Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living at the Hampstead Theatre
Adrian Lester, Katy Sullivan, Emily Barber and Jack Hunter will make their Hampstead Theatre debuts in the UK premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living at the Hampstead Theatre – making it the 100th premiere since Edward Hall and Greg Ripley-Duggan took charge in 2010.
Text of the Day: The Hoes
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
Why should you see Caroline, or Change?
A couple of weeks ago I was one of the lucky few who was allowed into the Caroline, or Change rehearsal rooms for a sneak peek at how the show was coming along, as it prepared for its West End transfer.