As with last year, there were too many brilliant performances to restrict this to one combined list – so once again I’ve split them up into male and female performances.
‘The play is a wonderful thing’: SMALL ISLAND – National Theatre
Small Island is an absolute joy and an overdue, no reservations at all, win for Rufus Norris at the NT. There’s nothing else to say. Well except this: you must see it, immediately.
‘A gripping story told really well’: SMALL ISLAND – National Theatre ★★★★★
Small Island is an epic story straddling Jamaica and England before, during and after World War II and exploring colonialism, racism, love and identity.
‘Relevant & fulsomely entertaining’: SMALL ISLAND – National Theatre
The stage version of Andrea Levy’s classic Windrush story is a fun epic that takes ages and ages to warm up.
‘Terrifically moving’: SMALL ISLAND – National Theatre ★★★★★
Andrea Levy’s award-winning and sprawling epic Small Island retells an uneasy moment in Britain’s recent history through the eyes of the people involved. But what a glorious story it is.
‘Breath-takingly powerful & inventive’: SMALL ISLAND – National Theatre
Andrea Levy’s novel Small Island comes to life most beautifully in this adaptation by Helen Edmundson at the National Theatre.
NEWS: National Theatre announces new season including cast of 40 for stage adaptation of Andrea Levy’s Small Island
Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Leah Harvey and Aisling Loftus lead the cast of Small Island, adapted by Helen Edmundson from Andrea Levy’s prize-winning novel, directed by Rufus Norris in the Olivier Theatre, as part of the National Theatre’s new season.
Debbie’s favourite female performances of 2018
Mind the Blog rounds up her favourite female performances in the theatre during 2018.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Emilia at Shakespeare’s Globe
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s Emilia now playing at the Shakespeare’s Globe.
‘An undercooked, issue-driven play’: EMILIA – Shakespeare’s Globe ★★
To my real dismay, as the evening went on all shouty and furious and improbable, despite the first-night laughs and acclamations, I felt less and less sympathetic towards the cause.
‘Christou’s debut is thrilling in its aplomb’: YOUS TWO – Hampstead Theatre
Parenthood can be both empowering and fragile and Georgia Christou’s debut Yous Two at the Hampstead Theatre is thrilling for its potential. Definitely a name to watch.
SHAKESPEARE TRILOGY – Donmar at King’s Cross
What you do get from the trilogy day though is a huge sense of occasion, and the undeniable truth of the significance of what has been achieved here. Unabashedly all-female productions of Shakespeare, shaking up a (male dominated) establishment that still can’t quite let these things happen without a range of think-pieces.
THE TEMPEST – Donmar at King’s Cross
A slightly odd one this, the Donmar’s all-female adaptation of The Tempest opened at the King’s Cross Theatre in late September, but from what I can tell won’t be officially reviewed until 22nd November.