It’s that time of year when days get shorter, nights get longer and tale telling revolves around the supernatural. Just a couple of days ago the last thing I saw on stage, Here, was (partly) a modern day take on the ghost story. Now for good measure comes Grey Man, a piece of digital theatre written by Lulu Raczka, which investigates similar spooky territory. The piece has been subtitled “A Stage And Screen Experiment” which, as it turns out, is exactly what it is.
‘Surprisingly hilarious about a not-so-hilarious subject’: YELLOWFIN – Southwark Playhouse ★★★★
What would you do if all the fish suddenly vanished? It’s a question that would have sounded faintly ridiculous a few years ago, but as climate change grips the world, a mass extinction event doesn’t feel that far off.
‘Not all subterfuge & double jeopardy’: A SPLINTER OF ICE – Original Theatre Company (Online review)
A Splinter of Ice moves away from a basic biography by mirroring its spy subjects and never allowing the audience to be quite sure which of its many faces is the real one.
‘A bold theatrical experiment’: ASSEMBLY – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
Assembly is a new piece in a livestream experiment that mixes live action, animation and sound. Initially planned to play live at the venue last July, it has now been reconfigured as an online show but still using the Donmar Local Company at the heart of the production.
‘Suffering & hope beautifully portrayed’: CAN I HELP YOU? – Omnibus Theatre ★★★★★
Can I Help You? is a sensitively and engagingly performed play that tells an all-too-familiar tale of the battle for hope when all seems lost.
‘An essentially serious play for serious people’: THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA – West End
Star cast delivers a terrific revival of Tennessee Williams’s last masterpiece The Night of the Iguana at the Noel Coward Theatre.
‘Visually & aurally engrossing’: A KETTLE OF FISH – The Yard Theatre
Brad Birch’s excellent 70-minute monologue A Kettle of Fish about a female professional and her response to a critical convergence of problems.
THE BLINDING LIGHT – Jermyn Street Theatre ★★★★
Howard Brenton gives us a barn-storming role for the actor playing Strindberg – in this case, Jasper Britton – and the women who appear in his life.
THE BLINDING LIGHT – Jermyn Street Theatre
Howard Brenton’s latest takes a scalpel to the collapsing mind of playwright August Strindberg.
THE BLINDING LIGHT – Jermyn Street Theatre
Howard Brenton’s latest takes a scalpel to the collapsing mind of playwright August Strindberg.
VIXEN – Vaults Theatre
Vixen is a homeless girl in a world that only seeks to take advantage. Vixen is a fiery redhead who can take care of herself, lashing out at any man that tries it on. Vixen eschews typical human contact, constantly wary that there is an ulterior motive.
Q&A podcast: Rediscovering James Shirley’s 1641 classic The Cardinal
Why has THE CARDINAL gone so long unproduced? How did director Justin Audibert discover it? Why stage an epic, 19-character tragedy in Southwark’s 120-seat Off-West End theatre?
CARGO – Arcola Theatre
New immersive experience tells its story of people trafficking with considerable power and imagination.
JANE WENHAM, THE WITCH OF WALKERN – Arcola Theatre
The best theatre is controversial theatre, but some controversies just make you want to weep. Out of Joint theatre company has been touring Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern (co-produced with Watford Palace Theatre and Arcola Theatre) since September last year. All was going well until the 13 October performance at Ipswich High School for Girls was cancelled by the venue “citing concerns over the play’s language”. Max Stafford-Clark, Out of Joint’s artistic director, said: “It is deeply troubling that a play which so eloquently examines witch persecutions from a feminist perspective, and looks at the way society treated and continues to treat women, is considered inappropriate for an audience of young women. The school has also said that the inclusion of swearing is inappropriate, a policy which presumably rules out much contemporary drama or fiction for study.” Indeed. But enough about the follies of our educators, what about the play?
MY EYES WENT DARK – Finborough Theatre
“…If a country can’t protect the rights of its people, what can a man do? A man must stand up… A man must defend himself.” Matthew Wilkinson’s My Eyes Went Dark is an extraordinary piece of work. It tells the story of man, Nikolai Koslov (played by Cal MacAninch), who loses his wife and two young children in a plane crash that occurred when two planes collide mid-air.