This portrayal of contemporary family life dealing with depression is honest and believable in The Son, yet there’s a cold judgement underpinning it.
‘Devastatingly raw piece of drama’: THE SON – West End ★★★★★
Brilliantly and emotionally engagingly translated by Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller’s The Son is a piece of writing that draws you in from the start and never relinquishes its hold until the very end.
‘Akin to a beautifully composed piece of music’: THE SON – West End
The Son is akin to a beautifully composed piece of music. A perfect balance of light and shade with an inevitable surge to a heart thumping climax.
‘Haunting, both actual & metaphorical, is at its heart’: APPROPRIATE – Donmar Warehouse
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ play Appropriate is a brilliantly acute and entertaining, if a bit depressing, deconstruction of the great American family drama.
‘The past is never just the past’: APPROPRIATE – Donmar Warehouse
Jacobs-Jenkins explores how even fairly recent national history can be sanitised and reduced when examined from only one perspective in Appropriate at the Donmar Warehouse.
‘A play whose time has come yet again’: EUROPE – Donmar Warehouse
Europe at the Donmar Warehouse is a magnificent revival of David Greig’s 1990s visionary classic which is timely, tough and tender, brutal and brilliant.
‘Packs a fierce climactic punch’: EUROPE – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
Michael Longhurst’s terrific, visceral debut production of David Greig’s Europe at the Donmar Warehouse packs a fierce climactic punch.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Europe at the Donmar Warehouse
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Michael Longhurst’s production of Europe at the Donmar Warehouse.
‘If only the text had such dramatic grammar as the juicy lighting’: EUROPE – Donmar Warehouse
This 25th anniversary revival of David Greig’s play Europe is, for the most part, a long chin scratch about home, belonging and division.
NEWS: Natalia Tena, Ron Cook & Theo Barklem-Biggs join the cast of Michael Longhurst’s inaugural Donmar production, Europe
The Donmar Warehouse has announced full casting for artistic director Michael Longhurst’s inaugural Donmar production Europe by David Greig. Joining previously announced cast members Billy Howle (Berlin), Kevork Malikyan (Sava), Faye Marsay (Adele), Stephen Wight (Billy) and Shane Zaza (Morocco) will be Theo Barklem-Biggs as Horse, Ron Cook as Fret and Natalia Tena as Katia.
NEWS: Michael Longhurst announces inaugural season as Donmar Warehouse artistic director
Michael Longhurst has announced his first season as artistic director of London’s Donmar Warehouse, which will include one full-length world premiere, two UK premieres and two major revivals, the first helmed by Longhurst himself.
‘A tense psychological thriller as bleak as it is strong’: THE SON – Kiln Theatre ★★★★
The final episode of Florian Zeller’s domestic trilogy, The Son, is powerfully, even melodramatically, effective.
‘A fascinating mix of drama & fantasy’: CAROLINE, OR CHANGE – West End
The 2004 Broadway musical Caroline, or Change has returned to London’s West End in a slick, entertaining production anchored by a sensational lead performance by Sharon D. Clarke.
NEWS: Amanda Abbington will star in Florian Zeller’s The Son at the Kiln Theatre
As the world première of Ishy Din’s Approaching Empty opens at Kiln Theatre, the company’s artistic director Indhu Rubasingham has announced the casting for the UK première of Florian Zeller’s The Son, in a translation by Christopher Hampton. Michael Longhurst directs Amanda Abbington, Laurie Kynaston, John Light, Oseloka Obi, Amaka Okafor and Martin Turner. The production opens on 26 February 2019, with previews from 20 February, and runs until 6 April.
‘A five-star cast deliver distinctly flawed material’: CAROLINE, OR CHANGE – West End ★★★
Caroline, or Change is a curious show that sees a five-star cast deliver distinctly flawed material. Set in an early 1960s Louisiana.
‘It’s definitely a quirkiness that sets this show apart’: CAROLINE, OR CHANGE – West End ★★★★
Following not one, but two recent acclaimed runs (first at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre in 2017, followed by a limited engagement at Hampstead Theatre earlier this year), Michael Longhurst’s production of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s musical Caroline, or Change now makes its mark on London’s West End, taking up residence at the Playhouse Theatre until next spring.
‘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.
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.
NEWS: Full casting is announced for West End transfer of Caroline, Or Change
Full casting has been announced for Caroline, Or Change, the musical written by Tony Kushner, with a score from Tony Award-winning Jeanine Tesori, which will run at the West End’s Playhouse Theatre from 20 November 2018 to 9 February 2019.
NEWS: Michael Longhurst succeeds Josie Rourke as Donmar Warehouse artistic director
The Donmar Warehouse today announces the appointment of Michael Longhurst as its new Artistic Director from March 2019, with his first programming to begin in mid-2019.