Love Letters At Home takes the well-worn Our Tune concept from the old days and uses it to develop a show where, no matter what’s going on and whether we are together and apart, it is always 14 February.
‘A quick diversion at just 11.5 minutes’: LAG – A ZOOMSICAL COMEDY (Online review)
At just eleven and a half minutes, this satirical musical by Haddon Kime is a quick diversion on YouTube from the Atlanta-based company Out of Hand.
‘A powerful exploration of Covid-19 & racism’: WE R NOT VIRUS – Omnibus Theatre (Online review)
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, hate crime targeted at East and South-East Asians has tripled. We R Not Virus is a series of monologues, films and poetry responding to that.
‘Never less than arresting’: SHOE LADY – Royal Court Theatre (Radio review)
BBC Radio’s Lockdown Theatre Festival, curated by Bertie Carvel, highlights productions cut short by broadcasting them with the original casts, albeit in an audio format only.
‘A modern-day classic about an age-old problem’: SMALL ISLAND – National Theatre (Online review)
A terrific and epic play about the Windrush generation: Andrea Levy’s sprawling novel Small Island has been turned into a glorious staged adaptation by writer Helen Edmundson.
‘Psychologically convincing & fiercely compelling’: CONTINUITY – Finborough Theatre (Online review)
In Continuity, Gerry Moynihan explores the men’s fanaticism and the effects of their frustrated masculinity on their political beliefs.
‘Theatre is rarely so forceful or so urgent’: THE PROTEST – Bush Theatre
This venue’s urgent response to the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter campaign is powerfully realised.
‘Strips back perceptions of what theatre should be’: ENTITLED – Quarantine (Online review)
Up to Manchester for this Zoom screening of 2011’s mix of movement and words from Quarantine, followed by a discussion with the creatives.
Entitled is “a show about nothing” on the surface, as we watch stage technicians set up for a dance performanc…
‘A powerful picture of a dark day for democracy’: THE BATTLE OF THE BEANFIELD – Breach Theatre
The Battle of the Beanfield is the first show by Breach Theatre, now known for the excellent It’s True, It’s True, It’s True about Renaissance artist Artemisia Gentileschi.
Depicting women from different walks of life: Glass Half Full’s lockdown monologues showcase
During lockdown, Glass Half Full Theatre have produced a series of monologues that depict women from different walks of life.
‘The delightful level of detail punctuates the action’: THE UNDERSTUDY – Lawrence Batley Theatre
Life on the lowest rung of the theatrical ladder. There are lots of in-jokes with digs at actors, directors, the rehearsal process, theatrical agents, critics and the site-specific trend.
‘Tom Hiddleston is worth the price of admission’: CORIOLANUS – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
There are some staggering contemporary references to draw from this staging of a lesser-known Shakespeare, starring Tom Hiddleston.
‘Thoughtfully & inclusively cast’: RICHARD II – The Show Must Go Online
The Show Must Go Online was firmly back in history mode with the beginning of Shakespeare’s second tetralogy in Richard II. Not quite as much bloodshed as the previous set of histories that we’ve seen – more posturing and challenging than anything.
‘Diana Quick gives a bravura performance’: MIDNIGHT YOUR TIME – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
This revival of a 2011 HighTide hit, reconceived for streaming, stars Diana Quick and is intimate and quietly moving.
‘It is immediately clear how prescient it was’: THIS HOUSE – National Theatre (Online review)
The chaos of national politics in the mid-1970s seemed light years away in 2014, but how arrogant that assumption seems now.
‘It has all of the hallmarks of classic Ayckbourn’: ANNO DOMINO – Stephen Joseph Theatre ★★★★ (Online review)
Perfectly pitched: Anno Domino has all of the hallmarks of classic Ayckbourn – razor-sharp observation, subtle skewering of preconceptions, and exploration of murky hidden depths.
‘It places sound firmly front & centre’: THE ENCOUNTER – Complicite (Online review)
Simon McBurney performs this stupendous and extraordinary solo show from Complicite. Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin’s soundscape is nothing short of a triumph.
‘Gillian Anderson’s performance is a scorcher’: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE – Young Vic Theatre (Online review)
World on fire: The NT Live recording of this classic Young Vic production stars Gillian Anderson and is genuinely unmissable.
‘The conflicted emotions of relationship aftermath’: LOVE (& LOSS) IN THE TIME OF CORONA – Sherman Theatre (Online review)
If one were to peruse social media as this time of ‘social distancing’, one thread that surfaces periodically is how hard it is for single people who have no human contact. There is, however, something more hellish – recently splitting up.
‘Think you know the war poets? Think again’: IT IS EASY TO BE DEAD – Finborough Theatre
When poetry of the First World War is mentioned, the names which tend spring to mind are Brooke, Owen, Sassoon, Graves, Blunden and so on. Then there’s Charles Sorley.