Not long left to catch Life of Pi in the West End. If you possibly can, I recommend you beg, borrow or steal to get one of the last remaining tickets – or plan ahead now for the five-time Olivier Award-winning play’s 2023/24 tour.
‘This is the little show that could & does’: PRIDE & PREJUDICE (sort of) – West End
There are some shows with modest beginnings that seem to have all of the industry behind them, willing them to succeed. Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) is one of them.
‘It was exhilarating’: Disney’s Frozen offers the most perfectly packaged present for all ages
I don’t have children so the 2013 release of Disney’s animated film of Frozen largely passed me by. It wasn’t until a Christmas a couple of years later that I finally saw the film.
‘Holds a mirror up to today’s Covid-strained circumstances’: CAROUSEL – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Timothy Sheader’s revival of Carousel at the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park has made me reconsider the musical, and the ways difficult subjects can be repositioned, but it hasn’t made me love it any better.
‘When the weight of history & trauma is carried into the present’: seven methods of killing kylie jenner – Royal Court Theatre
A mocking tweet over the veracity of the ‘self-made’ adjective launches Jasmine Lee-Jones’ play Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, now transferred to the Royal Court’s Downstairs main house after its premiere in the Upstairs studio two years ago.
It makes the world go round: Test out your morals with ‘part game, part theatrical experience’ Money Live
I have become obsessed with where the money goes in The Money Live. When my neighbour Charlotte and I attended the “part game, part moral debate, part theatrical experience” earlier this week, the cash pot (initially £296, reaching nearly £400 as more ‘silent witness’ audience members paid a £20 upgrade to join the action) rolled over as no unanimous decision was agreed.
As we creep out of lockdown it’s time for Theatre Terri to make a return
For me, the feeling of missing theatre (when there isn’t really much happening) makes me incredibly sad, but missing out on theatre (because I am not making the effort to be a part of it) makes me unbearably anxious. I have to get back to Theatre Terri.
At Last Q&A video: Can kindness be a form of rebellion against fascism?
Are you worried about the state of politics and society in the UK today? That’s the question I asked at the start of my post-show Q&A for At Last at London’s Lion & Unicorn Theatre.
Tony’s Last Tape Q&A video: Paying tribute to Tony Benn, from ‘most dangerous man’ to ‘national treasure’
Many in the audience at Clapham’s Omnibus Theatre knew and were influenced by Tony Benn and were happy to share memories and thoughts on what he would think about the play as well as today’s political situation.
Half Me, Half You Q&A video: What if you were a black, gay woman in Trump’s America?
Did seeing fascist Tommy Robinson denouncing Muslims and immigrants on a big screen in Whitehall terrify you? What are the long-term consequences of today’s political rhetoric in Trump’s America and Brexit Britain?
The Swallow Q&A livestream: What happens when the playwright Skypes in from Madrid?
Another post-show Q&A first for me. Due to a last-minute scheduling conflict, Spanish playwright Guillem Clua had to cancel his flight to London to attend his acclaimed two-hander THE SWALLOW at the Cervantes Theatre this week, but he desperately wanted to take part in the post-show discussion on Tuesday night – so the game team at the Cervantes slung up a big screen onstage and Guillem Skyped in from Madrid.
WATCH: An American ex-pat’s view on HAMILTON in London
For all its considerable entertainment value, there are some vitally important messages here, about politics, society and the fragility of our institutions – messages that, 246 years after the birth of the world’s greatest modern democracy, are perhaps never more urgent than now. History has its eyes on us all, as one of Miranda’s lyrics reminds us.
What Shadows Q&A podcast: How far have we come since Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech?
Many on the panel, and in the audience, also shared personal stories as immigrants and/or children of immigrants – and how they felt affected by Powell’s speech and its aftermath.
Edward II Q&A podcast: What do Christopher Marlowe & Jordan Tannahill have in common?
The plays may have been written 420-odd years apart, but I was really struck by how many parallels there were between the discussion I hosted last week, to the European premiere of Jordan Tannahill’s Late Company at Trafalgar Studios, and the one I hosted last night, to Christopher Marlowe‘s 16th-century classic Edward II.
Twitter onstage: What’s the difference between a troll & a social justice warrior?
As a Twitter geek, one of the things I enjoyed most about David Baddiel‘s latest one-man show My Family: Not the Sitcom, now running at the Playhouse Theatre, is how he so successfully employs social media in his storytelling.
Two perfect tickets for ladies’ nights: The Girls & Stepping Out
If you’re seeking life affirmation, celebrations of female solidarity (of a quintessentially British variety) and general uplift, my two current West End recommendations that tick all three boxes are The Girls and Stepping Out.
What would Bertolt Brecht think of Donald Trump?
What would Bertolt Brecht have made of Donald Trump? Brecht’s “epic theatre” was sparked by the rise of Nazism in 1930s Germany. Many pundits have likened the political period we’ve now entered with that dark decade of the twentieth century.
Just how relevant to today is Steve Waters’ Limehouse?
“Labour is fucked!” roars Goodman-Hill’s Owen to open Limehouse. And the next hour and forty minutes watching the Gang of Four debate ideologies, divided loyalties and political contexts, including the hard-left’s anti-EU stance, leave you in no doubt just how relevant the play is to the party’s woefully position today.
Terror takes: BU21 made me remember where I was on 9/11 & 7/7
What were you doing on 9/11? And, if you were in London, on 7/7? I thought about this recently when watching Stuart Slade’s excellent new play BU21.
Tanya Moodie: ‘We need to keep marching together’
As someone who makes a living championing theatre, one of the things that really delights me about the grass-roots activism sprouting up all around me in our increasingly illiberal age of Trump and Brexit is how much of it is being driven by theatre colleagues.