Romeo & Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe is a new and vital take on the classic Verona tale, contextualising the characters’ motives – this is not about romance, it’s about escape.
‘Vibrant & thoughtful’: J’OUVERT – Harold Pinter Theatre ★★★★
Vibrant and thoughtful play J’Ouvert at the Harold Pinter Theatre is both a celebration of the carnival experience as well highlighting sexual politics and inclusivity versus cultural appropriation that can emerge in these settings.
‘Has an extra poignance & resonance’: J’OUVERT – Harold Pinter Theatre
A slice of explosive, gritty, witty, youthful urban life, J’Ouvert is a play set in the streets of Notting Hill during its annual August bank holiday celebration of African-Caribbean culture.
‘The cast bring an urgency to their playing’: J’OUVERT – BBC Lights Up Festival (Online review)
The vibrant culture of the Notting Hill Carnival is celebrated and examined in Yasmin Joseph’s play about three young women, J’Ouvert.
RE: Sonia Friedman will bring Re:Emerge season of new plays to the Harold Pinter Theatre
RE:EMERGE, a collection of new plays curated by Sonia Friedman Productions alongside Ian Rickson (artistic director for the season), is due to open to socially-distanced audiences from May at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre.
‘Offers startlingly fresh perspective on these tales’: 15 HEROINES – Jermyn Street Theatre & Digital Theatre (Online review)
Reinterpreting the women of Greek mythology for today, the theatrical enterprise of 15 Heroines is a major achievement and a highlight of the year, digital or otherwise.
‘An engaging & reflective story that’s well-played’: SCENES WITH GIRLS – Royal Court Theatre
Female friendship is such a fickle, flighty thing so difficult to get right, and Miriam Battye nails both its positives and negatives in Scenes With Girls.
‘A gob-smacking vitality & originality’: SCENES WITH GIRLS – Royal Court Theatre
Scenes with Girls at the Royal Court is like an exciting blast of fresh air blowing through the often stale world of contemporary new writing.
‘Linguistically agile, theatrically pleasurable & emotionally dark’: GLASS. KILL. BLUEBEARD. IMP – Royal Court Theatre
Caryl Churchill’s Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. at the Royal Court is wonderfully bright and incisively perceptive.
‘You can feel the thronging crowds & lively atmosphere’: J’OUVERT – Theatre503
The image we’re left with is not one of violence in J’Ouvert at Theatre503, but of pride, friendship and resilience, and a community that’s prepared to keep fighting for as long as it takes to reclaim its voice and heritage.
‘So much potential’: J’OUVERT – Theatre503
J’ouvert, a debut play from Yasmin Joseph and the directorial debut of Rebekah Murrell, is an ambitious play, encompassing the spirit, commercialism and epic Notting Hill Carnival.
‘The believability of the entire show makes it so wonderful’: NINE NIGHT – Trafalgar Studios ★★★★★
Nine Night is a truly fantastic, affecting and entertaining piece of theatre that deserves the space its been given plus more.
‘Honest & beautiful play’: NINE NIGHT – Trafalgar Studios ★★★★★
Nine Night is an honest and beautiful play which by being so particular and rooted in one community becomes a conduit of universal emotional truths. Fabulous.
‘Has lost none of its power here’: NINE NIGHT – Trafalgar Studios
We celebrate the fact that Nine Night is the first play by a black British female playwright to make it into the West End, as Natasha Gordon’s debut makes the move from the National’s smallest space in the Dorfman Theatre to the Trafalgar Studios in one giant leap.
NEWS: Natasha Gordon will star in her debut play Nine Night when it transfers to the Trafalgar Studios
Natasha Gordon will take the role of Lorraine in her debut play Nine Night when the critically-acclaimed production transfers from the National Theatre to the Trafalgar Studios on 1 December 2018 (press night is 6 December), running until 9 February 2019.
‘Hugely effective in its ability to both amuse & tug the heartstrings’: NINE NIGHT – National Theatre
It’s momentous indeed to see a debut work at the National and this excellent production of Nine Night, in all the clamour for a National Theatre that actually reflects the demographics of the nation, hopefully indicates change is afoot.
‘Plenty of fun amid the tears’: NINE NIGHT – National Theatre
London-born actress Natasha Gordon’s warmhearted play, Nine Night, now making its first appearance at the National Theatre, is as much about family, music and mourning as it is about ethnicity or migration.
‘Ferociously funny & blisteringly intense’: NINE NIGHT – National Theatre
If there’s any justice in the world, Nine Night will match the success of another Dorfman show – Beginning – by transferring into the West End to get the much wider audience it richly deserves.
THE HOST – Yard Theatre
Picking at the scab of the Brexit vote and the ongoing refugee crisis, Muthy reveals the kind of festering wound that is shocking to see, even as it has infected so many levels of our society.
PUPPY – Vaults
Two women meet and fall in love whilst engaging in a spot of dogging, the start to every classic fairytale. Well, it is in Puppy at least, a work in progress by Naomi Westerman.