Downstate is a challenging, difficult play with humour and wit inflected with wisdom, carefully balancing entertainment without detracting from the seriousness of the subject matter.
‘Warm, funny & perceptive piece’: RANDON SELFIES – Ovalhouse ★★★★
Random Selfies by award-winning writer Mike Kenny (The Railway Children) is the story of child loneliness in a busy world.
‘You need the laughs because it reminds you to breathe’: BETRAYAL – West End
Hiddleston, Ashton and Cox deliver precise, layered performances in a production that grips with tension. I think Lloyd has saved the best to last in his Pinter at the Pinter season.
‘It’s an odd play’: DEAD END – Vault Festival
There’s a lot we don’t know about death and a lot we don’t know about the characters in Kathryn Gardner’s play Dead End.
‘Trademark van Hove is a good & bad thing’: ALL ABOUT EVE – West End ★★★★
Ivo van Hove’s production and stage adaptation of the film All About Eve is trademark van Hove and that is a good and bad thing.
‘It is inventive storytelling’: LIPSTICK: A FAIRY TALE Of IRAN – Omnibus Theatre ★★★★★
Mixing the more colourful and camp with the harsh realities of inequality and creative restraint for Iranian women is a powerful storytelling device in Lipstick: A Fairy Tale of Iran at the Omnibus Theatre.
‘A gripping & intense drama’: THE SON – Kiln Theatre ★★★★
There is a heartbreaking inevitability to Florian Zeller’s play The Son which is currently on at the Kiln Theatre. Nicolas (Laurie Kynaston), a once bubbly teenager, has become withdrawn since his parent’s divorce. He lies, skips school and his behaviour has started to frighten his mother Anne (Amanda Abbington).
‘Gripping from start to finish’: JESUS HOPPED THE ‘A’ TRAIN – Young Vic Theatre
Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train is gripping from start to finish, laced with black humour and a play that will have you questioning your reactions and beliefs.
‘I remained unsurprised & unmoved’: When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other – National Theatre
Despite committed performances by Blanchett and Dillane, there is something cold and mechanical to what is going on in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre.
‘Interesting snapshot of an often overlooked period of social history’: THE ORCHESTRA – Omnibus Theatre
Jean Anouilh’s The Orchestra is an interesting snapshot of a period of social history that is often overlooked.