Ambassadors Theatre, London – until 4 September 2022 For the second time in successive weeks an American family drama opens in the West End and while Jitney may be a less obvious group of characters, the premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s new play Mad House focuses on a more traditional dynamic. US theatre is filled with dysfunctional family dramas and the …
‘Ruth Wilson is strong casting in the central role’: HEDDA GABLER – National Theatre At Home (Online review)
Ruth Wilson is strong casting in the central role with a, for once, restrained Ivo van Hove directing.
‘An interesting set of responses to some classic plays’: YOUNG VIC DIGITAL (Online review)
The first tranche of Young Vic Digital consists of pieces written in response to a main house production. Here they are in chronological order of the time the original plays were written.
11 actresses I’d love to see onstage more often post-lockdown
While there might not be quite as many meaty stage roles for actresses as there are actors (is that changing?), the plethora of acting talent I’ve seen over the past 10 years made this quite tricky to narrow down.
‘This is a writer with lots to say’: THE ANTIPODES – National Theatre
While the descent into a kind of collective insanity may seem strange in lieu of a plot in Annie Baker’s Antipodes at the National Theatre, as with all her work you find your thoughts returning to it again and again once the curtain comes down.
‘I’ve really loved interviewing actors, writers & directors about their work’: 10 questions for 10 years – Alex Ramon
Tinkle, drizzle, bubble and gush! Alex Ramon, the man forever Boycotting Trends take up the 10 questions challenge.
Q&A photos: Matthew Broderick, Elizabeth McGovern & The Starry Messenger cast discuss loneliness, religion & astronomy
Terri Paddock was joined by Matthew Broderick, Elizabeth McGovern, Rosalind Eleazar, Jim Norton, Sinead Matthews and Sid Sagar to discuss the history of Kenneth Lonergan’s beautifully delicate play The Starry Messenger.
‘Little in this piece that grabs the audience’: THE STARRY MESSENGER – West End ★★★
There are momentary gasps and occasional laughs in The Starry Messenger but ultimately this is a stretched out evening at the theatre, albeit one with a starry cast.
‘Fatally unbalanced’: THE STARRY MESSENGER – West End
Middle-aged white male wish fulfilment writ large, The Starry Messenger is a dull, disappointing and delusional three hours at the Wyndham’s Theatre.
‘It’s hard not to love Broderick’s performance’: THE STARRY MESSENGER – West End ★★★
When I left I thought I was disappointed in The Starry Messenger, but this morning I can’t help thinking about Matthew Broderick’s character Mark, and his wife, and the sadness of all our middle years as they shade towards nightfall..
NEWS: Full West End cast joining Matthew Broderick & Elizabeth McGovern in The Starry Messenger announced
Jim Norton, Jenny Galloway and Rosalind Eleazar join Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern in the West End production of The Starry Messenger by Kenneth Lonergan.
‘It’s all unexpectedly & refreshingly good fun’: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST – West End
The notion that Michael Fentiman’s The Importance of Being Earnest has ruffled a few feathers by daring to do something different, plus the kind of casting that I could never resist, meant that I had to see for myself.
NEWS: Pippa Nixon replaces Sinead Matthews in Classic Spring’s The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vaudeville
Classic Spring has announced that Fiona Button (Cecily Cardew) and Stella Gonet (Miss Prism) have been cast in Michael Fentiman’s The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vaudeville Theatre (20 July to 20 October 2018, press night is 2 August), with Pippa Nixon replacing Sinead Matthews as Gwendolyn Fairfax.
‘An under-appreciated 20th-century classic?’: ABSOLUTE HELL – National Theatre
I was thrilled that a new generation (myself included) could get an opportunity to see the play and experience a plethora of luscious characters that are frightened of their selves as much as they are of the war. It’s a shame, then, that Joe Hill-Gibbins’ production is rather unfocused and has left me with the impression that the play is not as good as I initially thought.
NEWS: Sophie Thompson will play Lady Bracknell in Classic Spring’s The Importance of Being Earnest
Classic Spring has announced that Olivier Award winner Sophie Thompson will play Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at London’s Vaudeville Theatre (20 July to 20 October, press night is 2 August).
‘Vivid characterisation & an often-striking resonance’: ABSOLUTE HELL – National Theatre
There’s little sense of an over-arching plot in Absolute Hell which may turn some off but Hill-Gibbins proves that it isn’t needed, the connective tissue that holds them together is the sticky floor of the club as much as anything.
‘Would be far more engaging if considerably abridged’: ABSOLUTE HELL – National Theatre ★★
Rodney Ackland’s great disappointment, his ill-timed 1952 play, The Pink Room, is given another chance at the National Theatre with its reworked and renamed production called Absolute Hell.
‘There’s not one false note in writing or performance’: ABSOLUTE HELL – National Theatre ★★★★★
It’s a great tapestry of a play: Rodney Ackland’s portrait of a Soho nightclub as WW2 ended. It is louche and honest, funny and sad, just what the National Theatre should be doing.
LOOT – Park Theatre ★★★★
A sparkling new production of Loot – the classic farce, fifty years on. The talented and well-drilled cast tear into this absurdist comedy with a reckless pace and energy.
LOOT – Park Theatre ★★★★
Filth, farce and absurdism are individually difficult to pull off so combining all three in a ripely uncensored 50th-anniversary version of Joe Orton’s Loot is high risk, but when it works it’s excellent.
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