Since the start of the Covid pandemic closures in 2020, many independent, alternative and fringe theatre venues and companies across the UK and beyond responded to the challenges of lockdowns by taking their shows online – and OffWestEnd has responded to this whole new strand of theatre by launching a new award, the OnComm, for the best of this new stream of online theatre.
NEWS: OffWestEnd announces 47 finalists for its Offies Awards 2021
OffWestEnd announces 47 finalists for its Offies Awards 2021, across 15 categories, covering 24 venues across London.
‘Streaming feels like the show’s ideal home’: The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special – Soho Theatre (Online review)
Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme tackle Christmas the only way they know how in the highly entertainting The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special.
‘Blends wry reminiscence, personal experience, poetry & music’: AN EVENING WITH AN IMMIGRANT – Bridge Theatre
This is a masterly revival of An Evening with an Immigrant, Inua Ellams’ 2016 autobiographical one-man show which is both poetic and engaging.
NEWS: Phoebe Waller-Bridge is appointed vice president of Acting For Others
Acting for Others has announced that Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been appointed vice president of the theatrical charity.
‘Phoebe Waller-Bridge is an inspiration to my generation’: FLEABAG – Soho Theatre (Online review)
“Fleabag Live”, creator Phoebe Waller Bridge’s on-demand performance of her original stage hit, brilliantly mirrors the comedy and unique factors of the hit television show it spawned.
NEWS: Coronavirus pandemic – An update on theatre closures in the West End & across the country
My Theatre Mates have been collecting official announcements of theatre closures up and down the country in the Twitter thread below and will continue to add updates as they come in.
FEATURED SHOW: ★★★★ reviews are in for ‘urgent drama’ The Special Relationship
Ready to rethink The Special Relationship that purportedly exists between the US and the UK? Hassan Abdulrazzak’s “scathing political satire” lays it bare. We’ve rounded up our favourite review highlights – plus enthusiastic audience reactions. Time to get booking!
NEWS: Winners of the 10th anniversary Offies 2020 Awards are announced
Winners of the Offies 2020 Awards, held at Battersea Arts Centre, have been announced. It was the tenth anniversary year of the awards presented by Off West End.
‘As relevant now as ever’: THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP – Soho Theatre ★★★★
The Special Relationship is a brilliant satire served with a chilling dose of real-life stories of men and women torn apart from their families and deported back to the UK from the US while serving prison sentences.
PHOTOS & TWEETS: Check out the buzz for The Special Relationship premiere at Soho Theatre
Hassan Abdulrazzak’s new play The Special Relationship, based on interviews with Brits deported from the United States, has just premiered at Soho Theatre and it’s causing a buzz. Check out our production photos gallery and tweets collection – and then get booking!
‘A slick ensemble fizz & pop into different people’: THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP – Soho Theatre
Verbatim plays can often feel static with a view of just letting the words do the work, but the words really lift off the page in The Special Relationship.
‘You will leave thoughtful & smiling’: THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP – Soho Theatre ★★★★
It’s amazing how entertaining deportation can be. We laughed our way through the stories of crime and punishment collated in the glorious confection that is Hassan Abdulrazzak’s The Special Relationship.
‘The UK reminds me of a lover who is still harping over an ex’: Playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak on The Special Relationship
As The Special Relationship starts performances, we talk to author Hassan Abdulrazzak about transatlantic diplomacy, immigration, Middle Eastern playwrights to watch and returning to Soho Theatre 13 years after his Baghdad Wedding debut.
WATCH: Welcome to the ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) world of The Special Relationship
How scary is it to tussle with a gun-toting American immigration officer? Check out this arresting new trailer for The Special Relationship, HassanAbdulrazzak’s new play about transatlantic deportation that premieres at Soho Theatre this month. Time to get booking!
WATCH: Hassan Abdulrazzak & transatlantic deportees discuss strains in The Special Relationshp
Huawei? Trump? Brexit? Are you worried about strains being put on the so-called “special relationship” between the UK and the US? Whatever your thoughts, Hassan Abdulrazzak’s new play The Special Relationship will make you reassess… starting with these interviews with writer, director and three deportees whose real-life experiences inform the piece.
‘Smart & funny two hander’: SEX/CRIME – Soho Theatre
Alexis Gregory’s script for Sex/Crime takes an uncomfortable glance at our obsession with serial killers, sexual violence and 21st century homosexuality.
NEWS: Hassan Abdulrazzak returns to Soho with The Special Relationship, a new play about transatlantic deportees
Multi-award-winning Iraqi-born playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak returns to London’s Soho Theatre, where he had a breakthrough hit in 2007 with Baghdad Wedding, now returns with his timely new play The Special Relationship. Time to get booking!
Ought To Be Clowns’ 10 favourite shows of 2019
Ought To Be Clowns barely saw 250 shows this year, quiet by his standards. And as is the way of these things, here’s a rundown of some of the productions that moved me most…
‘Pushes the comedy to its maximum potential’: FITTER – Soho Theatre ★★★★
Ell Potter and Mary Higgins return with Fitter, their second devised show to dance their way through a interrogation of masculinity, using almost 50 interviews of cis, transidentifying men.