Peter Gynt, a new adaptation of Ibsen’s apparently unstageable Peer Gynt by David Hare, is a great success as a piece of writing and so much fun.
‘An absolute marvel’: SWEAT – West End
I really can’t recommend Sweat highly enough. It’s not just a great play, and a great production, it’s an actually important one.
‘Fantastic piece of writing’: HEDGEHOG – Lion & Unicorn Theatre
The writing is brilliant, the production is brilliant and it is brilliantly performed. I would love it if Hedgehog at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre were picked up a venue like The Bush and given a chance to find a bigger audience at a theatre where you can’t hear bar chatter through the floor.
‘The play is a wonderful thing’: SMALL ISLAND – National Theatre
Small Island is an absolute joy and an overdue, no reservations at all, win for Rufus Norris at the NT. There’s nothing else to say. Well except this: you must see it, immediately.
How the Mates Rate: Death Of A Salesman at the Young Vic Theatre
Directors Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell have brought their unique vision to one of the greatest plays of the 20th century by Arthur Miller, seen through the eyes of an African American family. So what did the Mates think of this Young Vic production of the American drama classic?
‘An absolute belter of a thriller’: ANNA – National Theatre
ANNA is such a great little show. It’s a curiosity, certainly, and it is worth seeing for the technical bravado alone. But it’s also an absolute belter of a thriller too, something which I don’t think it’s getting enough credit for.
‘If this show is saved at all, it’s by some of the acting’: RUTHERFORD & SON – National Theatre
Rutherford and Son is not my cup of tea. The acting does just about salvage it, or at least stop it from being a complete disaster, but it’s not enough.
‘Best Arthur Miller production I’ve ever seen’: DEATH OF A SALESMAN – Young Vic
Directed by Marianne (actual genius) Elliott and Miranda Cromwell and featuring an African American Loman family, this Death of a Salesman is the clearest, most moving and profound vision of this play I’ve ever seen.
‘Punchy, funny & ultimately quite uplifting’: SAD ABOUT THE COWS – Tristan Bates Theatre
First things first, how good a title for a play is Sad About The Cows? Pretty bloody good I would argue. It’s also a pretty bloody good play, as it happens.
‘Emotional impact comes from a genuinely great production’: ALL MY SONS – The Old Vic
All My Sons may not be my favourite Arthur Miller play but The Old Vic’s production of it is undeniably brilliant, especially the heavyweight and stunningly good cast.