A fierce indictment of cuts and callous indifference, Who Cares? comes straight from the mouths of young carers in Salford.
‘An entirely compelling evening’: EQUUS – Trafalgar Studios
Ned Bennett has created an entirely compelling evening, which reveals new layers to Peter Shaffer’s play Equus that we can now only see because we have changed as a society since it was first performed – a sure sign of a classic.
‘Does not fully live up to its clever concept’: WIFE – Kiln Theatre
Samuel Adamson’s take on A Doll’s House is an ambitious play, sometimes overly so, which delivers fascinating moments but has a tendency to fall short.
‘Startling & exceptional piece of theatre’: FREEMAN – Touring
Freeman is a startling and exceptional piece of theatre and its run in Streatham was a coup for the still relatively new Streatham Space Project theatre.
‘Ingenious, chaotic & highly enjoyable’: HUMAN JAM – Camden People’s Theatre
Human Jam is precisely the type of show Camden People’s Theatre should be producing: fully engaged with its community, angry but imaginative, chaotic and messy, and shining a strong, searching light on those in power.
‘A succession of distinctive performances’: THREE SISTERS – Almeida Theatre
Rebecca Frecknall’s rich production of Three Sisters takes place in a bubble of unreality, both alluring and doomed to burst.
‘Remarkably funny & unexpectedly painful’: DIE! DIE! DIE! OLD PEOPLE DIE! – Battersea Arts Centre
Ridiculusmus is at the top of their game and Die! Die! Die! Old People Die!, complete with fart jokes, is an absolute must-see for anyone who wants to be awed by what two men on a small stage can achieve.
‘A rare & honest examination of mistakes made in the public gaze’: THE LONG WALK BACK – Touring
Dougie Blaxland’s taut, probing and beautifully structured play The Long Walk Back explores Chris Lewis’ rise and fall, one that is unique in the world of cricket and without many other sporting parallels.
‘A quietly, utterly absorbing play about child abuse’: DOWNSTATE – National Theatre
Bruce Norris, previously best known for race drama Clybourne Park takes on social taboo issues without a pause.
‘People won’t be forgetting this in a hurry’: CYPRUS AVENUE – Royal Court Theatre
Cyprus Avenue uses shock tactics to show us the horror within, but it is a comedy with depth, perceptiveness and a touch of genius.
‘Beautifully balanced & unusual piece of theatre’: BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO – Donmar Warehouse
It is easy to see why a film set mainly in a recording studio is so suited to the stage and Tom Scutt has created a beautifully balanced and unusual piece of theatre in Berberian Sound Studio.
’An evening of meandering chat’: SHIPWRECK – Almeida Theatre
Annie Washburn’s new play Shipwreck is intended as a reckoning with Trump. The show pitches itself as a invitation to dinner with the 45th President, but unfortunately would be better described as an evening of meandering chat with a cast of confused New York liberals.
‘Uneven account’: THE LADY FROM THE SEA – Print Room at the Coronet
The Lady from the Sea, rarely performed in the UK, is a fascinating and alluring play, but this production from Norwegian Ibsen Company provides an uneven account.
‘Culmination of a triumphant season’: PINTER SEVEN – West End
The culmination of Jamie Lloyd’s Pinter at the Pinter season, which has been a triumph, is two short plays from very early in Harold Pinter’s career both of which he directs. Not has only the production of all Pinter’s short plays proved that there is a large, enthusiastic audience for apparently difficult and oblique drama; it has also made the case that Pinter’s short drama, comparatively overlooked, should be judged on a level with his full-length plays. They include some of his best writing.
‘Intriguing but strangely disconnected’: When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other – National Theatre
The publicity for Martin Crimp’s new play, gleefully stoked by the National Theatre, has been all about Cate Blanchett and ‘bondage’ scenes
‘Engagingly told’: KOMPROMAT – Vault Festival
David Thame has created a neat drama in Kompromat, but its explicit relationship to such a complex story, with real consequences for people who are very much alive, leaves a lingering sense that this speculative play allows the writer both to have his cake and to eat it.
‘Excellent, enthralling account of a fascinating play’: OUTLYING ISLANDS – King’s Head Theatre
The revival of David Grieg’s 2002 play, Outlying Islands, at the King’s Head Theatre reintroduces a play of wonderful, haunting poetry and complexity, a flawed but brilliant piece of writing.
The clarity & confidence of this production makes it a must-see’: THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND – Almeida Theatre
Joe Hill-Gibbins’ of The Tragedy of King Richard the Second is inherently divisive, and the critics have obliged but, only three days into the year, it is very hard to imagine a more exciting or compelling Shakespeare coming along in 2019.
‘Shock, revulsion & gleefully disturbing images’: THE TELL-TALE HEART – National Theatre
Anthony Neilson’s adaptation of The Tell-Tale Heart for the National Theatre updates the original, adding slasher film shocks while retaining the intense strangeness of the original.
‘An excellent production with a seriously watchable cast’: THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR – Barbican Theatre
The Merry Wives of Windsor is often looked-down-upon as a casual piece of throwaway entertainment lacking substance or serious intent, with little for scholars to get their teeth into. However, this is a play whose time is surely coming again.