Alice Birch’s experimental new play [Blank] prioritises form over content and is at heart depressingly reactionary.
‘The writing is excellent, naturalistic & usually pacy’: [BLANK] – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
Alice Birch’s [Blank], about how our criminal justice system treats women, features tremendous ensemble work, physically expressive, verbally articulate, ripping off layers of smug delusion with elegant skill.
‘The strength of the production is in its slow-build effect’: OUR TOWN – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Thornton Wilder’s writing in Our Town feels as fresh and innovative as it must have done in the 1930s and taking an early season risk on a less conventional play ultimately pays off.
‘Entertaining & impeccably acted’: STORIES – National Theatre
Ultimately, Stories might not necessarily be too profound or truly enlightening, but it does speak to the ways in which a plan for life can lead you most astray and I did find it entertaining and impeccably acted.
‘What a lovely issue-based play’: STORIES – National Theatre
At the National Theatre, Stories – Nina Raine’s follow-up to her very big hit Consent – is emotionally intelligent and often funny but rarely deep.
That was August in Theatreland – news, misses & celeb spots
August was dominated by Edinburgh for me but the London theatre wheels were still turning; here’s my round up of my favourite bits of news, my theatre hits and misses and few celeb spots…
NEWS: Clare Foster, Lee Ingleby and Thusitha Jayasundera join the West End cast of Consent
Clare Foster, Lee Ingleby and Thusitha Jayasundera have joined Claudie Blakley, Stephen Campbell Moore, Heather Craney and Adam James in Nina Raine’s Consent at the Harold Pinter Theatre from18 May 2018.
‘All futuristic dystopias are commentaries on the present’: #TheDivide @oldvictheatre
Alan Ayckbourn’s epic, very, very long satire on religion and sexual segregation prefers comedy to tragedy.
THE DIVIDE PARTS 1 & 2 – Edinburgh & Old Vic Theatre
★★★☆☆ Long time coming:
The official Festival’s flagship production of Alan Ayckbourn’s The Divide at the King’s contains multitudes.
NEWS: Cast & dates announced for Alan Ayckbourn’s The Divide at Old Vic
The Old Vic today gives a sneak preview of what’s to come in 2018 at The Old Vic during its bicentenary, with dates and full casting announced for the year’s first production: the London transfer of Alan Ayckbourn’s new dystopian family drama The Divide.
MY EYES WENT DARK – Finborough Theatre
“…If a country can’t protect the rights of its people, what can a man do? A man must stand up… A man must defend himself.” Matthew Wilkinson’s My Eyes Went Dark is an extraordinary piece of work. It tells the story of man, Nikolai Koslov (played by Cal MacAninch), who loses his wife and two young children in a plane crash that occurred when two planes collide mid-air.