Exploitation can take many forms and sometimes it even begins with a creative opportunity. Sonali Bhattacharyya’s lead character in new play Chasing Hares at the Young Vic takes a while to find themselves confronting a major moral dilemma but the road to it begins with storytelling, imagination and character creation.
‘Good to hear new voices’: LOTUS BEAUTY – Hampstead Theatre
Satinder Chohan’s Lotus Beauty at the Hampstead Theatre, a loving portrait of a Punjabi family-run beauty parlour in west London’s Southall, is an uneasy mix of comedy and tragedy.
‘Significant piece of new theatre writing’: THE MOTHERHOOD PROJECT – BAC (Online review)
The likes of Hannah Khalil, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Sarah Niles and Juno Dawson deliver some excellent work in The Motherhood Project.
‘Well worth a watch’: OUTSIDE – Orange Tree Theatre (Online review) ★★★★
Curated by the Orange Tree’s literary associate Guy Jones, Outside also comprises three short plays, this time stories with a theme of connection and hope.
‘A historical epic that demands to be heard’: THE WELKIN – National Theatre
Lucy Kirkwood returns to the National Theatre with The Welkin, starring a brilliant ensemble led by Maxine Peake.
‘A triumph in so many ways’: [BLANK] – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
Jemima Rooper, Kate O’Flynn, Zainab Hasan and Joanna Horton carry a lion’s share delivering the vitriol, pain and helplessness of struggling women in [Blank].
‘Little thought is left for the content’: [BLANK] – Donmar Warehouse
Alice Birch’s experimental new play [Blank] prioritises form over content and is at heart depressingly reactionary.
‘It’s the sharp commentary on extreme religiosity which hits home’: TARTUFFE – Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon ★★★★
It was Gregory Doran, the RSC’s leader, who surprised Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto (veterans of The Kumars, Citizen Khan etc) with the suggestion they adapt Moliere’s 17c comedy of hypocrisy, and set it in a Pakistani Muslim family in Birmingham, directed by Iqbal Khan.
SHAKESPEARE TRILOGY – Donmar at King’s Cross
What you do get from the trilogy day though is a huge sense of occasion, and the undeniable truth of the significance of what has been achieved here. Unabashedly all-female productions of Shakespeare, shaking up a (male dominated) establishment that still can’t quite let these things happen without a range of think-pieces.
THE TEMPEST – Donmar at King’s Cross
A slightly odd one this, the Donmar’s all-female adaptation of The Tempest opened at the King’s Cross Theatre in late September, but from what I can tell won’t be officially reviewed until 22nd November.