adaptation
The Changeling, Southwark Playhouse review - wild ride proves too bumpy to land all its pointsThursday, 12 October 2023
Writing about the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the National Theatre in The Guardian recently, the usually reliable Michael Billington made a rare misstep. He called for the successor to Rufus Norris, the departing artistic director,... Read more... |
A Voyage Round My Father, Theatre Royal, Bath review - Rupert Everett excels in a play showing its ageSaturday, 07 October 2023
Like theatre itself, the law finds its voice in stories, performance and spectacle. Any law student will, from that very first induction lecture, become suffused in a culture that is informed by and in turn informs theatre, some classes more like an... Read more... |
Rebecca, Charing Cross Theatre review - troubled show about a troubled house nonetheless divertsSaturday, 23 September 2023
There are times when it’s best to know as little as possible before taking one’s seat for a show – this new production of Rebecca would be a perfect such example.It was once talked up as the new Phantom, the next smash hit musical that would do on... Read more... |
The SpongeBob Musical, QEH review - musical based on popular kids' animation sinks for lack of focusSaturday, 12 August 2023
There are many things that you are not told about being a parent, a vast landscape of details that batter you with unwelcome difference from that comfortable life of Friday night prosecco and pizza. One is a whole new palette of garish colours... Read more... |
First Person: Marc Burrows on getting to know Sir Terry PratchettTuesday, 01 August 2023
In a very real sense, Terry Pratchett taught me how to write. I first came across his work when I was 12 years old, in the early 90s.My parents had been given copies of two of the earliest books in his Discworld series, Guards! Guards! and The... Read more... |
Crazy For You, Gillian Lynne Theatre review - high-kicking heavenWednesday, 05 July 2023
Who says you can't go home again? As proof that you can, and to giddy and gorgeous results, along comes the current West End revival of Crazy for You, which reunites Broadway name Susan Stroman with the Gershwin-inspired title that launched this... Read more... |
42nd Street, Sadler's Wells review - musical extravaganza will knock your socks offThursday, 15 June 2023
There are better musicals in town, but can you find me a more spectacular show in a more comfortable theatre? I doubt it. Not that Jonathan Church's new production at Sadler's Wells is flawless. It's a 90-year-old blockbuster so, for all its... Read more... |
Carmen review - curio from choreographer turned director Benjamin MillepiedSaturday, 03 June 2023
The inspirations for the directing debut of Benjamin Millepied, choreographer and dancer in Black Swan, are cited as Merimée’s novella Carmen and Pushkin’s narrative poem The Gypsies, the former better known as an opera guaranteed to raise the... Read more... |
Bleak Expectations, Criterion Theatre review - popular radio comedy takes to the stageFriday, 02 June 2023
We all need a break from time to time, especially now given the grim state of the world. So it’s not surprising that comedy is making something of a comeback in the West End: Operation Mincemeat; The Unfriend seen recently at this theatre; The Play... Read more... |
Anna Karenina, Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh review - nimble, sweary staging of Tolstoy's iconic novelSaturday, 20 May 2023
How do you cram a thousand-page novel, a cast of dozens and profound philosophical ponderings on love, fidelity, class and freedom into a two-and-a-half hour stage show? If you’re Lesley Hart – adapter of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina at Edinburgh’s... Read more... |
Jules and Jim, Jermyn Street Theatre review - a bohemian love triangle ends badlyFriday, 28 April 2023
It’s apt that this new play, with characters moving in and out of Paris either side of World War I, is staged at this intimate theatre, one that always has the ambience of a below-ground oubliette. These bohemians are not penniless and cold as were... Read more... |
Betty Blue Eyes, Union Theatre review - musical revival pigs out on nostalgiaFriday, 07 April 2023
People can’t find the food they want in the shops. Nobody has enough money. Public services are under pressure. And there’s a big Royal occasion to take our minds off things.England 2023? Nah, England 1947, as rationing applies to meat and fruit... Read more... |
