The Duchess of Malfi review: Jodie Whittaker can’t save this October 17, 2024 Duchess of Malfi review and star rating: ★★ This overstimulating, overstated adaptation of Jacobean tragedy The Duchess of Malfi struggles to find true dramatic depth. Written by English dramatist John Webster around 1612, the revenge tragedy follows the titular Duchess who is widowed but remarries in secret, then has a baby with husband Antonio, who [...]
Mrs Doubtfire musical on song for West End’s Shaftsbury Theatre October 8, 2024 The success of West End musical Mrs Doubtfire has helped boost the finances of the firm behind London’s Shaftsbury Theatre. The business behind the venue has reported a turnover of £26.2m for 2023, up from the £17m it achieved in 2022. Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show its pre-tax profit jumped from £1m to [...]
Tupperware of Ashes at the Dorfman: Bleak but vital play on how we treat our elderly October 4, 2024 A Tupperware of Ashes isn’t just an excellent work of fiction, but a bleak, vital conversation about how we treat our elderly.
David Oyelowo in Coriolanus review: Too much muscle, too much music September 26, 2024 Muscles do not a character make, though many men forget this. Sadly David Oyelowo's Coriolanus at the National Theatre is one of them
Waiting for Godot review: Ben Whishaw finds joy in Samuel Beckett’s wondrous misery September 20, 2024 Waiting for Godot review and star rating: ★★★★ Waiting for Godot has been called ‘the play of the 20th century,’ but that accolade doesn’t make staging Samuel Beckett’s most significant piece easy. The Irish playwright, who died in 1989, banned tampering with the set or script in adaptations. It hampers creativity somewhat, but even so, [...]
Abigail’s Party review: Mike Leigh drama brought sensually to life September 13, 2024 Abigail’s Theatre at Stratford East Theatre – ★★★★☆ In Mike Leigh’s early play Abigail’s Party, almost nothing happens: even the titular shindig takes place next door. Instead, saucy old soak Beverly – impeccably, outrageously played by a sensual and sozzled Tamzin Outhwaite – has gathered a smattering of neighbours for a far more intimate soiree. [...]
Why Am I So Single? review: Six the Musical creators return with the most fun new show in the West End September 13, 2024 Why Am I So Single? review and star rating: ★★★★ “People would say to us, Six is amazing, but when’s the next one coming?” Why Am I So Single? writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss say in a programme note. The new show from the writers of Six, which has one of the most streamed [...]
Bitter Lemons, Park Theatre, review: Gripping exploration of gender politics September 5, 2024 Bitter Lemons at the Park Theatre, review and star rating: ★★★★ Lemons are lively little things, reminiscent of far-flung exotic destinations. And yet in Lucy Hayes’ Bitter Lemons, the citrus dons a more sinister disguise as it becomes a symbol of female frustration and discontentment. Two women, complete strangers, are struggling with pressures of cosmic [...]
A Night with Janis Joplin review: Too loud, but exquisite melancholia August 29, 2024 A Night with Janis Joplin review and star rating: ★★★★ “They said the bad thing about women is that they don’t think before they speak – but that’s the best thing,” says Mary Bridget Davies as Janis Joplin in this musical celebration of the rock ‘n’ roll singer, who died from a heroin dose in [...]
Sad Oompa Loompa actor: I’ve been offered no mental health support since Willy Wonka fiasco in Glasgow August 22, 2024 Vicky Paterson was the ‘sad Oompa Loompa’ in the globally derided Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow. It has led to a paid acting job at the Fringe in a Willy Wonka parody spin-off, but the viral attention has been exhausting. Adam Bloodworth meets Glasgow’s newest star In what was surely the biggest viral moment of [...]