All stories by Aleks Sierz on BroadwayStars

Saturday, April 10, 2021

'Thoughtful, punky & fun': SAVING BRITNEY: PROLOGUE " Old Red Lion Theatre (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

Uncertainty can sometimes provoke creativity. When the opening of Shereen Roushbaiani's one-woman show, Saving Britney, at the Old Red Lion theatre was cancelled in January, its creators Dav…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 30, 2021

'Moving moments as well as violent ones': ANGELA " Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh & Pitlochry Festival Theatre (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

Mark Ravenhill's new play Angela is a fragmentary sonic autobiography, both tender and occasionally fraught.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 24, 2021

'This really is a great adaptation': THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

This film version of the Oscar Wilde classic The Picture of Dorian Gray is a brilliant critique of the digital age.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 18, 2021

'A musical & historical love letter to the city of Sheffield': THE BAND PLAYS ON " Sheffield Theatres (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

The Band Played On, the latest show from Chris Bush, is a tuneful celebration of stoicism, resilience and humour.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 10, 2021

"Typical" at The Soho Theatre by Aleks Sierz

As the events of last year made clear, the police have a problem with race on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, BAME people are more than twice as likely to die in police custody while …

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 01:32AM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 28, 2021

'Disturbing, moving & eloquent in its brilliant advocacy': TYPICAL " Soho Theatre (Online theatre) by Aleks Sierz

Typical, a film version of a powerfully poetic and painful 2019 monologue about institutional racism, is brilliant.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, February 22, 2021

"Shook" by Samuel Bailey at Papatango by Aleks Sierz

Film is the new theatre " this we know, but does the distance imposed by the change of medium increase or decrease the impact of the story? The latest example of this problematic switch from…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 09:45PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 10, 2021

'Captures the men's glowering rage & moments of acute vulnerability': SHOOK (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

The latest example of this problematic switch from stage to screen is the strongly acted Shook, Samuel Bailey's debut play, which won the 2019 Papatango New Writing Prize and had a run at th…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:00AM[SHARE]

About "Living Newspaper": A Counter Narrative by Aleks Sierz

Read all about it! Well, maybe not. Maybe more like: live the news and then watch it streamed. Inspired by the radical theatre of the Federal Theatre Project in 1930s New Deal America, which…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 01:14AM[SHARE]
Friday, January 22, 2021

'Warmly assured, instantly engaging & softly inspiring': HEADS OR TAILS " Living Record Festival (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

Yesterday I watched Skye Hallam's excellent one-woman show, Heads or Tails, one of the headline acts at the new Living Record Festival. It's a gently confessional monologue about the afterli…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:45AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 14, 2021

How to Write a Pandemic Play by Aleks Sierz

Ten prompts for writing about the year 2020: 1) "It started with a slight cough, a rather dry cough." Explore the sense of a beginning; remember how you felt when the news of the pandemic gr…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 10:01PM[SHARE]
Sunday, January 10, 2021

"S-27" at The Finborough Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Last week I watched Sarah Grochala's award-winning short play, S-27, now streaming from the website of the Finborough Theatre, where it had its 2009 premiere. It is inspired by the work o…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 10:33PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 31, 2020

'The themes are both relevant and mildly hopeful': DECEMBER " Old Red Lion Theatre (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

I watched the streamed version of December, written and directed by Alexander Knott, and performed in the Old Red Lion Theatre and pub.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:30AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 30, 2020

'The acting is uniformly good': S-27 " Finborough Theatre (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

With S-27, the Finborough once again punches well above its weight, making another compelling contribution to the brave new world of streamed theatre.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, December 28, 2020

"Misfits" at The Queen's Theatre Hornchurch by Aleks Sierz

A couple of days ago I watched the live stream of Misfits, from the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch. The show comprises four excellent fractured monologues, written by Kenny Emson, Sadie Hasler, …

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 02:27AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 23, 2020

'An acute emotional punch': LIVING NEWSPAPER: A COUNTER NARRATIVE " Royal Court Theatre (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

The promise of being "urgent, responsive and fast" may not always be achieved, but at its very best the Royal Court's Living Newspaper: A Counter Narrative is both pertinent and full of joyo…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 17, 2020

"A Christmas Carol"at The Bridge Theatre by Aleks Sierz

A Christmas Carol is a seasonal standard. In a normal year, there are a couple of versions to be enjoyed, usually led by the Old Vic in London, but this winter it feels like there's an epide…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 09:51PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 15, 2020

'Plenty here to engage both mind & feelings': OVERFLOW " Bush Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Travis Alabanza's play Overflow at the Bush Theatre is both tender in its empathy for the different kinds of trans experience and passionately angry about prejudice.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 13, 2020

"Death of England: Delroy", National Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Okay, COVID-19 really sucks. This play opened and closed on the same night, 4 November, as the second lockdown this year closed all entertainment venues in the country. Luckily, there had be…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 04:35PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 10, 2020

"What a Carve Up!", Barn Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Classical murder mysteries end with a neat solution " and with the arrest of the perpetrator. Postmodern murder mysteries play games with the genre, turning it upside down and inside out. So…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 10:27AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 25, 2020

About "A Coin In Someone Else's Pocket" by Aleks Sierz

Today, I watched the first episode in the Tools for Change trilogy, digital reimaginings of three plays exploring racism, censorship, power and identity from the Theatre Uncut archive, in a …

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 01:03AM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 21, 2020

Philip Ridley's "The Poltergeist" at the Southwark Playhouse: High-Powered Tour de Force by Aleks Sierz

Playwright Philip Ridley has had a very productive lockdown. Despite the constraints of the pandemic he has been exceptionally creative. In March, when all theatres in Britain were closed, h…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 01:39PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 18, 2020

'Both humorous & moving': MISFITS " Queen's Theatre Hornchurch (Online theatre) by Aleks Sierz

Misfits, from the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch, comprises four excellent fractured monologues, written by Kenny Emson, Sadie Hasler, Guleraana Mir and Anne Odeke, which focus on Essex,

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 5, 2020

'Positively electrifying stuff': LITTLE WARS (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

There's plenty to enjoy in Little Wars' jokes, and then, later on, the final harrowing monologues about the genocide are both powerful and deeply moving.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 27, 2020

"Quarter Life Crisis" at The Bridge Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Success smells sweet. The Bridge Theatre's pioneering season of one-person plays continues with sell-out performances of David Hare's Beat the Devil and Fuel's production of Inua Ellams's…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 12:49PM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 15, 2020

'It's definitely essential viewing': A COIN IN SOMEBODY ELSE'S POCKET " Theatre Uncut & Traverse Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Originally commissioned as part of The Power Plays produced by Theatre Uncut in 2018, A Coin in Someone Else's Pocket is a wonderfully thoughtful meditation on what it means to be a female M…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 11, 2020

"An Evening with an Immigrant", Bridge Theatre by Aleks Sierz

When the history of British theatre's response to COVID-19 comes to be written, the names of two men will feature prominently: Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr. The "two Nicks" were the creati…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 06:14PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 5, 2020

About "We Are Shadows: Brick Lane." by Aleks Sierz

Do you know the Urdu word for story? No? Well, look it up. Okay, this might prove a bit tricky, so let me suggest an easier route: buy a ticket to participate in We Are Shadows: Brick Lane, …

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 10:48AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 2, 2020

'Melancholic & funny': IN A NUTSHELL " Lost Dog (Online review) by Aleks Sierz

Theatre is just different organisms in close proximity. It's a great image, and one of many that float gently to the surface in Ben Duke's In a Nutshell, a monologue which explores with a ma…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 27, 2020

'Blends wry reminiscence, personal experience, poetry & music': AN EVENING WITH AN IMMIGRANT " Bridge Theatre by Aleks Sierz

This is a masterly revival of An Evening with an Immigrant, Inua Ellams' 2016 autobiographical one-man show which is both poetic and engaging.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 13, 2020

'An insightful & fascinating journey of exploration': ABOUT WE ARE SHADOWS " Brick Lane by Aleks Sierz

Although I have visited Brick Lane a number of times over the years, much of We Are Shadows: Brick Lane this was refreshingly new to me and the adventure was a delightful experience.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off