Victorian pugilistic drama: thoroughly heartfelt, highly original and completely timelyThere are not that many plays about sport, but, whether you gamble on results or not, you can bet that …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:04AMCold War surveillance drama is interesting, but can't quite conceal its ageWe do love our spy stories, don't we? The idea of betrayal, both political and personal, seems to be a strong …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:04PMSemi-autobiographical coming of age story jumps to the sounds of grimeThere was once a time when grime music was very angry, and very threatening, but that seems a long time ago now. Today, …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:32PMDeeply felt show about love, marriage and migration doesn’t quite work Director Madani Younis, who since 2011 has transformed the Bush Theatre in West London into one of London's most outs…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 02:18PMOverwhelmingly powerful new play about motherhood and psychological collapse Blackout. Dark, the colour of childhood fear. Black, the colour of despair. Black. No light visible; no colours t…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:04PMThe old Tricycle Theatre is transformed with a name change and a great opening playHoly shit! After being closed for two long years, the old and battered Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn has been…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:04PMAnti-naturalistic revival of Brian Friel's elegiac tribute to the Catholic nobility is oddly unemotionalChekhovian is a rather over-used word when it comes to describing some of the lat…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:04PMNew monologue about drug dealing on the Dark Web is well written if a bit slightThe Dark Web has an intriguing sound about it. Like something out of JRR Tolkein or JK Rowling, it suggests a …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:32PMAlan Bennett's black comedy is a howl against the privatization of deathThe NHS is us. For decades our national identity has been bandaged together with the idea, and reality, of a heal…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:04PMFemale friendship comedy drama is occasionally bright, but lacks plot and depth Britain is rightly proud of its record on multiculturalism, but whenever cross-cultural couples are shown on f…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:42PMThe RSC’s adaptation of Robert Harris’s Cicero books reaches the West EndHistory repeats itself. This much we know. In the 1980s, under a Tory government obsessed with cuts, the big new …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:48PMHuge new play about the fertility industry is rather crudely conceived We are now pretty familiar with the idea that human reproduction (making babies) has been turned into big business, and…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:48PMSmart and powerful new play about fear, terror and prejudice runs out of steamIt’s the stuff of nightmares. There’s a massive explosion, the sound of smashing glass, falling debris and p…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:32PMNew comedy about a celebrity chef sometimes sizzles, but leaves a bad taste Forget about dark alleys, deserted parks and slippery slopes: the most dangerous place in the world is likely to b…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:32PMSympathetic new play about a migrant's death is well staged, but imperfectly writtenRegular air travel is a hassle. All that queuing, all that security, all those hot halls, and then th…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:04PMFrantic Assembly’s take on the crisis of masculinity is theatrically exciting but banalMasculinity, whether toxic or in crisis (but never ever problem-free), is a hardy perennial subject f…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:42PMSad and intimate play about rural life gets a bit lost in this large theatrePlaywright Barney Norris is as prolific as he is talented. Barely out of his twenties, he has written a series of …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:42PMJoe ‘Sunny Afternoon’ Penhall’s triumphant new play about the music industry really rocksPlaywright Joe Penhall and the music biz? Well, they have history. When he was writing the book…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:54PMNew comedy about a West-Indian wake is lively, but a bit undercookedThe good news about so-called black drama on British stages is that it has broken out of its gangland violence ghetto and …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:42PMEnergetic revival of Rodney Ackland’s best play exposes many of its faults Rodney Ackland must be the most well-known forgotten man in postwar British theatre. His legend goes like this: A…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 02:54AMNew two-hander about sex is wise and funny, but fails to achieve a climax Playwright Anthony Neilson has always been fascinated by sex. I mean, who isn’t? But he has made it a central part…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:18PMNew sci-fi drama about suburban perfection lacks the necessary human touch There’s a whole universe which British theatre has yet to explore properly – it’s called the sci-fi imaginati…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:59PMDocumentary drama about the weather on the eve of D-Day is a successThere are few things more British than talking about the weather. What makes this play about a meteorologist interesting, …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:32PMYorkshire hikers reclaim the English countryside - and their identitiesIn the same week that Arinzé Kene’s Misty, a play that passionately questions the clichés of plays about black Brit…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:01PMBrilliant, and epic, new thriller about Japanese citizens abducted by North KoreaYou could call it an absence of yellow. Until very recently British theatre has been pretty poor at represent…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:20PM★★★★ HUMBLE BOY, ORANGE TREE Spirited revival of Charlotte Jones's 2001 hit buzzes with funSpirited revival of Charlotte Jones's 2001 hit buzzes with funGood programming is an a…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:20AMSpirited revival of Charlotte Jones's 2001 hit buzzes with funGood programming is an art, and Paul Miller – artistic director of the Orange Tree Theatre – is clearly on a continuous…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:20PM★★★ THE BEST MAN, PLAYHOUSE THEATRE Martin Shaw and Maureen Lipman fail to heat up chilly political thrillerMartin Shaw and Maureen Lipman fail to heat up chilly political thriller Is …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:01PMMartin Shaw and Maureen Lipman fail to heat up chilly political thriller Is it possible to get too much of American politics? With Donald Trump’s daily tweets invading our digital space, a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:01PM★★★★ FROZEN, HAYMARKET THEATRE Suranne Jones, Jason Watkins and Nina Sosanya examine human darknessSuranne Jones, Jason Watkins and Nina Sosanya convincingly examine human darknessWh…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:45AMSuranne Jones, Jason Watkins and Nina Sosanya convincingly examine human darknessWhatever the weather, this week is Frozen. On Broadway, the Disney musical of that name begins previews, but …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:59PM
