Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Anniversary revival of Joe Orton’s farce is a delight from start to finishFifty years ago this month, playwright Joe Orton was murdered by his lover Kenneth Halliwell. His debut play, Ente…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:33PMTuesday, August 22, 2017
The star director’s revival of a nineties classic is atmospheric but unconvincing Hark, is that the call of the earth I hear? In a frenetic urban world, the myth of rural simplicity exerts…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:42PMFriday, August 18, 2017
New American drama about God and violence is baggy, but often brilliantLuke is a Silicon Valley billionaire, a high-tech wizard. And he’s just had a message from God. And what does God say…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:36PMMonday, August 14, 2017
New play about democracy is entertaining, but a bit too tricksy A new plague is sweeping British theatre: audience participation. Instead of just sitting back and enjoying the show, your vis…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:18PMThursday, August 3, 2017
Broadway legend Stockard Channing dominates this family dramaThe 1960s were “hilarious”, says one young character in this revival, starring Broadway icon Stockard Channing, of Alexi Kaye…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:33PMTuesday, July 11, 2017
New drama about surrogacy is rich in metaphor and fraught with conflictSurrogacy is an emotionally fraught subject. The arrangement by which one woman gives birth to another’s baby challen…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:12PMTuesday, June 27, 2017
Rupert Murdoch saga by ‘This House’ playwright is too detailed and overblownThe recent general election result proves that the power of rightwing press has diminished considerably in the…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:04PMThursday, June 22, 2017
Audience participation cannot save a trial that suffocates in abstractionCan the theatre be a courtroom? A good public place to debate morality and to arrive at profound decisions. You could…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:33PMTuesday, June 20, 2017
New American satire about families only rarely hits the markDonald Trump’s electoral success was, we have been told, fueled by the anger of the American working class. But how do you show …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:12PMSunday, June 11, 2017
Katie Mitchell returns with a powerful account of depression and despairDorothy Parker’s take on suicide is called “Resumé”: it goes, “Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:33PMWednesday, June 7, 2017
New play about fatherhood and masculinity has an enjoyably global reachThe strapline for this joyful show is: “One day; six cities; a thousand stories”. Allowing for hyperbole, this is j…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:18PMTuesday, June 6, 2017
Epic new play about the Enclosures gets bogged down in obscurityHistory is a tricky harlot. She is bought and sold, fought for and thrown over, seduced and betrayed – and always at the mer…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:48PMTuesday, May 30, 2017
Three monologues brilliantly summon up a punchy world of pain and violenceThe monologue is a terrific theatre form. Using this narrative device, you can cover huge amounts of storytelling te…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:24PMTuesday, May 23, 2017
Finn from Star Wars dominates a radical rewrite of Georg Büchner classicWelcome back John Boyega. Less than a decade ago, he was an unknown budding British stage actor, then he took off as …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:24PMTuesday, May 9, 2017
New twist on the biblical story gets bogged down in a portentous production Is God female? It says a lot about Yaël Farber’s overblown new version of this biblical tale that, near the end…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:02PMWednesday, May 3, 2017
New epic from the ‘Jerusalem’ playwright is a breathtaking experienceI hate the kind of hype that sells out a new play within minutes of tickets becoming available. I mean isn’t there …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:36PMSaturday, April 29, 2017
Colourful and vivid revival of Martin Crimp’s 1993 tale of New YorkPlaywright Martin Crimp’s 1993 satirical epic, The Treatment, is a fabulous work, but it’s rarely revived. Although m…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:12AMThursday, April 27, 2017
Masterpiece of 'New York Trilogy' is visually amazing and intellectually satisfying on stagePlaywright Duncan Macmillan has had a good couple of years. In 2015, his play People, Pl…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:03AMFriday, April 21, 2017
New play about loss offers an unusually experimental and immersive experienceText can sometimes be a prison. At its best, post-war British theatre is a writer’s theatre, with the great pen…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:24PMWednesday, April 12, 2017
New writing venue reopens with a play about another architectural marvelThe Bush is back! After a whole year of darkness, the West London new writing venue has reopened its doors following a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:36PMThursday, April 6, 2017
A tale of two toilets: Edinburgh Fringe First winner comes to Soho TheatreIt’s hot. Real hot. And you’re dancing, just lost in music. You’re at the legendary Shrine nightclub in Lagos,…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:06AMTuesday, April 4, 2017
Anna Maxwell Martin stars in Nina Raine's compelling play about rape and justiceRape is such a serious social issue that it’s hardly surprising that several recent plays have tackled …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:18PMThursday, March 30, 2017
David Tennant charms and excites in Patrick Marber’s energetic rewrite of Molière Updating the classics is not without its pitfalls. How can a modern audience, which has a completely diff…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:06AMThursday, March 23, 2017
Cut! Simon McBurney muddles the story of Hollywood mogul Robert EvansThe beauty of fiction is that its stories have both compelling shape and deep meaning – they are dramas where things fe…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:48PMMonday, March 13, 2017
Michelle Collins stars in haunting account of belief and lonelinessMichelle Collins, actor and TV presenter, is so strongly associated with her roles in EastEnders and Coronation Street that…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:48PMFriday, March 10, 2017
The poet laureate’s verbatim play about Brexit sinks into banalityOh dear. The first explicit play about Brexit is being staged by the National Theatre in a production that has all the acr…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:54PMThursday, March 9, 2017
Docudrama about the 1981 Labour Party split is a treat – for politics buffsPolitics is a serious business, but it’s also a spectator sport. Think of the duels in Prime Minister’s Quest…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:42AMMonday, March 6, 2017
New play by debbie tucker green is too abstract for its own goodLove, we know, will tear us apart again. And again. And yet again. It will shred our nerves and rip through our guts; it will …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:36PMThursday, March 2, 2017
American play about virtual reality therapy is a bit thinTheatre increasingly uses digital delights to enhance audience enjoyment. And you can easily see why. Visual effects that mimic the e…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:54PMTuesday, February 21, 2017
Neat revival of 1980s feminist comedy is more curiosity than classicThe 1980s were a great decade for British women playwrights. During those Thatcher-dominated years, Caryl Churchill produc…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:06PMFriday, February 17, 2017
Real sex workers take the stage for a brilliantly devised showSex workers come in all shapes and sizes. Everyone knows that. But why do they do it? Why does anyone take the risk of being int…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:03PM 
