Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Forgotten play by the author of Tom & Viv is realistic, but lacks dramatic focus
British Theatre abounds in forgotten writers. And in ones whose early work is too rarely revived. One su…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:48PM[SHARE]Sunday, December 17, 2023
Nina Raine's revival of Tom Stoppard's 2006 epic rocks, but also stumbles
There is a song by Syd Barrett, founder member of Pink Floyd, called "Golden Hair". It's on his album The Madcap Lau…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:18PM[SHARE]Sunday, December 10, 2023
Chris Thorpe's one-man show about nuclear weapons is intelligent and humane
Let's start with what we know: the climate emergency is the single most burning question facing the planet. Our li…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:18PM[SHARE]Friday, December 1, 2023
Seasonal Eng Lit mash-up returns with its festive message of forgiveness
It's an elementary fact that Dickens sells at this time of year " look at all the perennial Christmas Carols sproutin…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:18PM[SHARE]Thursday, November 16, 2023
Samuel Barnett performs a sizzling monologue about sex and fatal attraction
The Comedian runs, bounces even, onto the stage. The audience immediately applauds. He seizes the mic and makes se…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 01:24PM[SHARE]Friday, November 10, 2023
New comedy about toffs and tycoons is disappointingly juvenile and weak
As Christmas looms, 'tis the season for comedy. And even the traditionally austere Royal Court feels obliged to join i…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:12PM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Richard Bean's new comedy about old age occasionally glows, but stays lukewarm
There's only a couple of things you need to know about playwright Richard Bean: he started out as a stand-up c…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 01:32PM[SHARE]Friday, November 3, 2023
Princess Diana's BBC soul-searching makes for a slender docu-drama
Journalism is a despised profession. And when you consider the story behind the interview that Diana, Princess of Wales, g…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:42PM[SHARE]Friday, October 27, 2023
New adaptation of Eliza Clark's highly praised novel lacks a genuine heart of darkness
We've all heard of the male gaze, but what about its subversion? Overturning masculine dominance is on…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 11:37AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 12, 2023
Energetic new play about South Asian Muslim men challenges stereotypes
Multiculturalism, according to the Home Secretary, has failed, so where does that leave British Black and Asian commun…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:07PM[SHARE]Monday, October 9, 2023
Triumphant climax to Roy Williams and Clint Dyer's brilliant tetralogy about race
It's closing time somewhere in the East End. Nah, not the pub, but at a small local shop. Inside, Denise is …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:07PM[SHARE]Monday, September 25, 2023
New play about the relations between humans and other life forms has profound depths
How many hearts does an octopus have? Answer: three. This pub quiz clincher is just one of the many fasci…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:55PM[SHARE]Friday, September 22, 2023
Revival of Alan Brody's award-winning 2013 history play is solid but plodding
Must science always be dominated by politics? This question is most urgent when the stakes are high " climate ch…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:19PM[SHARE]Friday, September 15, 2023
Revival of Polly Stenham's 2007 punk extravaganza stars Niamh Cusack
Playwright Polly Stenham MBE had a meteoric rise with this play, her award-winning 2007 debut which she wrote aged 19 an…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:49AM[SHARE]Friday, August 25, 2023
Jonny Lee Miller stars in a problematically dystopian story of creativity and censorship
This is a play about censorship in a totalitarian state " but, no, I'm not reviewing The Pillowman a…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:55AM[SHARE]Friday, July 14, 2023
New comedy explores digital and family alienation, but finds nothing to say
Historically, the Royal Court is the venue for cutting-edge new writing " you know, the kind of plays that have s…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:25PM[SHARE]Thursday, July 6, 2023
British premiere by this venue's supremo is thrillingly provocative but also flawed
Trauma is the source of identity politics. In the case of African-Americans, the experience of brutal slav…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:25PM[SHARE]Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Jack Thorne's play about the BBC informs and educates, but does not really entertain
Can things change, or must they always stay the same? The latest history play by Jack Thorne, a man of t…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:25PM[SHARE]Sunday, July 2, 2023
New play about a lesbian love triangle is emotionally true and profoundly theatrical
There are some songs, and singers, that make your heart swell. One of them, for me, is Ani DiFranco's 19…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:13PM[SHARE]Thursday, June 22, 2023
West End revival of Martin McDonagh's storytelling classic is fun but unconvincing
British theatre is getting a bit timid " is that right? Ahead of the opening of this revival of Martin McDo…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:55PM[SHARE]Sunday, June 11, 2023
New writing season kicks off with two imaginative adventures in theatre
The summer season at the Royal Court, London's premiere new writing venue, features two plays which imaginatively exp…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 02:49PM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Trauma play about domestic abuse raises questions about the role of theatre
Men are bastards. Okay, not all of us, but enough to make the lives of millions of women a misery. This we know, …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:36PM[SHARE]Thursday, April 6, 2023
New play about family trauma and loss is an experiment in poetic drama
Is it possible to successfully challenge naturalism in British theatre today? At a time when audiences crave feelgood d…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:18PM[SHARE]Ivo van Hove's stage version of Hanya Yanagihara's bestseller is a real misery fest
Wow! James Norton naked! Wow! New play by Ivo van Hove. Wow! It's four hours long. Wow! Wow! Wow! The much…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 01:03AM[SHARE]Friday, March 24, 2023
Debut play about sex, race and queerness is a disappointing mishmash
The act of idol worship is, at one and the same time, both distantly ancient and compellingly contemporary. Whether it is…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:32PM[SHARE]Sunday, March 19, 2023
Mark Gatiss and Ian Hallard's ABBA tribute is fun, but clunky
Is it a good idea to work with your spouse? The Way Old Friends Do, a love letter to ABBA tribute bands " which premiered at th…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:19PM[SHARE]Friday, March 17, 2023
Empathetic revival of Zinnie Harris's 2000 play about a lost world
Some plays are instantly forgettable, others leave a tender fold in the memory. I well remember seeing Zinnie Harris's evo…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:01PM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Tim Crouch's latest show intriguingly deconstructs theatre in a post-truth world
Has theatre's time passed? In Tim Crouch's latest 70-minute show, first staged at the Royal Lyceum Theatre i…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:07PM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 22, 2023
History play about an African-American GI in Cardiff never really takes off
With the fast-approaching anniversary of the latest war in Europe, our culture's continued fascination with World…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:25AM[SHARE]Thursday, February 16, 2023
Subtle monologue about a toxic relationship lacks dramatic punch
Is new writing becoming increasingly literary? Recently, some of the language being used by younger playwrights seems to me t…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:03PM[SHARE]Sunday, February 12, 2023
Hotshot auteur Simon Stone creates a dazzling new myth for our times
How can old texts speak to us now? The point is not just to adapt classics, but to reimagine them " and that's exactly w…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:10PM[SHARE] 
