The spark of an idea for award-winning new two-hander Bacon, now in its extended world premiere season at London's Finborough Theatre, came when playwright Sophie Swithinbank, then working a…
Wildcard Theatre promises "Shakespeare like you have never experienced it before", and they deliver in spades with this new gig-style reinvention of The Tempest in the perfect setting of the…
Rosie Day's wonderful rollercoaster ride of a debut play Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon, which she also performs, ends with the by-then 16-year-old protagonist writing a letter of adv…
I have a sneaking suspicion that we have not seen the last of this little musical gem, which is - incredibly - inspired by a real-life World War II espionage episode demonstrating British pl…
Mark St Germain's play Freud's Last Session, first seen Off-Broadway in 2010 and now receiving its European premiere at London's King's Head Theatre, pits two of the 20th-century greatest th…
I love Christmas. But for the past several years, I have struggled to summon the Christmas cheer that used to kick in for me the day after Thanksgiving (or, after so many years in the UK, by…
I was fascinated by the story behind the play telling the story behind the film. The Shark Is Broken is the brainchild of Ian Shaw who co-wrote it and stars as his own late father Robert Sha…
At my last Christmas Q&A at the Pleasance Theatre, for sci-fi spoof Escape from Planet Trash way back in December 2019, Ginger Johnson shared a tantalising teaser about her idea for her …
Here's the brutal truth about many of our rights: we only really have them if we have the wherewithal to fight for them when they're trampled on. That's certainly the case when it comes to e…
Here's a sobering statistic: 2,000 pubs closed during lockdown. Lost forever. The scale of that loss really struck me when I heard performer and (brilliant) poet Ben Norris recite it during …
There are some shows with modest beginnings that seem to have all of the industry behind them, willing them to succeed. Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of)Â is one of them. The post Pride &a…
More than four centuries after William Shakespeare died in 1616, aged 52 on his own birthday (23 April), questions remain about the authorship of his prodigious output - including nearly for…
As much as it was possible for anyone the arts, Northern Comedy Theatre had a very good pandemic. When all performing arts venues closed, rather than wrap up their work, they ramped up. The …
The big moral question at the heart of Indecent Proposal is: what are you willing to do for $1 million? More specifically: would you have sex for a stranger if they paid you $1 million? The …
Anton Chekhov is, of course, best known for his "big five" classic plays: Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. None of which, though the author himself lab…
The premise of The Picture of Dorian Gray has become so much a part of our culture that most people will recognise the reference even if they've never read Oscar Wilde's original 1890 novell…
This is not a project born of outsiders wanting to cash in, but rather a long-held ambition, some 16 years in the making, of Back to the Future's creators. The post Back to the Future: Nosta…
How far would you go to right a wrong? Robert Boulton's debut play Snowflakes explores how public outrage might spiral into not just violent vigilantism but also a digital goldrush. The post…
Apart from it being a charming public park and one of my dog's favourite destinations for our daily walks, I have always been fascinated by history of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, near my home…
There's a line in The Last Five Years, Jason Robert Brown's semi-autobiographical musical two-hander about a relationship breakdown, that gets me every time. The post The Last Five Years: Th…
While London has had to wait a long time for Disney's own screen-to-stage adaptation, its September arrival makes it feel as if Christmas has come early to the West End. The post Frozen: Dis…
Having two separate casts reduces the risk of Covid cancellations, but what other creative benefits does it bring for Proforca's Lately at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre? The post Lately pos…
How far are you willing to go to get what you most desire? That's the question at the bloody heart of Salome. And it's a question that so fascinates Lazarus Theatre that they're now having a…
Every theatremaker has faced high hurdles to get their shows on over the past 18 months, but the challenges faced by Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella have been especially high-profile hurdle…
If it weren't for Covid-19, we probably wouldn't have Jersey Boys back in the West End. But we probably would still have original Four Season Tommy DeVito. The post Jersey Boys: Never mind F…