As a title, there’s something intriguing about Dear Octopus, now playing the National Theatre’s Lyttelton stage.
It’s taken a hell of a time to get here, but finally, Hell has arrived in London’s West End.
It’s rare to see an original musical open in the West End.
Before digital TV made it a thing, “watching on catch-up” used to mean spending your Sunday afternoon in front of the EastEnders omnibus.
Has the National Theatre put the Lyttelton on Airbnb? In October, we had the city-break-length two-week run of Alexander Zeldin’s The Confessions (quite long enough, in my opinio…
Looking out at you from the poster for the National Theatre’s latest version of Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, Harriet Walter cuts an imperious figure.
The human brain doesn’t allow us to remember pain.
A fatal car crash, generational genocide, and child mortality.
Written and directed by “l’auteur du naturalisme”, Alexander Zeldin, The Confessions feels like a too-small show on a too-big stage.
In October 2022, theatre impresario Nica Burns opened @sohoplace, the first new theatre to be built in London's West End for 50 years.
When Rufus Norris recently announced he was stepping down as director of the National Theatre, some struggled to summarise his legacy.
From The Lego Movie to Love Island, entertainment isn’t entertainment unless it’s ‘meta’.
In 1964, acting legends Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton both wanted to “give their Hamlet”.
The National Theatre continues its support of new writing at the Dorfman with Dixon and Daughters: an emotional play dealing with the far-reaching effects of historic child abuse.
Dancing at Lughnasa is easily Brian Friel’s most widely known play thanks to the 1998 film version that starred Meryl Streep.
You may assume a play with the title Romeo and Julie, that is billed as a “modern love story inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet”, would include elements recognisabl…
Unless it has the sophistication of a Sondheim, or the renown and heritage of a Rodgers and Hammerstein, it’s rare to see a musical on a National Theatre stage.
You don’t need to know the story of Phaedra to recognise its origins as Greek mythology.
Many years ago, I employed Fay Ripley to do a voiceover for a TV ad.
When you’re a child, Christmas is all about that one big day.
Do you need to know a play before you see a play?The question came to mind at the opening of what we’re told is a “landmark production” of Othello, now playing at the Nationa…
If you have a spare hour, thirty quid, and can travel to London’s West End, I urge you to get a ticket for My Son’s a Queer (but what can you do?).
Are dreams supposed to be ambitions we strive to realise? Or simply ideals meant to be unattainable, existing to help us get through our mundane everyday lives?This seems to be the…
It’s rare for a play’s allegory to be as widely known as its actual story.
All of Us is an attack on welfare state reform.
In 2017, David Eldridge’s play Beginning dramatised an awkward conversation between two white, financially comfortable, urban-dwelling, adult Gen X-ers, caught in that time of em…
As a title, The Corn is Green proves the old adage about books, covers and the perils of judging thereof.
You wait ages for one Hamlet to come along.
Wuthering Heights.
There are few things worth travelling the length of the Jubilee Line for on a cold and wet rush-hour on a December night.
A question taken from the 2020 English Literature GCSE exam that never was.
“There’s nothing quite like the magic of theatre…” A commonly heard, if somewhat meaningless assertion.
In 1996, Robert Lepage's initial production of The Seven Streams was far from critic-pleasing.
Though we aren’t given the choice that may be implied by the inclusion of the subtitle in The Visit or The Old Lady Who Comes to Call, it is a play that uses juxtaposition as it …
The challenge in attempting to adapt Elena Ferrante's 10 million-selling quadrilogy, The Neapolitan Novels lies not in finding the time to read through the 1,600 pages of sourc…
If, unlike me, you include politics, the public-school system or pub quizzing in your CV’s ‘Other Interests’ section, you’ll already know that Hansard is the name given to …
There was a time not long ago – when Facebook and Google weren’t even words – where we watched TV and learned from it, absorbing any new knowledge we discovered as fact.
A brief language lesson: According to the “part-banter, part-racist” English idiom, the North, is somewhere it is said to be Grim Up.
It was only towards the very end of last year that it was announced – or rather whispered, hidden away as it was somewhere in the list of actors always included in the National T…
You know you’re guaranteed to learn something watching David Hare.
“Racist comments don’t belong in a play about mothers and shit.
Shakespeare will always be Theatre Marmite.
Alongside Pinter One – nine individual texts that together create something that is as exciting as it is dark – is the altogether different, though not surprisingly named Pinte…
Jamie Lloyd must be excreting pheromones of cool right now.
An exquisitely detailed design of a picture box façade-free house.
For those who pertain to be students of the Theatre of the Absurd movement prevalent in the 1950s and 60s, there is nothing of value to you in this review.
Statistics show that last year the most common reason cited in UK divorce papers was "irreconcilable bathroom habits”.
One of the early factors that contributed to the massive success of the Lehman Brothers – the power they had in the US, their huge business growth and its eventual demise – was…
It can’t be easy creating a programme that justifies the term National given to the theatres on London’s South Bank, when you know that your most frequent visitors of critics a…
There’s little to evoke more anxiety and dread than the phrase ‘Traditional Family Christmas’.
About five minutes in to the therapy session cum comedy gig cum This Morning Celeb Interview that tonally is The Prudes, late 30s couple Jess and Jimmy inform the audience as their…
If The Royal Court’s reputation for producing work that’s a little ahem, “arty” has put you off making a visit recently for fear of Death by Pretension, then the enjoyable …
There’s a moral sense of the inevitable in Macbeth.
UK theatregoers may be playing catch-up when it comes to playwright Annie Baker.
Welcome to another theatrical dimension, beyond which there may be no clear sense of purpose.
At times I question The Royal Court for programming plays aimed solely are the pretentious and the seasoned theatre critic.
Ukrainian playwright, Natal’ya Vorozhbit may be one of the few global voices for a conflict many of us seem to have ‘forgotten’, as though the Russian intervention happened…
Here we have a play, based on a film, about television, with heavy use of video (live, recorded and even outside broadcasting), incorporating social media, onstage DJs and audie…
For those who don’t know much about mid-20th century Russian literature – I’m sure there must be one or two – satirical playwright Evgeny Schwartz’s 1943 play, Drakon …
The year for the National Theatre so far has been beset by the dramas over the dramas on its programme – depending on your viewpoint, it either doesn’t contain enough classics o…
The challenge with any dramatisation of an historic moment is in trying to appeal to the people for whom the event just ‘rings a bell’ right up to those whose lives were dire…
Let’s get something out of the way - Olivia Colman is darn good at this acting malarkey isn’t she? It might actually even be illegal to use her name without the prefix ‘Natio…
Bad times make for good drama.
Killology (by Gary Owen, writer of last year’s award-winning play, Iphigenia in Splott) follows in a similar ilk to the likes of recent pieces Upstairs at The Royal Court, Yen an…
Within the first five or so minutes of Common, a large chorus of people wearing shrubs, trees and animal heads over their faces chant menacingly, a woman in her fineries introduc…
First things first: if you’ve ever worried about how a history of depression or suicide in your family could affect you or your children, DO NOT go and watch Anatomy of a Suicid…
“There is no language for what happened that night,” states Salome in narration as her older self shortly after beginning this new, happily more feminist, retelling of the myth s…
There’s no doubt that when Tony Kushner’s “Gay Fantasia on National Themes” first came to the stage in the early nineties, it was like little that had been seen before – both i…
If populism breeds cynicism, then there’s a high quota of cheap shots that could be made towards the Royal Court’s latest offering.
Decouple any romantic notion of sex as being the physical demonstration of love and what is it other than just an act to satiate a desire for power, ownership, closeness, or to m…
What’s real, what’s imagined and what’s the cause - or effect - of madness are the questions most of us know to be raised but rarely consistently answered in Shakespeare’s most (…
It’s said that one first eats with one’s eyes.
It’s great to see new writing being performed at one of the National’s bigger spaces and there are big themes at play here in writer Lindsey Ferrentino’s National Theatre and UK …
I have an inherent discomfort with theatre that requires a certain knowledge or level of intelligence in order to appreciate it (reference my ongoing debate with the current Royal …
God life can be a depressing old thing can’t it? When, through no fault of your own, you find yourself struggling to just exist from one long unfulfilling day to the next – kno…
Taking place over the five years in the seventies that turned out to be the last Labour Government for nearly 20 years and that led to the Thatcher era, the politics being manage…
If the purpose of life is to continue its perpetuity, the implication is that those of us who spawn children are naturally superior to those who don’t.
There must be little more that can raise the spirits of young or old than the idea of flying free through the skies.
Whilst this latest in a long line of Chichester transfers may be a new reworking of the classic Tommy Steele vehicle – with new songs, music and deeper characterisation added �…
“Why is Opera important? Because it’s real-er than any play”.
The opening minute or so of School of Rock immediately sets the stall for what to expect and what to accept in order to enjoy the rollicking fun show ahead.
When the voice of Bryony Kimmings - writer and director of this piece and “performance artist by trade” - asks at the start “how could you make a show about illness and death wit…
It’s not just the eponymous seldom heard, often bullied, fragile young girl LV who struggles to be heard in Jim Cartwright’s classic tragicomedy The Rise and Fall – finding he…
Much can be understood by words that aren’t spoken.
There are a number of uses for the word ‘epic’ and this production of Suzan-Lori Parks’ highly stylised play clearly sets out to be defined by them all.
There’s a very British way of how we process learning about atrocities going on in the world that many of us know little about - first humour, then guilt, a desire to somehow “fi…
Combining the bawdy naughtiness of St Trinian’s, the desire to escape sobriety, language and depiction of true Scottishness of Trainspotting, with beautiful choral harmonies and …
Spending a full day (11 hours from first curtain up to last curtain call) watching three of Chekhov’s early plays (hence the ‘Young’ of the title) may not sound like the most fun…
Sean O’Casey may not himself have fought during the infamous Easter Rising of 1916 but, nonetheless, his play is still borne of personal knowledge and first-hand involvement.
With its clipped accents, simmering tension, undulating music and themes of mental anguish and sexual tension, Terence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea is quintessentially old-school…
Calling the run-down Greek shack that acts as the entire setting of this play a ‘Villa’ and then naming it after Thalia (representing comedy as the Greek Goddess of Festivity), A…
With Into The Woods – possibly one of Sondheim’s most accessible musicals – known fairy tales are twisted into an allegory for today’s times; stripping away Red Riding Hood, …
Whilst always a welcome promoter of new writing and new experiments in theatre, more recently The Royal Court’s choice of programme has been called divisive at best and pretentio…
George Orwell’s 1984 still resonates today because for all the disturbingly dark ways that the events of the story unfold, his key themes of conspiracy, class and governmental an…
As I’ve said before, whilst important times in history demand to be explored in theatre and film – and often bring raw emotion with them the more recent the history is – subj…
A common preconception of Brecht’s work is that his political views, his ‘anti-theatre’ style and the didactic tag that precedes any conversation about it, creates theatre that s…
It’s not that unusual to see something that sweeps you up, makes you believe in the characters and feel their emotional pain, throws energy at you with hard guitar riffs and make…
Another week, another example of storytelling to be seen at Greenwich Theatre, with The Flanagan Collective’s gently soporific tale of the strive for idealism in today’s frenetic…
The fantastical, magical stories created by Roald Dahl have proven themselves to have the potential to inspire family shows that enthral rather than patronise with the award-winn…
Russian playwright Nikolai Erdman’s original script for The Suicide was seen as such a strong satirical attack on the Communist Russian Government that it was branded ‘dangero…
Over three hours into Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comment on the everyday existence of the everyman, The Flick, one of the characters says that (his) “life may be depr…
You don’t need to have read any of the Arthur Conan Doyle novels in order to feel that you know a great deal about Sherlock Holmes.
Fanny Brice’s prowess and fame were arguably due to her impeccable comic timing and clown-like performances, combined with a powerful singing voice that could both move you with …
For some strange and unknown reason, the idea of witches and witchcraft tends not to carry the darkness or horror that other (possibly) mythical demons do – even though there w…
It’s difficult for many people today – and not just those whose lives weren’t directly impacted – to really understand the common sense background to what my Mum (and the BBC…
For all we may use the platitude that “life is too short”, the harsh reality is that for most of us, it is anything but – and we fill the many minutes, hours and days bemoa…
If someone was to lose their grip on the concept of time as being linear, then the accepted psychological structure of how things happen, when, where and with whom, may break dow…
Addiction and theatre may seem good bedfellows as they have often made for a spectacular combination.
Everybody lies; small lies, big lies, white lies and lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction in order to start what some may say is an illegal war.
With the current societal hatred for bankers and their sky high bonuses, we may put aside any thought for the young individuals who throw away any chance for a personal life, wit…
Families eh? You can’t live with them, you can’t legally murder them for feeling that you have no more in common than a bloodline.
What happens to your sense of identity when the world in which that self was created dramatically changes? If you lived to fight, what if the outcome of that fight wasn’t what yo…
I’m lucky that I’ve had no first hand experience of the impact of the disease looked at in The Father so my knowledge is only general rather than personal.
Seemingly wanting to be judged as the output of an experiment rather than a ‘proper show’, Beyond The Fence is the result of Sky Arts TV documentary Computer Says Show, which…
Tim FitzHigham has spent many years investigating – and replaying – the bizarre pastime of making bets for the sake of making bets.
A mixed troupe of lost souls find comfort in each other in the enjoyment of telling “silly little stories about silly little things” that are extensions and exaggerations of the…
Those of a certain age (likely to be over 40) who took Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds double LP record to their hearts - and those who found it on one of its many re-releases…
We find the notion of the waste of anything in life shameful, if not sinful – removing, as it does, any idea of success or achievement by focusing instead on what could or shou…
A story of how the roots of religion generally – and Deep South American Christianity specifically – may be preached, but is little more than a series of made-up stories and …
Marty Feldman’s style of comedy - and indeed his story - is of a very specific time in the annals of British entertainment.
When your life is borne of problems, pain and lies, the longer you don’t – or can’t – do anything to improve it, the more you may take an almost masochistic solace (from the …
Caryl Churchill rarely does interviews and never discusses the meanings behind her plays (even her stage directions are scant) - so I would be building myself up for a fall if I …
When faced with the knowledge that one has a high risk of a potentially terminal illness such as cancer, there are many different ways of dealing with the news.
“Gallows humour” probably lives in the same area as sarcasm, self-deprecation and the “stiff upper lip” as stereotypically British ways of how to deal with difficult or challengi…
Panto is the season for daytime TV stars and sportsmen past their fighting prime to don outrageous costumes and deliver hackneyed dialogue.
It’s impossible to dislike the persona we think of when we think of Dawn French - her clownlike, down-to-earth warmth and sense of approachable ‘ordinariness’ make us feel that w…
With stage musicals being turned into movies, books into plays, and singers’ back catalogues into flimsy show storylines, it’s becoming rare these days to see a piece of theatre (o…
It’s a somewhat hackneyed saying - favoured by many a High School teacher of English Literature - that if Shakespeare were alive today then he would likely be writing for soap op…
Even if you don’t know the whole story of F.
Walking into the Donmar with the seating closed in, the stage set with a circle of wooden school chairs and the colour drained from a metallic coloured set and cold lighting, you…
The publicity for this new revival of Tommy at Greenwich Theatre talks a lot about it marking 40 years since the original film was released of The Who’s 1969 concept album - and …
Take a 2004 Swedish vampire novel that was made into a subtitled horror film as your starting point.
Everyone knows Alice in Wonderland from their childhood at some level - but not everyone agrees what the story is really about.
Maimuna Memon was one of the stars of the extraordinary new musical, Standing at the Sky’s Edge.
If you thought Cinderella was just for panto season, as the team behind Greenwich Theatre’s new production tells Simon Ximenez, “Oh no it’s not.”
With multiple shows celebrating first and last nights every night, alcohol plays a big part in creating the fun, celebratory atmosphere of the Fringe.
Simon Ximenez "feelz the noise" as he talks with punk legend Ed Banger about bringing the glam to the Edinburgh Festival this year.
Simon Ximenez talks to comedian Ibrahem Al Hajjaj about his journey From Riyadh to Edinburgh.
Simon Ximenez talked to the coordinator of this year’s Edinburgh Deaf Festival, Jamie Rea.
Simon Ximenez speaks to Nalini Sharma about bringing lightness to dark in Until Death, ahead of its opening in Edinburgh this year.
Simon Ximenez is considering a life on the ocean wave after talking to Max Norman about his Edinburgh show, A Pirate’s Life for Me.
Simon Ximenez gets an unusual insight into parenting, with Kiwi comedy group Femme Natale.
Simon Ximenez looks into the sordid side of fandom as he talks to Emily Allan and Leah Hennessey about their new show, Slash.
Edinburgh woudn't be Edinburgh without a mention of bumholes. Simon Ximenez ticked that one off the list when he spoke with Benjamin Salmon about his show Blowhole.
Simon Ximenez talks with Alistair Hall, whose success with his gripping one-man play Declan, was one of the few positive outcomes of lockdown.
Part animation, part-visualisation technology, a live camera and a toy train, Everything That’s Me is Falling Apart promises to be a unique comedy show at Edinburgh this year.
Simon Ximenez talks with writer and director Emilie Biason about her new play, I Killed My Ex and is relieved to discover this dark comedy about love, friendship, and male dismembe...
Four women.
If you've ever wondered what are the best musicals in London's West End , we might finally have the answer for you.
Broadway Baby's Senior Critic Simon Smith looks back over 2016, a year in which we took what we've learned for more than a decade as the biggest reviewer on the Fringe and turned o...