The Park Theatre’s first musical opened last night with the north London venue handing over to the Charles Court company for a production of Do I Hear a Waltz? It’s a real collector’s piece for musical theatre obsessives, being a one-off collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim that is seldom performed. Rodgers and Sondheim … Continue reading “Do I Hear a Waltz?” at the Park Theatre
Playwright Sarah Gordon’s new go at literary revisionism is fun. Although hardly obscure, the Brontë in the title here is Anne and the play looks at her life and work. The twist is that our narrator is her more famous sister, Charlotte, and despite her humorous protestations, she wants to be the hero. The result … Continue reading “Underdog: The Other Other Brontë” at the National Theatre
Rosie Day’s play, which is being adapted for TV and has an accompanying book, is an effective summation of current teenage concerns. The piece is hard-hitting and, appropriately, didactic. Under the direction of Georgie Staight, this limited-run production is impressively slick, and the show is a great vehicle for its star, Charithra Chandran. We meet … Continue reading “Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon” at the Garrick Theatre
John Logan knows a lot about the cinema. As well as plays, he’s written scripts for major movies including Skyfall and Gladiator. His new work for the theatre takes two older films, Marnie and Witchfinder General, and is a tricksy, witty, entertaining piece, with plenty going on. The characters are two pairs of directors and … Continue reading “Double Feature” at the Hampstead Theatre
Hope is the takeaway from playwright Lynn Nottage’s diner-based drama. The ex-convicts who are employed by the owner of the restaurant that takes her name know they’ve made mistakes and won’t find work elsewhere. But they still have aspirations – to make the perfect sandwich. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but Nottage and this … Continue reading “Clyde’s” at the Donmar Warehouse
Fans of genius director Sasha Regan (there’s a clue there about how I feel) will be thrilled that her 2017 version of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta is back. This show is as smart and witty as it is charming and tender. If you haven’t seen one of her all-male productions yet, they really are … Continue reading “The Mikado” at Wilton’s Music Hall
Focusing on an African American soldier and a mixed race family in Cardiff provides a new take on World War II in Diana Nneka Atuona’s new play. Behind this interesting story, the piece is a traditional affair – well-crafted and carefully observed – that is a tidy drama and a gorgeous love story. GI Nate … Continue reading “Trouble in Butetown” at the Donmar Warehouse
The star casting of Emma Corrin should, quite rightly, attract an audience to this new play based on Virginia Woolf’s classic novel. Corrin wears their heart on a variety of gorgeous sleeves while addressing deep questions about the identity of the gender-swapping century-traversing character lightly. “Who am I?” interests as much as torments this iconic … Continue reading “Orlando” at the Garrick Theatre
Sarah, Scott, and Simon are here to save the world. Or at least have a serious word with it. Travelling from Australia to present a speech, in the guise of a community meeting, this show is smart, important, and impressive. The trio describe themselves as “intellectually disabled” – or neurodiverse – debate about the term … Continue reading “The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes” at the Battersea Arts Centre
A big production in a small space is one way to get a buzz. This Broadway hit, by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses, has a huge cast considering the venue: there are the titular musicians, on tour from Egypt, and those they unwittingly encounter, the locals of a nowhere-town in Israel. But it’s the committed … Continue reading “The Band’s Visit” at the Donmar Warehouse
