Reviewed for The Reviews Hub: There is a website called Casting Call Woe that catalogues all the ridiculous casting breakdowns for acting roles looking for young women. Such roles are usually underwritten, with any characterisation junked as quickly as the creators want their actresses to shed their clothes. Such indignities provide a title and jumping-off…
Category: Plays
Aeonian, Etcetera Theatre, London ★½
Reviewed for The Reviews Hub: Imogen is a ghost, of sorts. In the opening monologue in Vesna Hauschild’s new one-act play, Kat Boart implies that she was the mother to a famous Spanish artist – and her cries of “Salvador!” suggests which surrealist provides the inspiration here. Then again, Imogen also implies that she has…
Jane Eyre, Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury ★★★★
Reviewed for The Reviews Hub: Originally staged in two parts at Bristol Old Vic, Sally Cookson’s collaborative adaptation of Jane Eyre won acclaim in a single, three-hour form at the National Theatre. It is due to return to London in September, following this current tour which has now arrived in Aylesbury. Jane Eyre is often presented as a…
The Playwrights’ Suite: Full Tilt, Canal Café Theatre, London ★★★½
Reviewed for The Reviews Hub: Attending a staged reading of a work in progress is an experience unlike any other for an audience member. There is no set, no exits or entrances, no lighting or sound cues – although all of those such stage directions are read direct from the script. And so, in addition…
Consent, National Theatre, London ★★★★
Reviewed for The Reviews Hub: The act of rape, its effect on the victims and the difficulties with prosecuting attackers, is such a serious subject that one can feel guilty at laughing during Nina Raine’s new play for the National and Out of Joint, Consent. And yet, such laughter is deliberate and necessary: Raine’s darkly…
Incident at Vichy, Finborough Theatre, London ★★★★½
Reviewed for The Reviews Hub: With the state of current political events, and right wing ideologies gaining strength and power both sides of the Atlantic, it is perhaps inevitable that our live theatre is responding with material heavily influenced by themes of fascism in World War II. Into that category falls Incident at Vichy, a…
The Understudy, Canal Café Theatre, London ★★★½
Originally reviewed for The Reviews Hub: As acting gigs go, being the understudy to a famous actor in a large West End or Broadway show is a thankless one. If the person in whose shoes you are expected to stand is indisposed, the production will face demands from theatregoers who would rather receive a refund…
The Cherry Orchard, Arcola Theatre, London ★★★★½
Chekhov’s final play, written when the playwright was in his early 40s, can be thought of as being remarkably prescient…
Stegosaurus, Etcetera Theatre, London ★★★
The complicated psychological life of a woman with multiple eating disorders is explored in Greek playwright Ersi Niaoti’s one woman play Stegosaurus, receiving its English language premiere.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury ★★★★★
The National Theatre play may be out to bow out of the West End shortly, but the touring production is still going strong
Dubailand, Finborough Theatre, London ★★★★
Light shines on a world that embodies modern-day colonialism in the heart of the desert, in Carmen Nasr’s new play
The Unlikely Life of Leonard Langley, Courtyard Theatre, London ★★★
Lacuna Theatre’s one-act play seeks to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis, although at times it feels as if it is doing the opposite
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