Reviewed for Musical Theatre Review: Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel Room tells the harrowing story of a woman who is kept prisoner in a small room, told solely from the perspective of her five-year-old son Jack, fathered by their captor and to whom the wooden walls of their single room are the extent of the world….
Category: Off-West End/London Fringe
tick, tick… BOOM!, Park Theatre, London ★★★★
Reviewed for Musical Theatre Review: That Jonathan Larson created the multi award-winning Broadway musical Rent would be enough to secure his place in musical theatre history. The tragedy of his death, on the last day of rehearsals for the show that would make his name, has elevated him to near-mythic proportions. tick, tick… BOOM! is…
When Harry Met Barry, Above The Stag, London ★★★
Reviewed for Musical Theatre Review: Paul Emelion Daly’s musical comedy romance first played at the Above the Stag Theatre in July 2011. In the intervening years, the venue has changed – from a room above a now-demolished gay pub in Victoria to an archway in Vauxhall. When Harry Met Barry has also undergone its own…
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Wilton’s Music Hall, London ★★★
Reviewed for Musical Theatre Review: The self-help book may not seem like the likeliest of genres from which to birth a musical comedy. But Shepherd Mead’s 1952 book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a sharply satirical work that mercilessly lampoons the office culture that Mad Men would, several decades later, afford 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…
Interview: Sharon D Clarke on a dream role in The Life and colour-blind casting
Originally published on Musical Theatre Review: Revived at the Southwark Playhouse, The Life at is a revival of a Cy Coleman musical which has not been seen since its original Broadway production 20 years ago. Musical theatre star Sharon D Clarke, who was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list, plays Sonja, a…
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 Life, Southwark Playhouse, London ★★★★
Reviewed for Musical Theatre Review: There are many musicals that deal with society’s underclass, and its criminal element. The Life is one such piece: with music by Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity, City of Angels) and lyrics by Ira Gasman (who co-wrote the original book with David Newman), this 20-year-old Broadway musical deals with prostitutes and…
Interview: The Life director Michael Blakemore
Originally published on Musical Theatre Review: Opening this week, The Life at Southwark Playhouse is a revival of a musical which has not been seen since its original Broadway production 20 years ago. For this anniversary revival, the show’s original director Michael Blakemore has returned to the show. With music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by…
English Youth Ballet: Nutcracker and Ballet Etudes, Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury ★★★
Reviewed for The Reviews Hub: Since 1998, Janet Lewis’ English Youth Ballet (EYB) has been working with young dancers around England, giving children and young adults the opportunity to rehearse and perform alongside, and be trained by, professional ballet dancers. The result is an evening of ballet in which the stage is full of young…
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…
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