Writers: Brandon Force, Nicole Palomba and Audrey Thayer Director: Tracy Collier Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Who we are and where we come from still matters more than we’d care to admit. In some circles, having the right lineage will still open all kinds of doors, while for others a shared cultural and religious heritage defines whole communities. But as each generation ...

Writer: Ella Hickson Director: Dominique Chapman Reviewer: Richard Maguire If the directors taking part in the Directors’ Festival at The Orange Tree are the future of theatre, then we can expect some exciting times ahead. In the hands of Dominique Chapman, Precious Little Talent, a fast, fast-talking comedy about transatlantic relations, shines as bright as New York’s Chrysler Building.  On a rooftop in the city that never sleeps, 19-year-old Sam meets, improbably, an ...

Writer: Luke Barnes Director: Samson Hawkins Reviewer: Richard Maguire If only all new directors had the energetic vision of Samson Hawkins. He directs Luke Barnes’ new play, Katie Johnstone, as if it were an Olympic sport. His actors are athletes in this precise, tight production. And despite all the mess on stage, it’s as clean as a referee’s whistle.  Katie Johnstone is part of the Directors’ Festival running at the ...

Writer: Danny Robins Director: Hannah Price Reviewer: Scott Matthewman There are many archetypes of British comedy at play in End of the Pier, Park Theatre’s new drama about funny business by Danny Robins. Michael is a mainstream BBC comedian, currently recording a second series of his stand-up show comprising mild, ineffectual material about struggling with duvet covers. His father Bobby ...

Directors: Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar Reviewer: Scott Matthewman Sharon Eyal has become known for highly rhythmic dance work. Her last venture at Sadler’s Wells, where she is an associate artist, was the superb Used to Be Blonde for National Youth Dance Company, a show which used NYDC’s large number of dancers to great effect. Her latest work, for the six-person ...

Writer:  Robert Graves Director:  Fidelis Morgan Reviewer:  Richard Maguire This is an odd one: a ‘lost’ Robert Graves play which documents the aftershocks of war and, surprisingly, has two characters, one male and one female, struggling to come to terms with their homosexuality. Very funny and almost embarrassingly melodramatic, it’s difficult to label this play with a genre. Perhaps, as ...

Writer: Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power Director: Sam Mendes Reviewer: Scott Matthewman The fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008 was one of the seismic events of a financial collapse from which the world has yet to fully recover. But Stefano Massini’s play, first performed in Paris in 2013 and presented here in a new English language adaptation by Ben ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Max Webster Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Rosalind in As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s greatest female roles, a protagonist with wit and intelligence who commands much of the action. The play itself will either sweep you away with its dreamy romanticism, or, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, it’s crowd-pleasing sentimentality will get on your nerves. Max ...