Writer: Shey Hargreaves Director: Molly Naylor Reviewer: Scott Matthewman One of the publishing successes of 2018’s This is Going to Hurt, doctor-turned-performer Adam Kay’s memoir of working on the frontlines of the NHS. The winning combination of humour and the devastating effects of the demands placed on those working on in the Health Service resulted in a compelling read, and ...

Writer: Maud Dromgoole Director: Tatty Hennessy Reviewer: Karl O'Doherty Thank god for the snappy set and lighting design here - with 39 named characters and two actors it had the potential to all go a bit 39 Steps. Keeping each speaker separate, identifiable and interesting as the play goes on is a challenge - but by deploying the simple technique ...

Curator: Rachel De-Lahay Director: Milli Bhatia Reviewer: Karl O'Doherty The project involves a host of seriously exciting performers, writing with verve and nerve, and a banging soundtrack - a lot to pack into a single night so it makes perfect sense to have it split through a full week of shows. Each performance is different - performers reading out letters ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Adaptor/Director: Phil Willmott Reviewer: David Guest The centenary of the infamous and shocking Amritsar Massacre in India is the springboard for the bold and imaginative reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s Othello at the Union Theatre. Written at the beginning of the 17thCentury, the play has often been given contemporary styling to focus on the issues of race , tolerance and ...

Writer: Chris Thorpe  Director: Rachel Bagshaw  Reviewer: Scott Matthewman We have all experienced pain. But along with the pain, we have evidence of a cause – a bruise or cut, say – and the knowledge that with healing, the pain will end. Director Rachel Bagshaw’s relationship with pain is very different. She has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a chronic condition ...

Writer: James Phillips Director: Joe Harmston Reviewer: Maryam Philpott For lovers of spy drama, the early years of the Cold War are among the most exciting of the twentieth-century. While Ian Fleming and Graham Greene were creating the templates for espionage fiction and its heroes, in reality all eyes were turning East with the slow unveiling of the Cambridge Five ...

Writer: Tom Wright Director: Rikki Beadle Blair Reviewer: Scott Matthewman Hot on the heels of their collaboration on Park Theatre’s My Dad’s Gap Year, writer Tom Wright and director Rikki Beadle-Blair once again work together on Undetectable, at the King’s Head. Freddie Hogan and Lewis Brown play Lex and Bradley, a gay couple in their late twenties who, after three months of ...

Book and Director: Robyn Grant Lyrics:  Robyn Grant and Daniel Elliot Music: James Ringer-Beck Reviewer:  Richard Maguire As we come to the final week of this year’s VAULT Festival, it may seem that V stands for Vault, but actually V stands for Vulvarine, the new superhero created by Fat Rascal Theatre. She’s sassy, kooky and brave. She will save womankind. ...