Author: The Reviews Hub - London

Writer: Tyrell Williams Director: Daniel Bailey In a desolate area of Inner London, located somewhat non-specifically between Peckham and Shepherd’s Bush, three teenage black boys meet up on a municipal football pitch, the Red Pitch. They banter and spar, share dreams and chocolate, sharpen their football skills in readiness for the day when a scout for a professional team spots them and carries them off to glory. At the same time, they dread change and growing up, and never, ever, want their Ends to change. The lack of a precise location is a bit of a problem here, since the…

Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice Music and Lyrics: Andrew Lippa Director: Matthew White In what has been a long time coming, the delightfully ghoulish and hilarious production of The Addams Family arrives at Dartford’s Orchard Theatre as part of its UK Tour. Joanna Clifton leads as the iconic Morticia as her family struggles with the devastating consequences that her daughter, Wednesday, is besotted with a young man from a family the antithesis of the Addams’. The production, which centres around this relationship and the eventual meeting of two very different families, is a delightfully funny piece bringing to the…

Theatre and theatre writing has changed a great deal since 1995 when Charles Duff’s biography of Frith Banbury and his work in the 1950s and 1960s was first published under the title of The Lost Summer. It seems strange then, that publishers Zuleika have chosen to reissue the book in paperback under a new titled The Best of the West End: The Life and Work of Frith Banbury with some minor factual edits and a five-page author’s addendum written in 2021 in which Duff himself acknowledges some of the things that are now wrong with the book you’ve just read.…

Writers: Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong and Simone Ibbett-Brown Director: Lakesha Arie-Angelo Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong and Simone Ibbett-Brown’s 2019 play Shuck ‘n’ Jive is the latest addition to Soho Theatre’s On Demand series. This new version, created especially for its digital platform, takes advantage of film editing techniques to manage the episodic narrative, move back in time, insert fantasy sequences and draw heavily on popular culture in its exploration of endemic racism, female friendship and the value of theatre. Sick of failed auditions and stereotyped casting, friends Cassi and Simone decide to write their own play based on the everyday conversations they have with…

Writer and Director: Olivia Gibbs-Fairley When Skins came out in 2007, it was just so edgy and funny and, like, really spoke to a generation of 16-year-olds in the twenty-first century. But try watching a single episode now, and you will eye-roll so hard you probably won’t be able to get through it. That’s not to say it wasn’t as good as you remembered it, it’s just that it’s for 16-year-olds who haven’t really done anything yet and who are obsessed with their private parts, not 32-year-olds who are genuinely excited about their new toilet cleaner, and love being in…

Writer: Crystal Skillman Director: Hersh Ellis All signs point to this play carrying a positive message about the value of environmental protest. It even shows hints of interesting discussion about the tough impact a protesting lifestyle can have on those who pursue it, as well as a genuinely touching exploration of a young man’s coming to terms with his estranged father’s death. Those signs are hidden well, however, in a play populated with irritating characters, unbelievable events, inadvertent silliness and a seeming lack of serious engagement with the subject. Energetic, earnest, idealistic and obliviously privileged rebel Zoe manipulates the worried…

Writer: Dipo Baruwa-Etti Director: Taio Lawson Modern healthcare knows a lot more about depression than it used to. But before medical and psychological responses to someone’s poor mental health, people turned to what might dismissively be described as superstition – faith-based explanations, from curses to demonic possession. In Dipo Barruwa-Etti’s An Unfinished Man, reactions to the depression of East Londoner Kayode (Fode Simbo) straddle these old and new responses. His wife Kikiope (Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter) implores him to seek medical help and counselling. Meanwhile, his mother (Lucy Vandi) has a response formulated both in her evangelical Christianity and much older…

Adaptor: Robert Stigwood in collaboration with Bill Oakes, with songs by the Bee Gees Featuring a young John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever was the film of late 1977. Facing the tough realities of early adulthood, Tony Manero is a disillusioned Italian-American youth that finds release from the tedious grind of his dead-end job, turbulent family life, and stagnant friendships through New York’s burgeoning subcultural disco scene. As its jukebox stage adaptation, Saturday Night Fever follows the film’s narrative almost step-for-step on a journey down memory lane for disco fanatics at the Peacock Theatre. The show plays up to the nostalgic…