London Reviews

Book and Lyrics: Tom Jones Music: Harvey Schmidt Director: Joseph Hodges Reviewer: Scott Matthewman When reviving a show about marital relationships that originated in the 1960s, it’s worth considering whether the sexual politics at work have anything to say fifty years later. In the case of I Do! I Do!, that remains an open question. Created by the team of ...

Writer: Jacob Marx Rice Director: Alex Howarth Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Romcoms teach us that a chance encounter can be life changing, that two destined souls will find each other and eventually live happily ever after. The reality is somewhat different, particularly when the central couple are both suffering from different forms of mental health issue and meet in the psychiatrist’s ...

Writer: Dave Malloy Director: Bill Buckhurst Reviewer: Ava Eldred The inaugural production at Soho’s new Boulevard Theatre, Dave Malloy’s Ghost Quartet is a haunting song cycle about sisters and storytellers – by way of lovers, mothers, soldiers and ghosts – which intoxicates the audience almost from the moment the four players enter the stage, instruments in hand, ready to tell ...

Director: Paula Garfield Writer: Sarah Kane Reviewer: Miriam Sallon 4.48 Psychosis, Sarah Kane’s final play, is often considered a kind of suicide note, dealing with clinical depression, and an inability to feel wholly part of the world. There’s no plot to speak of, instead it follows a kind of ominous rhythm, as accompanied, in this case, by Chris Bartholemew’s haunting ...

Writer: Samuel Bailey Director: George Turvey Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Already the winner of a new playwriting prize, the premiere of Samuel Bailey’s Shook set in a young offenders’ institute comes loaded with expectation. The judges of the Papatango prize clearly spotted something a bit special in Bailey’s writing and this debut production at Southwark Playhouse, directed by George Turvey, rages ...

Writer and Director : Sean Mathias Reviewer: Margarita Shivarova The revival of A Prayer for Wings, performed in a 110-seated fringe theatre at the back of a London pub, offers an emotionally rich transaction between the cast and the audience. Such that is fuelled by the struggles in caring for an elderly family member, relevant today as much as they ...

Writer: David Lindsay-Abaire Music: Tom Kitt Lyrics: Amanda Green Director: Tom Jackson Greaves Reviewer: Stephen Bates A brand new British-based musical is the brave choice for the second production at the brand new Turbine Theatre, located in the shadow of the disused Battersea Power Station. But can the show generate sufficient spark to reignite flames in the area and, perhaps, ...

Writer: Frank McGuinness Director: James O’Donnell Reviewer: Richard Maguire The Greek myths are powered by revenge, especially when they tell the stories of women. Medea killed her children when her husband Jason abandoned her, while Clytemnestra killed her husband Agamemnon after he sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia. Frank McGuinness’s one-woman play of 2012 rewrites these myths for a modern age with ...