Tag Archives: Hope Theatre

Book: Luke Adamson Music and Lyrics: Dan Bottomley Director: Luke Adamson and Phil Croft Reviewer: Maryam Philpott A mysterious house, a strange letter to a friend and a family curse – the perfect ingredients for a gothic horror story just in time for Halloween. Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, The Fall of the House of Usher has been reimagined as ...

Writer: Andrew Maddock Directors: Phil Croft and Ashley Winter Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Judgement, we’re all guilty of it, thinking we know all about someone’s life based solely on their age / appearance / what they sound like. And these first impressions tend to override logic because underneath, they are the same complex bundle of emotions, egos, experiences and aspirations as ...

Writer: Lizzie Milton Director: Holly Robinson Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Breakups are never easy but usually one person is the instigator and the other an unwilling recipient of the decision to end the relationship. That disproportionate emotional effect of a breakup is, therefore, a good choice for a two-hander and Lizzie Milton’s play The Breaks in You and I, written during ...

Writer: Chantelle Dusette Director: Scott Le Crass Reviewer: Scott Matthewman “I survived the weekend.” In Chantelle Dusette’s one-act play, Maya Thomas plays a young London woman who has a typical life: a weekday 9-to-5 job, Friday nights which extend into Saturday morning, and which require a Netflix binge-watch to recover in time for the whole cycle to begin again. Signs ...

Writer: Sophocles Adapted by: Brendan Murray Director: Matthew Parker Reviewer: Maryam Philpott   The burial and memorialisation of war dead have long been an emotive issue, particularly for troops who die abroad with little left to bury. The grieving process often requires a physical monument, a grave or tomb to visit, as a focus for a relative’s sorrow, and denial ...

Writer: Frank Marcus Director: Rafaella Marcus Reviewer: Stephen Bates   Frank Marcus shot to fame with his 1964 play The Killing of Sister George, soon to be revived on the London Fringe. Here his own granddaughter, Rafaella Marcus, directs two of his short plays, written later, and makes subtle suggestions of a link between them. The Window (1969) begins with ...

Writer: Abrahan Arsis Director: Poppy Rowley Reviewer: Stephen Bates   A play that questions how far a father would go to protect his family from the ravages of warfare ought to be packed with topical resonances. Would he lead them across dangerous seas and continents to seek refuge? Or would it be preferable for him to inter them in a ...

Writer: Effie Samara Director: Abigail Pickard Price Reviewer: Maryam Philpott   The moral and political debates around medical intervention in fertility are highly contentious; women these days are encouraged to believe they can have it all, balancing powerful and highly influential careers, with the maternal desire to care for their children. And in the last 50 years the balance of ...