Tag Archives: London

Writers: Nicola Bland, Stacey Bland Director: Victoria Gimby Reviewer: Karl O'Doherty With the point clearly flagged up by Vicky’s mother in the opening minutes, the 1980’s in London was a potentially dangerous place for men and women stepping outside gender and sexuality norms. And Vicky isn’t stepping so much as leaping vibrantly into an unpredictable future, complete with leopard-print heels, ...

Writer: Bryony Kimmings Directors:  Kirsty Housley and Bryony Kimmings Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Bryony Kimming’s one-woman show already comes studded with so many four and five-star recommendations, it seems almost unnecessary to review it. But here goes. I’m a Phoenix, Bitchis a multi-media restaging of the worst years of Kimming’s life. This is therapy on a grand scale. In 2016, after ...

Writer: Carrie Marx Director:  Chris Lincé Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Performer Carrie Marx was behind one of the most creepy shows from last year’s VAULT Festival. In Unburied, a play about a lost children’s TV show, Marx took the audience into the dark web, with terrifying results. Her new show, April, is also unsettling and eerie. Aprilis an internet sensation. She ...

Writer: Martin Malcolm Director:  Russell Lucas Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Some 50 years after their arrest, Reggie and Ronnie still hold their appeal. Films like Legend and The Krays continue to mythologise their lives and glamourize the violence they perpetrated. It’s not too hard to imagine young men of today being lured by the Krays’ signature starched white shirts and their pristinely ...

Writers: James Mitchell and Ed Coleman Director:  Jessica Rose McVay Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Week 5 at the VAULT Festival, and it seems to be busier than ever down in the tunnels under Waterloo station. Opening proceedings this week is Leave a Message, a thoughtful play about alcoholism, but despite some strong performances it does seem slightly too conventional for a ...

We’re just over halfway through the VAULT Festival and already there have been some standout LGBTQ+ plays such as the dark Kompromat, based on the unsolved murder of Gareth Williams, the ‘gay spy’, and Velvet which told the story of a young actor catfished by a casting agent. The Reviews Hub’s Richard Maguire talked to three of the people behind three queer ...

Writer: Alex Oates Director: Dominic Shaw Reviewer: Heather Deacon All any writer can wish for is to ignite impassioned debate with their script and all a producer could wish for is that the production furthers that debate. Given the protesters outside of the Southwark Playhouse on Monday evening, All in a Row is doing just that, with a play that ...

Book, Music and Lyrics: Irene Sankoff and David Hein Director:  Christopher Ashley Reviewer:  Richard Maguire It’s surprising that this Tony-nominated musical has taken so long to reach London. Come From Away, about plane passengers diverted on the day of 9/11, is the perfect show to thaw the cynicism of our current times. When America closed its airspace after the attack ...