Tag Archives: Park Theatre

Writer: Tuyen Do Director: Kristine Landon-Smith Reviewer: Maryam Philpott While the social and cultural legacy of the Second World War has fundamentally shaped our nation, we too easily forget the more remote twentieth-century conflicts that have had a lasting impact on modern Britain. Tuyen Do is making history at the Park Theatre with the first British-Vietnamese play examining two generations ...

Writer: Tom Glover Director:  Glen Walford Reviewer:  Richard Maguire The best joke in this comedy about older people comes early. Mrs Parkin, in her seventies, is being hoodwinked by a salesman, but we soon realise she is no fool. ‘I’m a member of OPAL,’ she declares, ‘the Older Person’s Armed League: the military branch of Age UK!’ If only such ...

Writer: Jonathan Maitland Director: Lotte Wakeham Reviewer: Stephen Bates Popping into a nearby bookmaker’s shop on the way to the opening night of Jonathan Maitland’s new play, a quick check of the odds reveals that Boris Johnson is the current favourite to fill the impending vacancy for the job of the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister. This news adds urgency to ...

Writer: Ben Alderton Director: Roland Reynolds Reviewer: Stephen Bates If anyone seeks to prove that British politics are broken, surely there is enough evidence in the present day, without having to delve into history to find more. However, writer Ben Alderton seems to think otherwise with his new play, a crude and obvious satire that is four years past its ...

Writer: Alexis Michalik Director: Ché Walker Reviewer: Stephen Bates French playwright Alexis Michalik’s Intra Muros (rough translation: “within walls”) puts a prison in a theatre and a theatre in a prison. Working around the premise of an acting class for novices, the play could, at first, look more suited to a RADA lecture theatre than to a commercial stage, but, ...

Writer: Tom Coash Director: Pamela Schermann Reviewer: Karl O'Doherty Rather than a potential snappy run with deft touches and passion through an extremely interesting and complex story, we are given 80 minutes of stumbling, rambling plod. The subject of two men in love in an Egypt that’s turning ugly for political dissidents, homosexuals and anyone who the government and police ...

Writer: Henry Devas Director: Jez Pike Reviewer: Stephen Bates There are few things sadder than a tragic clown and, in Henry Devas’ new play, Matt is very sad indeed. “Fat, ugly, awful breath, terrible comedian” he is told, making it little wonder that he has just come close to jumping off Tower Bridge. However, he is saved for this world ...

Writer: Tom Wright Director: Rikki Beadle-Blair Reviewer: Stephen Bates For all its modern touches, My Dad’s Gap Year draws its humour from a well-tried and tested source - the age-old clash between the reserve of the British and the liberated attitudes of the rest of the world. Tom Wright’s 90-minute play begins as a warm-hearted, if unsubtle comedy which tells ...