Tag Archives: Review

Writer: David Greig Director: Jessica Lazar Reviewer: Stephen Bates The great appeal of David Greig’s Outlying Islands stems from its unpredictability. Audiences are left always uncertain as to whether they are watching a slapstick comedy, a brittle romance or a suspense thriller as the writer skirts around dramatic conventions with canny skill. The play received its London premiere at the ...

Director and Choreographer: Akram Khan Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Akram Khan’s farewell continues and this week sees his last performances in his show Until The Lions, first seen at The Roundhouse in 2016. If this really is to be his final performance as a dancer then it’s a fitting and an emotional goodbye. In May of 2018, Khan danced his last ...

Writer: Liv Warden Director: Adam Small Reviewer: Stephen Bates “Post-Weinstein. Post-Spacey. Pre-Preston” reads the publicity for Liv Warden’s debut play, Anomaly, Philip Preston being the pivotal, albeit unseen, figure. However, in an hour-long drama that is sharp, sensitive and powered by topicality, the writer concerns herself less with Preston’s misdemeanours than with the impact on his three daughters.  The oldest ...

Director:  Charles Randolph-Wright Musical arrangement: Ethan Popp Choreographers: Patricia Wilcox and Warren Adams Reviewer: Julia Beasley If a musical is actually about music, it should surely celebrate that music in all its full-blown glory. Motown the Musical is undoubtedly about some of the best soul music of the twentieth century. So it’s a bit disappointing that this show romps over-excitedly through its vast ...

Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Version and Direction: Victor Smirnov-Golovanov Artistic Director: Ludmila Nerubashenko Choreographer: Marius Petipa Reviewer: Janet Jepson There is a certain magic in the air when a ballet is performed, and an evening at the ballet seems to hark back to that previous era of classic theatrical opulence and privilege. To properly partake in the experience, one feels ...

Writer: Harold Pinter Director: Jamie Lloyd Reviewer: Stephen Bates Harold Pinter’s career as a writer encompassed an era of unprecedented social mobility in Britain. Sparked by the end of post-War austerity, new opportunities opened up for the once disadvantaged, London’s East End and West End began to merge and members of the working classes moved up society’s ladder. The sixth ...

Writer: Harold Pinter Director: Patrick Marber Reviewer: Stephen Bates We may expect works by Harold Pinter to be dark, comedic and enigmatic and this collection of short plays, the fifth in Jamie Lloyd’s ambitious Pinter at the Pinter season, delivers to varying degrees in all those respects. However, there is a more specific unifying theme here, that of human disconnection ...

Writer and director: Olivia Race Reviewer: Jay Nuttall The stockings may be hung by the chimney with care, In the hope that St Nicholas soon will be there, But Saint Nick seems to have fallen asleep in the chair, And it’s up to two elves to get the sleigh in the air! This is the premise for Front Room Productions’ ...