Tag Archives: Zoe Spurr

Writer: Henry Filloux-Bennett Director:  Jonnie Riordan Reviewer:  Richard Maguire While not quite based on a recipe book, Toast is, instead, an adaptation of celebrity chef Nigel Slater’s autobiography of 2004. Of course, food and cooking are major themes of this play that has travelled from Salford via the Edinburgh Fringe, but Toast is more a nostalgic reflection of a 60s/70s childhood. ...

Writer: Anna Jordan Director: Neil Bettle Reviewer: James Eves War takes its toll on everyone it touches, no matter who you are or when you fight. It doesn’t discriminate and it does not hold back, and this is exactly what Anna Jordan's production, The Unreturning very much succeeds in highlighting. We follow the stories of George, Frankie and brothers Nat ...

Writer: Penelope Skinner Director:  Amy Hodge Reviewer: Matt Forrest As it says in the New Testament "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," well if that earth is the one featured in writer Penelope Skinner's play, Meek then they are welcome to it. Set in a dystopian Scandinavian land where religious zealots rule with an iron fist, The ...

Librettist: Glyn Maxwell Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Director: Valentina Ceschi Reviewer: James Garrington Opera Up Close may have moved on from their roots performing in tiny pub theatres, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve distanced themselves from their audience. They pride themselves on producing accessible new versions of classic opera, and The Magic Flute is certainly no exception. Forget any ideas you ...

Writer: Katy Warner Director: Yasmeen Arden Reviewer: Richard Maguire Jade and Liam live in a decaying council block in an unnamed town. Druggies gather in the stairwells, and leave their used needles sticking into the bannisters. Gangs roam around the estate collecting shopping trolleys that they throw from the roof of the tower blocks. ‘What does it look like?’ Liam ...

Writer: Abi Morgan Director: David Loumgair Reviewer: Stephen Bates How are we supposed to deal with the randomness of fate in a world where one person can survive being struck by lightning and another can be killed by a flying sandwich? Abi Morgan’s Tiny Dynamite asks this question through two troubled characters. She wrote the play in 2001 and she ...

Writer: Hannah Khalil Director: Sara Joyce Reviewer: Maryam Philpott “I can’t believe this is England” the characters proclaim in Hannah Khalil’s new play The Scar Test, set in an immigration holding centre, a place where women who have committed no crimes are held for months while their cases are heard. Often, they have escaped persecution in another country and dreamed of ...

Natives - Southwark Playhouse, London Writer: Glenn Waldron Director: Rob Drummer Reviewer: Stephen Bates Members of the first generation that will not have known life without mobile phones, tablets, and social media are now entering their teens and Glenn Waldron's new 90-minute play taps into the minds of three 14-year-olds to reveal their inner fears. The play begins by drawing ...