The Curious Case of Benjamin Button musical review: Intriguing but exhausting November 14, 2024 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button musical review: ★★★★ Let’s face it, when thinking about classic novels that stir the soul, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is among the weirdest. The idea of a bloke who ages backwards is unnerving, but nevertheless the novel – and subsequent film with Brad Pitt [...]
Barcelona play review: Lily Collins can’t save bland two-hander October 31, 2024 Barcelona with Lily Collins, review and star rating: ★★☆☆☆ Emily in Paris star Lily Collins makes her West End debut opposite Spanish heavyweight Álvaro Morte in Barcelona, a two-hander set in a soon-to-be demolished apartment in the Spanish city. Writer Bess Wohl has on-boarded Lynette Linton, Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre, and the visionary behind [...]
The Buddha of Suburbia has the most amazing sex scenes I’ve seen in London theatre October 30, 2024 The Buddha of Suburbia review and star rating: ★★★★★ Only London theatre titan Emma Rice could convince an audience to suspend their disbelief when a party popper symbolises someone ejaculating. Of course – why wouldn’t it? Freshly arriving in London after a run at The RSC Swan, Stratford upon Avon earlier this year, The Buddha [...]
London theatre icon Rob Madge: I’ve been drinking with Joanna Lumley (imagine if it was Echo Falls!) October 23, 2024 Rob Madge is one of Britain’s biggest grassroots theatre success stories. They tell Adam Bloodworth about their creative process You might not have heard of Rob Madge, but it’s hard to sum up the massive impact their career has had on the UK theatre industry. Madge, who uses they/them pronouns, has a naturalistic style of [...]
Eurydice, Jermyn Street Theatre, review: this Greek tragedy is a must-see October 22, 2024 Eurydice review and star rating: ★★★★☆ It’s notoriously difficult to bargain with the lord of the underworld, and when he concedes, it is ill advised to violate his conditions. The story of Eurydice, a character in Greek mythology, draws parallels in the tragedy stakes with Shakespeare’s Juliet. Following Orpheus’ (Keaton Guimarães-Tolley) proposal to Eurydice (Eve [...]
The Duchess of Malfi review: Jodie Whittaker can’t save this October 17, 2024 Duchess of Malfi review and star rating: ★★ This overstimulating, overstated adaptation of Jacobean tragedy The Duchess of Malfi struggles to find true dramatic depth. Written by English dramatist John Webster around 1612, the revenge tragedy follows the titular Duchess who is widowed but remarries in secret, then has a baby with husband Antonio, who [...]
Mrs Doubtfire musical on song for West End’s Shaftsbury Theatre October 8, 2024 The success of West End musical Mrs Doubtfire has helped boost the finances of the firm behind London’s Shaftsbury Theatre. The business behind the venue has reported a turnover of £26.2m for 2023, up from the £17m it achieved in 2022. Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show its pre-tax profit jumped from £1m to [...]
Tupperware of Ashes at the Dorfman: Bleak but vital play on how we treat our elderly October 4, 2024 A Tupperware of Ashes isn’t just an excellent work of fiction, but a bleak, vital conversation about how we treat our elderly.
David Oyelowo in Coriolanus review: Too much muscle, too much music September 26, 2024 Muscles do not a character make, though many men forget this. Sadly David Oyelowo's Coriolanus at the National Theatre is one of them
Waiting for Godot review: Ben Whishaw finds joy in Samuel Beckett’s wondrous misery September 20, 2024 Waiting for Godot review and star rating: ★★★★ Waiting for Godot has been called ‘the play of the 20th century,’ but that accolade doesn’t make staging Samuel Beckett’s most significant piece easy. The Irish playwright, who died in 1989, banned tampering with the set or script in adaptations. It hampers creativity somewhat, but even so, [...]