Step away from the returns queue. The rare presence of Hollywood star Cate Blanchett on a London stage has caused a box office frenzy, but sadly this would-be provocative vehicle – Martin Crimp’s loose variations on Samuel Richardson’s 1740 proto-novel Pamela, … Continue reading
The most thrilling revivals reinvigorate a classic work, while revealing its fundamental soul anew. Marianne Elliott’s female-led, 21st-century take on George Furth and Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 musical company Company makes a bold, inventive statement, but somehow also suggests this is how the … Continue reading
It’s a #MeToo-era Measure for Measure over at the Donmar, with Josie Rourke conducting a fascinating experiment: abridging Shakespeare’s problem play to just over an hour and running it twice, once in period, once in modern dress. And with the … Continue reading
Jamie Lloyd is marking the 10th anniversary of Harold Pinter’s death in remarkable style with his Pinter at the Pinter season, staging all the great man’s 20 short plays, plus some sketches and poetry – grouped into seven productions – at the … Continue reading
Polly Stenham’s updating of Strindberg’s Miss Julie moves the action to contemporary London, and finds both contempt and sympathy for this new version of the idle rich. But, shorn of its 19th-century context, the play struggles to make the class transgression feel … Continue reading
That this 1948 Tennessee Williams play is rarely performed seems nothing short of a travesty, thanks to the awe-inspiring case made for it by Rebecca Frecknall’s exquisite Almeida production. Aided by the skyrocketing Patsy Ferran, it also makes a case for director Frecknall as … Continue reading
The actor discusses his role in Venus in Fur at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Read my full BroadwayWorld interview here
Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr’s enterprise is certainly an historic one: The Bridge is London’s first new wholly commercial theatre in 80 years. If its opening play isn’t the same landmark work, it’s nevertheless an auspicious start to a promising … Continue reading
A hit on Broadway, David Ives’s steamy two-hander now boasts Natalie Dormer and David Oakes, well-known for their screen work, in its West End cast, with Patrick Marber on directing duties. That plus the tabloid panting over Dormer’s skimpy S&M attire should certainly … Continue reading
It seems to be the week for notable romcom two-handers. Joining Simon Stephens’ Heisenberg and David Ireland’s The End of Hope is David Eldridge’s meditation on the loneliness and halting longing of modern relationships. Read my full BroadwayWorld review here
