Author Archives

thepeg

★★★Not Quite Rebellious Enough

Simon Ward reviews Just Stop Extinction Rebellion at the White Bear Theatre Theatre-going has changed significantly since I first started attending plays on a regular basis many years ago. One aspect, in particular, is the inexorable rise of the sixty-to-ninety minute play with no interval. They were notably […]

★★★Broad Cornerstore Laughs

Simon Ward reviews Kim’s Convenience at The Park Theatre This is the UK and European premiere of Kim’s Convenience, Ins Choi’s groundbreaking play first performed in Toronto in 2011, subsequently spawning a hit Netflix series, spanning several seasons. There was a definite sense of excitement at a packed […]

★★★★ Going Crazy Underground

Simon Ward reviews Cockfosters at The Turbine Theatre The Turbine Theatre is built into the railway arches next to the new Battersea Power Station development. With the noise of trains rumbling past at intervals and a definite subterranean feel in the architecture, there could hardly be a more […]

★★★★ Unbeatable Night Out

Simon Ward reviews £1 Thursdays at the Finborough Theatre A word about the venue. The Peg spends much of its time celebrating the glory that is London’s thriving fringe theatre scene, much of which revolves around tiny stages in rooms above pubs. The symbiotic relationship between drinking and […]

★★★★Mad About The Boy

Simon Ward reviews The Boy at Soho Theatre The blackboard outside the theatre, and the theatre staff, warn as one enters that Joakim Daun’s beguiling new play deals with sensitive issues – a warning all the more ominous for being so vague. And, indeed, the themes touched upon […]

★★Troubled Waters

Simon Ward reviews Oils at RADA Studios Oils by Jessica Rachid, which ran for two nights at RADA Studios as part of the Bloomsbury Festival, deals with the theme of domestic violence and abuse. Based on her own mother’s experience of horrendous abuse while she was pregnant, it […]

★★★★Oor Wullie is back

Simon Ward reviews Dead Dad Dog at the Finborough Theatre This is the first major revival of a play that first ran in 1988, to much critical acclaim, first in the Traverse in Edinburgh followed by the Royal Court in London. It is therefore something of a period […]

★★★★You Say You Want A Revolution…

Simon Ward reviews Lessons On Revolution at the Hope Theatre In this thrilling and thought-provoking piece of documentary theatre, writer-performers Samuel Rees (Sam) and Gabriele Uboldi (Gab) skilfully, wittily and movingly weave together a narrative which encompasses, among many other things, Cecil Rhodes and his conquest and exploitation […]