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 […]
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 […]
Simon Ward reviews The Sex Life of Puppets at the Southwark Playhouse Borough This was my first encounter with the work of Blind Summit, a company committed to proving that puppetry can tackle any theme, and they ably demonstrate that here in an exploration of sexuality in all […]
Simon Ward reviews Twisted Tales at the Cockpit Theatre In an otherwise dark theatre, a large book is illuminated in the centre of the stage. As the troupe of actors approach this peculiar object, one of them works out that it can be opened to reveal its secrets. […]
Simon Ward reviews in|Secure at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre As a Ukrainian who moved to the UK some six months before Russia’s invasion of her country, Valery Reva has created her own one-woman black comedy about the war, in a deeply personal exploration of the challenges currently […]
Simon Ward reviews Looking for Giants at the Camden People’s Theatre. Onto a stage bare except for a stool and a microphone, Abby McCann enters almost sheepishly from a side door but then launches into a remarkable and intriguing preamble to the action. It is about the people whom […]
Simon Ward reviews Where Have All Our Women Gone? at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre Elizabeth Huskisson is the driving force behind this. As writer, director, producer and performer, it is clearly a deeply personal piece. She is utterly committed to it and determined to get her message across, […]
Simon Ward reviews Chekhov’s Dildo at The Hope Theatre If you had never heard Chekhov’s famous dictum regarding the duty owed to the audience by a playwright, ie that it you introduce a gun in the first act, it must be used before the play is over, writer […]
Simon Ward reviews Let’s Pause There at The King’s Head Theatre This debut play by comedy writers Russell Obeney and Andre Guindisson crams a lot, perhaps a little too much, into its running time of about an hour. In keeping with its therapy-based theme, we are required to […]
Simon Ward reviews BOOT at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre We open in an all too realistically-rendered anonymous hotel conference facility. Exactly the kind of place where school reunions and other excruciatingly awkward social events are held. The blandness of the furnishings and the harsh lighting do nothing […]