Category: 4/5 Stars

Three actors peeping through the backstage curtain to look at the audience. Top to bottom - Nathaniel (played by Jake O'Hare), Olivia (played by Lucy Blunt) and Sadie (played by Rebekah Nicol).

★★★★Murder By The Stage Door

Simon Ward reviews Kill For The Part at the Canal Cafe Theatre Written and directed by Lucy Blunt, who also plays Olivia/Eleanor Deluse, this is a witty and beguiling romp which interleaves a classic cosy murder mystery with the back-stage shenanigans that arise when the cast believe themselves […]

A group of female mechanics dressed in blue overalls arranged in a dance group. Left to right - Terry (played by Sia Kiwa), Carol (played by Eva Scott), Bev (played by Nancy Brabin-Platt), Dipstick (played by Lucy Mackay) and Dance Captain Georgina Coram

★★★★★Anything But Grim Up North

Simon Ward reviews Gwenda’s Garage:The Musical at the Southwark Playhouse Borough Following a successful run at the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse in Sheffield, this is the London premiere of a new British musical. Based on the true story of three female mechanics who, frustrated by their inability to find […]

Standing on the left in a blue multi-coloured football shirt and Burberry style checked scarf Daisy Boy (played by Jud Charlton) and standing on the right Danny Boy (played by Francis Saunders) in a blue and cream Fila jacket.

★★★★Waiting for God

Simon Ward reviews God Don’t Live On A Council Estate at the Hen and Chickens Theatre Dean Stalham’s 2010 play, God Don’t Live On A Council Estate, directed here by Jonathan Linsley, gives us another insight into the world that I was first introduced to in June of […]

On the left, in light blue football kit, Melissa (played by Dión Di Maio) shaking hands with Deren (played by Jake Douglas) on the right also in football kit and holding a Gaelic football.

★★★★Whose Game Is It Anyway?

Simon Ward reviews The Pitch at Theatre503 Philip Catherwood’s new play, directed by Thea Mayeux, is not the first to investigate the thorny issue of land and its use on the island of Ireland, but his approach is refreshingly free of the weight of history which normally surrounds […]

★★★★A Sepia-Tinged Dream

Simon Ward reviews A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Southwark Playhouse Borough Since the turn of the millennium, Southwark Playhouse has been re-imagining the great works of the Shakespearean canon to create versions which can engage younger audiences, with the aim of bewitching them with the power of […]

Bar setting, optics behind, glasses in front. On the left Kellie Shirley, looking downcast, on the right Peter Caulfield, looking pensive.

★★★★★Time Gentlemen Please

Simon Ward reviews TWO at the Greenwich Theatre For this revival of Jim Cartwright’s 1989 play, the Greenwich Theatre has been transformed into a pub of that era, The Clock and Compass, with nostalgic soundtrack to match. This doubles as the theatre’s own bar before the show and […]

★★★★Zany Zombie Delirium

Simon Ward reviews Improv The Dead at The Bridewell Theatre One of the joys of a Fringe festival is, of course, to move out of one’s comfort zone and try out something a bit different. I confess that the danger element of improvisational theatre has often left me […]

Ann (played by Nikol Kollars) wearing an open-necked green flowery blouse, with a red flower in her hair, a white necklace and purple sash, standing and about to sing.

★★★★The Long Goodbye

Simon Ward reviews Fickle Eulogy at the Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street, London N1 1RL Debuting at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, Nikol Kollars’s devastating solo show, directed by Javier Galitó-Cava, is now running at The Hope under the aegis of the Camden Fringe. It is clearly a […]