Simon Ward reviews La Bohème at the Hoxton Hall Founded in 2011, Regents Opera is committed to scaled-down opera productions – Puccini’s evergreen favourite La Bohème is a perfect fit. As is Hoxton Hall as a venue – a beautifully preserved late nineteenth century music hall, it could […]
Simon Ward reviews I Love You Michael, Love Nadine at the Old Red Lion Theatre This new play by Megan Marszal, who also plays the role of Cece, is steeped in the louche underworld of 1980s Paris to the tip of its unsmoked Gauloises. The set (design by […]
Simon Ward reviews Kieran Hodgson:Voice of America at the Soho Theatre Fans of BBC 2 comedy Two Doors Down will already be familiar with Kieran Hodgson but he was a new face for me, although the fact that he looks uncannily like a young David Tennant makes it […]
Simon Ward reviews Julius Caesar at the Hen and Chickens Theatre In this urgent and compelling interpretation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Anna Blackburn has created a nerve-shredding production of great power. A well-drilled cast of four brilliantly rises to the challenge of inhabiting all the roles this play […]
Simon Ward reviews Derry Boys at Theatre503 This piece comes closest to my own personal experience of anything I have reviewed in all my years writing for The Peg. Though I wasn’t born there, I was raised in Derry, so I would almost certainly qualify for entry to […]
Simon Ward reviews The Sociable Plover at the Old Red Lion Theatre The first thing to strike you is the set (designed by Jack Valentine) . The entire room has been transformed into a bird watchers’ hide, with camouflage netting on the walls and a wooden ledge thrust […]
Simon Ward reviews Pavement Sharks at the Canal Cafe Theatre For anyone unfamiliar with the venue, it nestles above a rather good pub called the Bridge House in Little Venice, a very pleasant stroll along the canal from what I still think of as the newly refurbished Paddington […]
Simon Ward reviews Overshare at the Greenwich Theatre At one point during this hectic cavalcade of a show, creator-writer-performer-producer Eleanor Hill pauses for a beat to wonder whether her last remark was a bit of an overshare. The joke is, of course, that the whole thing is one […]
Simon Ward reviews Bubble Schmeisis at the Soho Theatre Nick Cassenbaum describes his work as ‘simultaneously unforgivingly Jewish and undeniably British’. As if to underline the point, the programme for this show includes a glossary of both Yiddish and East London slang. Admittedly the Yiddish list is significantly […]
Simon Ward reviews Dead Mom Play at the Union Theatre I have yet to decide how I feel about on the use of trigger warnings. There are the well-worn arguments about the lengthy list pretty much any Shakespeare would require. Furthermore, in my experience, the warnings tend to […]