Simon Ward reviews Put Out His Eyes at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre Writer Michael Hajiantonis’s Put Out His Eyes is a fairytale set in a distant past with an undercurrent of pent-up rage and resentment which feels apposite for our modern world in which none of the […]
Simon Ward reviews James Rowland Dies At The End Of The Show at Camden People’s Theatre Although this is the third part of James Rowland’s Songs of the Heart Trilogy, there is no requirement to have seen the previous parts to make sense of this charming, witty and […]
Simon Ward reviews Cutting The Tightrope: The Divorce of Politics From Art at the Arcola Theatre The staging of this collection of short works is an explicitly political act, which aims to galvanise audiences into further political action. Under those circumstances, therefore, it seems crass and irrelevant to […]
Simon Ward reviews Fragments at the Etcetera Theatre In this astonishing piece Nigerian writer and performer Pearl Ada pulls no punches as she tackles the intersecting issues of colonialism and its legacy, racism, and patriarchy. Put like that, it sounds like a grim hour, whereas it is anything […]
Simon Ward reviews Distant Memories Of The Near Future at the Arcola Theatre Written and performed by David Head, Distant Memories of the Near Future comes to the Arcola to makes its London premiere following success at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023. Any idea that this may be a […]
Simon Ward reviews The Elephant In The Room at the Waterloo East Theatre Peter Hamilton’s latest play, now presented in Waterloo East under Ross McGregor’s direction after a run last year at the Tabard Theatre, is a kaleidoscopic magical mystery tour encompassing life, death and all points in […]
Simon Ward reviews Foreverland at the Southwark Playhouse Emma Hemingford’s stunning new play, Foreverland, is a fascinating deep dive into the possibilities that may open up in the near future as biotechnology evolves and genetic re-engineering offers the chance for some people to ‘live forever’. We follow the […]
Simon Ward reviews My English Persian Kitchen at the Soho Theatre Upstairs Based on a story by Iranian food-writer Atoosa Sepehr, and adapted as a play by Hannah Khalil, this extraordinary show manages to be at once a feast for all the senses, a nail-biting thriller, a heartbreaking […]
Simon Ward reviews Shifters at the Duke of York’s Theatre After a sellout run at the Bush Theatre earlier this year, Congolese-British playwright Benedict Lombe’s second play, Shifters has triumphantly transferred to the West End. As regular readers will know, the Peg seldom finds itself in the rarefied […]
Simon Ward reviews Prototype at the Old Red Lion Theatre Directed by Olivia Gibbs-Fairley, written and performed by Steph Darcey, and presented as part of the Camden Fringe, Prototype is a show that deserves a wide audience. It is a savage satire – it is packed full of […]