Simon Ward reviews Love’s A Beach at the Soho Theatre The term ‘reality television’ has always been an oxymoron – by definition what we see on television is a construction, designed to fit on screen and edited to attract viewers. This is even more pertinent when it comes […]
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 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 […]
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 The Half-Cocked Sketch Show at The Hen and Chickens Half-Cocked Theatre is the brainchild of Elliott Campion and Teddy Robson. After producing a hit show in Edinburgh in 2019 there seems to have been a Covid-related hiatus and now they re-emerged with this new show, […]
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 […]
Simon Ward reviews String V SPITTA at the Soho Theatre Written and performed by Ed MacArthur (String) and Kiell Smith-Bynoe (SPITTA) and with George Chilcott’s direction keeping the mayhem just this side of chaos, this new musical comedy is an utter delight from start to finish. Normally the […]
Simon Ward reviews It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure at Soho Theatre Following a brief run as part of The Vaults Festival in February, this show comes to the Soho Theatre as a slick, well-worked production. Flawbored are a disability-led company, made up of the night’s performers, Samuel Brewer, Aarian Mehrabani […]
Simon Ward reviews Average Bear at the Soho Theatre Michelle Brasier’s Average Bear is billed as comedy, and it is frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it is also thought-provoking and devastatingly emotional. Delivered as a mixture of stand-up, songs and ‘bear-lesque’, the audience never quite knows where Brasier’s irresistible banter […]