Simon Ward reviews The Boline Inn at the Hope Theatre For anyone who might be unaware, a boline is a white-handled ritual knife used in Wicca. So, much like The Slaughtered Lamb pub in the 1981 comedy-horror classic movie An American Werewolf In London, the name of the […]
Simon Ward reviews Wilder! at the Etcetera Theatre This barely categorisable play written by its leading actors Thomas Billiouw and Dany Van Brabant deserves to be seen by a wider audience than can cram into the tiny Etcetera Theatre. The punning title must surely include an homage to […]
Simon Ward reviews Continuity at The Cockpit Theatre As a technology entrepreneur, we can take it that the insights that David Sear shares in this dystopian satirical black comedy are based on concepts being seriously considered in the world of the tech bros. Set in 2034, the world […]
Simon Ward reviews Old Fat F**k Up at the Riverside Studios Olly Hawes has set up camp at the Riverside Studios – as well as this show, in a week or so, he will be alternating performances with his previous play F**king Legend so he must be doing […]
Simon Ward reviews Daddy’s First Gay Date at the Seven Dials Playhouse Rather touchingly listed on the venue’s website as ‘Writer, Producer and Ben’ this show is clearly Sam Danson’s baby. Billed as a romantic comedy, much humour is found in the culture clash between the straight world […]
Simon Ward reviews We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it: and I guess that’s now at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre Sometimes playwrights decide to lean into the idea of Fringe and give their work a title such as this one that could never grace a […]
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 […]
Simon Ward reviews Monster at the Seven Dials Playhouse Abigail Hood’s play, Monster, is set over a twenty year period in Glasgow. It centres on the lives of two girls, teenagers when we first meet them, Kayleigh Grey (played by Hood herself) and Zoe Douglas (Lauren Downie). They […]
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 […]
Simon Ward reviews BuzzFest at the Wanstead Curtain Theatre As chestnuts are falling from the trees and an autumnal chill is in the air, writer-director Marissa Landy’s ode to the summer musical festival season lands in a sweetly nostalgic moment. Much like the reluctant revellers at the end […]