Following hot on the heels of his success with Pornography at Sedos, brilliant young director Chris Davis has scored another hit with this extraordinary production of a play which caused such controversy at its first run in London that it was banned. I don’t know whether The Children’s […]
This play is diverting and entertaining but entirely unremarkable – most notably let down by the hackneyed phrases and unoriginal dialogue of Gavin Davis’ script which is full of rehashed scenarios and family dynamics. The play begins at an interview in a therapist’s office where dialogue between Chris […]
After the success of last summer’s ‘DNA’, ‘The Young Pretenders’ are back with their contribution to the National Theatre Connections 500 Festival, with their performance of Stacey Gregg’s ‘I’m Spilling My Heart Out Here’; a fairly shallow play about the trivial difficulties of teenage life. The script […]
This is a play of dual narratives, the stage dominated by two monolithic vertical sections of railway tracks. In 1973, sullen teen Dinah (Hannah Stephens) arrives from care to be fostered by batty but endearing widow, Lotte (Juliet Welch). In World War II, Lotte (Hannah Stephens) is sent […]
With the distinctively unique smell of dry ice clogging my nostrils I shuffled down the isle of seats in the gloomy half-light of the Arcola theatre. Musing away the minutes before the show started, I dwelt on previous theatre experiences; dry ice always puts me in mind of […]
Armed with the pretentious opinion that no vocalisation can ever do justice to the beauty of Wilde’s words, and the somewhat contradictory conviction I was going to thoroughly enjoy the evening’s performance, I sank into the seats of Trafalgar’s small, intimate theatre. I admit I was filled with […]
A play about the 7/7 bombings shouldn’t be synonymous with pornography, and yet this play provides an explicit window into the world of Londoners that, whilst not titillating, is engrossing. We meet a series of characters that are seemingly unconnected, starting with a working mother [Bex Parker-Smith] whose […]
Revenge is a dish best served cold goes the saying, and this is a particularly chilling tale. Carla and Heather are two women from distinct social worlds. The only thing they have in common is their attendance of the same secondary school, and even that experience sets them […]
The strong profile of Assyrian general Holofernes greets the audience as we enter the theatre. Already on stage, Holofernes silently contemplates the row of stone heads lining the back wall which we later learn represent real heads taken as trophies of slaughter on a middle eastern battlefield. Howard […]
The State vs John Hayes details the final hour of the convicted murderess/murderer (I say this as she brings a whole new meaning to idea of gender neutrality and fluidity of persona) Elyese Dukie as she awaits the electric chair. Over the course of this hour we are […]