Tag: Fringe Theatre

★★★★ Unbeatable Night Out

Simon Ward reviews £1 Thursdays at the Finborough Theatre A word about the venue. The Peg spends much of its time celebrating the glory that is London’s thriving fringe theatre scene, much of which revolves around tiny stages in rooms above pubs. The symbiotic relationship between drinking and […]

★★★★Mad About The Boy

Simon Ward reviews The Boy at Soho Theatre The blackboard outside the theatre, and the theatre staff, warn as one enters that Joakim Daun’s beguiling new play deals with sensitive issues – a warning all the more ominous for being so vague. And, indeed, the themes touched upon […]

★★★★Oor Wullie is back

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 […]

★★★★You Say You Want A Revolution…

Simon Ward reviews Lessons On Revolution at the Hope Theatre In this thrilling and thought-provoking piece of documentary theatre, writer-performers Samuel Rees (Sam) and Gabriele Uboldi (Gab) skilfully, wittily and movingly weave together a narrative which encompasses, among many other things, Cecil Rhodes and his conquest and exploitation […]

★★★The World Isn’t Listening

Simon Ward reviews in|Secure at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre As a Ukrainian who moved to the UK some six months before Russia’s invasion of her country, Valery Reva has created her own one-woman black comedy about the war, in a deeply personal exploration of the challenges currently […]

★★★★ A Heady Cocktail

Simon Ward reviews Getaway/Runaway at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre There is always a frisson of excitement when the actors are already on stage as the audience enters the auditorium. Sometimes there is some business going on, perhaps even a bit of audience participation. But, when, as here, […]

★★★ More Questions Than Answers

Simon Ward reviews Where Have All Our Women Gone? at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre Elizabeth Huskisson is the driving force behind this. As writer, director, producer and performer, it is clearly a deeply personal piece. She is utterly committed to it and determined to get her message across, […]

★★★★The Pleasure Is All Ours

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 […]

★★★★Macbeth Mayhem

Simon Ward reviews The Tragedy of Macbeth at Southwark Playhouse. Flabbergast Theatre have spent years working and re-working this noisy, exuberant, muscular and unnerving version of Shakespeare’s infamous Scottish play. Entering the auditorium is like stumbling onto the enactment of an ancient pagan ritual in a woodland clearing. Characters […]