Tag: fringe

Drag queen Glamrou standing looking out at the viewer wearing a white embroidered dress and silver white wig

★★★Glam Rocks

Simon Ward reviews Glamrou: Drag Mother at the Soho Theatre Drag queen Glamrou is the alter ego of Amrou Al-Kadhi, a British-Iraqi writer, filmmaker and performer. This could be called a loosely autobiographical show – you can’t necessarily believe everything they say, but some of the most outrageously […]

A man with outstretched arm, offering a red rose

★★★★Don’t Look Away

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 […]

Amelia (Andrea Milton-Furlotti) and Cassie (Laura Shipler Chico) embrace under a blanket with a warm glowing light

★★★Nowhere to Hide

Simon Ward reviews Sanctuary at the Hope Theatre Christine Rose’s topical and disturbing new play is premiering in a short run at the Hope in Islington. Directed by Broadway stalwart Donna King and starring Laura Shipler Chico as Cassie and Andrea Milton-Furlotti as Amelia, it presents a vision […]

Stephen Riddle as Carl Jung standing next to Jeremy Drakes as Wolfgang Pauli and extending his arm

★★★Spirits In The Material World

Simon Ward reviews Synchronicity at the White Bear Theatre If you emerge from Arthur I. Miller’s play feeling like you’ve had an intellectual workout, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that Miller is Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London, and this […]

★★★Noir On Sea

Simon Ward reviews Port City Signature at the Hope Theatre Written and co-directed (with Phoebe Rowell John) by Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller, this is a modern riff on a film noir setup – a passing stranger gets embroiled in local skullduggery with tragic consequences. The set (designed by Hannah Williams […]

★★★★Art For Art’s Sake

Simon Ward reviews So Help Me Dog at the Hen and Chickens Theatre It can be excruciating being in the audience at a fringe theatre show, typically in a small room above a pub. If a show is not going well, or simply needs a bigger audience to […]

★★★★Dear England?

Simon Ward reviews English Kings Killing Foreigners at Camden People’s Theatre What is it with theatre makers and audience participation these days? Here it’s of the gentlest, even ironic, kind. I have a vivid memory of the late Anthony Sher bringing the house down as he descended into […]