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 […]
Simon Ward reviews Dagmarr’s Dimanche at the Crazy Coqs The louche 1930s glamour of the Crazy Coqs in the Brasserie Zédel is arguably the best place in London to experience a real cabaret experience. A smallish room dotted with tables, champagne and cocktails readily available throughout from the […]
Simon Ward reviews A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Southwark Playhouse Borough Since the turn of the millennium, Southwark Playhouse has been re-imagining the great works of the Shakespearean canon to create versions which can engage younger audiences, with the aim of bewitching them with the power of […]
Simon Ward reviews Lorna Rose Treen: 24 Hour Diner People at the Soho Theatre As the autumnal gloom envelops tube strike-ridden London, it is an absolute delight to escape into the garish world of Lorna Rose Treen’s Blue Tit Diner. The upbeat soundtrack as the audience gathers sets […]
Simon Ward reviews Tango in Silk at the Etcetera Theatre The first thing to note about Xi Liu’s Tango in Silk dance piece is that it is very short, perhaps ten minutes long. It is perhaps best understood as a showcase for what Liu (along with partner Mingcong […]
Simon Ward reviews Romeo and Juliet – The Hate Story at the Hen and Chickens Theatre Directed by Annie Araba, this is the debut play of Brazilian writer-performer-producer Lucas Luan Lima. He and co-star George Bird play Romeo and Juliet, plus a number of the other characters familiar […]
Simon Ward reviews TWO at the Greenwich Theatre For this revival of Jim Cartwright’s 1989 play, the Greenwich Theatre has been transformed into a pub of that era, The Clock and Compass, with nostalgic soundtrack to match. This doubles as the theatre’s own bar before the show and […]
Simon Ward reviews Improv The Dead at The Bridewell Theatre One of the joys of a Fringe festival is, of course, to move out of one’s comfort zone and try out something a bit different. I confess that the danger element of improvisational theatre has often left me […]
Simon Ward reviews Fickle Eulogy at the Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street, London N1 1RL Debuting at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, Nikol Kollars’s devastating solo show, directed by Javier Galitó-Cava, is now running at The Hope under the aegis of the Camden Fringe. It is clearly a […]
Simon Ward reviews Don’t Shoot The Messenger at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre Co-writers Daniel Camou and Sam Plumbe have billed their new Camden Fringe show as ‘an office comedy of Shakespearean proportions’. For me, this works as the former, but the Shakespeare factor is rather limited. As […]