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 […]
Simon Ward reviews How To Break Out Of A Detention Centre at the Riverside Studios This is the world premiere of a piece whose themes and message arguably transcend the world of theatre and render any review meaningless. Performed in many languages by performers passionately and deeply engaged […]
Simon Ward reviews Chekhov’s Dildo at The Hope Theatre If you had never heard Chekhov’s famous dictum regarding the duty owed to the audience by a playwright, ie that it you introduce a gun in the first act, it must be used before the play is over, writer […]
Simon Ward reviews How Not To Drown at Theatre Royal Stratford East This is a powerful and important piece of theatre. It provides a counterblast to the prevailing anti-immigrant rhetoric from the government and commentariat and it offers a personal account of a lived experience which could not […]
Simon Ward reviews Pick n Mix Downstairs at The Pleasance Taking the bare bones of the plot of Kat Rose-Martin’s brilliant debut play, having its London premiere in North London’s Pleasance, could well suggest a dose of kitchen-sink Northern miserabilism. We witness period pains and problems, multiple unplanned […]
Simon Ward reviews Wickies: The Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor at The Park Theatre One chilling aspect of Paul Morrissey’s suspenseful new thriller is that it is based on a true story. On 26th December 1900, a relief ship designated to bring supplies and take one of the […]
Simon Ward reviews Alarms and Excursions at Greenwich Theatre During rehearsals for this production of Michael Frayn’s collection of short plays and sketches, the playwright apparently wrote to the director to query whether the various technological devices which conspire to confound and torment his characters were now too […]
Simon Ward reviews Tomorrow May Be My Last at The Union Theatre This show – described as a ‘music-driven play’ – is not for the faint-hearted. It is a loud, sweaty romp though the all-too-brief life of its inspiration and its star – Janis Joplin – lovingly brought […]
Harry Bignell reviews The Time Machine at The London Library. This interactive adaptation by Jonathan Holloway of HG Well’s classic The Time Machine is a wonderful excuse to prowl the isle and smell the stacks of hardbacks at one of London’s leading literary institutions. Tucked away in the […]
Anna Hadley reviews Teach at Edinburgh Fringe. This is my third year at Edinburgh Fringe, reviewing for the Peg. It’s been a wild ride, from drag cabaret to performance art about urinary incontinence, but I have never seen such an energetic performance as Matthew Robert’s one-man show Teach. […]
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