The Golden Age of Circus: Contemporary Circus is all the rage lately; Barnum & Bailey’s film ‘The Greatest Showman’ is an international hit, and the rise once again of circus arts is very apparent. Over the past few years, I have found myself thrilling to a whole new the world of entertainment – one which […]
That Night Follows Day at the Southbank Centre
That Night Follows Day – a production by Tim Etchells & Forced Entertainment A Family Affair… Christmastime – perhaps more than any other time – evokes a sentimentalised childhood, a familial idyll that bears poignant relation to the complex, ambivalent truths of actual experience. What better time to see this touching theatre production of ‘That […]
The Merry Wives of Windsor – RSC
RSC at the Barbican – The Merry Wives of Windsor: The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of Shakespeare’s less frequently performed comedies and was my first viewing of this play. But even if I had seen it before, I would not have been prepared for the RSC’s wonderfully uplifting and hilarious production, directed by […]
Aladdin at the Hackney Empire – Review
Pantomime in East London – Aladdin: Love it or hate it, pantomime season is well and truly upon us…. Panto is a quintessentially British institution, but it was in fact developed from the Italian street theatre of the commedia dell’arte in the 16th Century. Here in Britain, we have made it a very Christmassy tradition […]
The Night Before Christmas – Review
The Night Before Christmas at the Southwark Playhouse: Are you already feeling jaded by all the marketing hype that Christmas brings? Had enough of Wham!? Seen A Christmas Carol umpteen times? Or just not ‘feeling it’? We may have found the perfect little pick-you-up play now on at the Southwark Playhouse. Written by […]
BOYS – The Pappy Show
BOYS review at the New Diorama Theatre As a woman, I am forever questioning the mystery of man… But surely the messages boys are fed from an early age about the world’s perceptions of manhood must be very confusing. It can’t be easy to navigate the expectations of masculinity perpetuated by society, or the strong […]
Hadestown at the National Theatre – review
Hades is coming to town… Hamilton eat your hat, Hades is coming to town. If Hades is king of the Underworld, Hermes is the king of Soul. And Soul is what this play exudes, in bucket loads. From the moment Hermes (the brilliant Andre De Shields) walks on stage in his 70’s silver grey shiny […]
Drowned or Saved?
Review – Drowned or Saved by Geoffrey Williams: Drowned or Saved?, a new play written and directed by Geoffrey Williams, was the most harrowing 75 minutes I have spent in the theatre in many years. A play of visceral and psychic pain, it depicts Primo Levi’s attempt to complete a new story while he struggles […]
China National Peking Opera Company at Sadler’s Wells – Review
Peking Opera Classics at Sadler’s Wells: I’m a big opera fan but have to confess that when I was asked to review the China National Peking Opera Company at Sadler’s Wells, I had no real sense of whether it going to be Mozart in Mandarin or a more indigenous form of entertainment. I went the troupe of 65 performers […]
Macbeth at the Barbican – Review:
Royal Shakespeare Company production of Macbeth – Barbican Arts Centre: Macbeth is a startlingly gruesome play. It begins with the ending of a war but the slaying of the great and the good, adults, families and children alike, continues throughout. By the bloody end of the play, both the actors and the audience are exhausted […]