Mental health drama packs a musical punch As the audience filters into the Kiln ahead of Maimuna Memon’s Manic Street Creature, the band lingers on stage adjusting mics, tuning instruments, chatting quietly. They seem like casual musicians testing the atmosphere before a set; this could be a scene from a pub night, an indie festival, […]
Marie and Rosetta at @sohoplace
A joyful story of musical kinship “Electricity ain’t nothing new,” says gospel-rock pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe as she swings a guitar amp onto the stage. Marie Knight, a wary church singer and Tharpe’s new protégé, looks sceptical. Tharpe is only half right. Yes, there are plug sockets all over 1940s Mississippi, but Monique Touko’s production […]
Broken Glass – Young Vic
Arthur Miller’s play resonates with our times Arthur Miller’s Olivier award-winning play, Broken Glass, does not appear regularly on the London stage. It played at the National Theatre in 1994, at the Tricycle (now Kiln) in 2010 and in Watford in 2018. The current run at Young Vic is bookended by the brilliant production of […]
Bird Grove – Hampstead Theatre
Finding a voice amidst societal expectations Bird Grove is the story of a young woman, fascinated by books and ideas, who breaks free of societal expectations to pursue a career as a writer. That writer was George Eliot, but she does not yet assume that identity in the course of the play. Written by Alexi […]
Deep Azure at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
A hip-hop-infused epic with timely resonance Actor and playwright Chadwick Boseman is internationally known for his 2018 role in Marvel’s Black Panther blockbuster. Boseman died in 2020, two months before George Floyd was suffocated by Derek Chauvin, a Minnesotan police officer, sparking the global Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. While Boseman’s play, Deep Azure, was […]
The Shitheads at Royal Court Theatre
A tumble through dark prehistory Quentin Tarantino is Hollywood’s prophet of violence. His knack for purifying stories into gory climaxes is notorious in modern cinema. Yet, upstairs at the Royal Court in the intimate Jerwood Theatre, Jack Nicholls’s debut play, The Shitheads, gives Quentin a run for his money. The Shitheads is part period piece, […]
I’m Sorry Prime Minister – Apollo Theatre
I’m Sorry, Prime Minister opens in the West End, and Sir Humphrey still runs circles around everyone Last night’s press night at the Apollo Theatre confirmed something London-theatre audiences have quietly suspected: you can retire Jim Hacker, but you can never slam the door on Sir Humphrey Appleby. I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, billed as the […]
Here There Are Blueberries – Stratford East
Gripping documentary-style theatre unpacks Nazi photo album revelations Not just a casual bucolic scene, the title Here There Are Blueberries is a translated caption from a genuine Nazi photo album: Hier gibt es Blaubeeren. The grainy black and white snap depicted a picnic of SS officers and female Helferinnen support staff relaxing at a chalet […]
Man and Boy at the Dorfman Theatre
Rattigan Redux We are in the throes of something approaching a Terence Rattigan revival. Last year, The Deep Blue Sea came to London from Bath with Tamsin Greig in the lead role and received flattering reviews, and In Praise of Love ran for a month at the Orange Tree in Richmond. There has even been […]
MILES – Southwark Playhouse Borough
Past and present collide in a bold theatrical work inspired by the life and legacy of Miles Davis and his musical influences 2026 marks 100 years since the birth of seminal jazz pioneer Miles Davis. For somebody considered to be one of the greatest legends of jazz music, it is surprising how little screen or […]