FringeReview UK

1.17am, or until the words run out

A cracking debut that picks you up and never lets go. Like any play that gifts us believable characters, it leaves you wondering what life, not just Hunter Gordon, will do with them. Highly recommended.

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Aether

Exciting, boppy, mind-enlarging, sometimes thrilling

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After Miss Julie

Provocative, absorbing take on Strindberg’s 1888 masterpiece. Fine cast led by Liz Francis make much of demob denouements.

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Being Mr Wickham

In the afterglow of Austen’s 250, it’s an outstanding must-see.

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Between the River and the Sea

Recognizing humanity is a mingled yarn mightn’t sound revelatory. Nor what we want to take away. But it’s what we need.

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Bitch Boxer

A superb revival. Catch it.

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Dear Jack, Dear Louise

The war’s an all-too-convincing plotter. Absorbing, a must-see.

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Edward II

Alex Pearson has devised an Edward II that’s fleet, clear, crisply compelling and as sly as Marlowe: something other productions could profit from.

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Guess How Much I Love You?

Rosie Sheehy and Robert Aramayo are phenomenal and wholly believable. Norris’s next play will be worth seeking out, after such an outstanding debut.

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Heart Wall

One of the most remarkable reveals in recent theatre, and makes this play an absolutely compelling must-see.

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Iphigenia

Pacing is fleet, inexorable, even with those frozen minutes of contemporary video. Unmissable.

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Last and First Men

A brave and bewitching venture, typically unique to this space.

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Mrs President

Mrs President will continue to haunt and I suspect, develop. Be haunted though.

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Nayatt School Redux

Whatever they are, you hope The Wooster Group haunts us forever.

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The Authenticator

Absorbing, playfully swerving from where it might travel, The Authenticator mildly frustrates, mostly digs you in the ribs with questions. And thoroughly entertains.

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The Gambler

Chiten Theatre intensifies to a point of light here something barbarous, atavistic, and goes to the heart of nihilism. Still outstanding.

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The Old Ladies

A small classic, if not on the scale of The Truth About Blayds, it’s yet another gem. And a must-see.

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The Olive Boy

An extremely fine, and important one-person play, brimming with comedic gambits to open the floodgates.

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The Shitheads

Aa a blazing new voice though The Shitheads packs a flinty punch; and paradoxically heralds a vivid poetic talent. A must-see.

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The Story of Peer Gynt

The Norwegian Ibsen company - and here Kåre Conradi - are doing for Ibsen what Conor Lovett and Gare St Lazare are doing for Beckett. And both are to be found at the Coronet.

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The Waves

A mostly outstanding – and theatrical - adaptation of an almost impossible-to-adapt novel.

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Two

As fine a revival as you’re likely to see in London or the South. It's a classic that, like Road, is more political as it ages gracefully.

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Ukraine Unbroken

An absorbing evening; essential theatre.

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