Genre: Live Literature

Review: Oliver!
There’s not a moment in this two-hours-40 where you’re not at the edge of your seat. The best musical revival this year. Don’t wait till it transfers to the West End.

Review: Play On Shakespeare Globe Wanamaker
An invigorating not to say complicit evening by the end. Whilst I have questions about the limits of the texts used, and the understanding of how the texts developed and still – with some academics – the deeper questions of syntax which some adaptors clearly work with – this is exciting.

Review: Room
As a condensation and enactment of Woolf’s seminal text this can’t be improved on. The outstanding one-person show I’ve seen this Fringe.

Review: Troy Story
Again the most educative stand-up and a thrilling presentation. Oh and bloody funny on war, male sexuality and the Bechdel Test.

Review: Jeeves and Wooster Perfect Nonsense
A professional-standard production, and magnificent start to the 2020s.

Review: Pandora’s Jar/Honour Among Thebes
The most educative stand-up and a thrilling presentation. Oh and bloody funny on the tragedies.

Review: Frankenstein
Imaginative, Exquisitely Haunting and Moving - Visual Storytelling at its best!

Review: John Greening The Silence
The Crypt organisers as well as John Greening really have hit on an ideal recitation.

Review: The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys and The Laments
In nearly every way an outstanding pair of productions.

Review: The Terrors of the Night
Nashe’s 1594 The Terrors of the Night directed by Jason Morell is a stunning one-off. This imaginative enterprise should be developed perhaps with at least one more actor, and certainly enjoy a niche run. It’s a triumph (both early modern and modern senses!) viscerally realized here with music and floating candles. Let it again feast our horrors, curiosity and uneasy laughter.

Review: Brideshead Revisited
Bryony Lavery’s adaptation of Brideshead, the first for the stage dazzles with stagecraft and storyline but something’s lost tail-chasing the detail.

Review: Loud Poets
Bold, loud, passionate and engaging – poetry for the masses with a wonderful energy

Review: Outside the Box: A Live Show about Death
A thought provoking, funny and moving performance by a masterful story teller, requiring us to think carefully about death and dying before it is too late.

Review: David Sedaris: An evening with David Sedaris
A highly amusing trip through the mind of a slightly twisted comic genius