Genre: Theatre 0
Review: Decision – An Irish Dance Play
Joyous, poignant and inventive fusion of theatre and Irish dance.
Review: The Endling
Curious for the curious, entertaining, enlightening, witty, humorous and thought provoking.
Review: Earwig
A fast-paced elegant exploration of female emancipation in the 1920’s world of entomology (things with wings that sting!)
Review: Ghislaine/Gabler
A spell binding multi layered exploration of privilege, entitlement, and the desire to control…
Review: Tinted
A drama about blurred lines of consent as a young visually impaired woman negotiates sex and relationships.
Review: One of Two
Wry, poetic and just plain angry - a comedy drama from a young Scot about him, his twin and why life has treated them differently.
Review: Horse Country
A highly entertaining double act who breathe new life into this modern classic
Review: Wilf
: Profound, hilarious comedy where gay tart Calvin tries to sort out his life and mental health with the help Wilf, a rusty Volkswagen polo.
Review: Winston and David
A beautifully told story of the truest of friendships, cultivated in unlikely circumstances
Review: The MP, Aunty Mandy and Me
A young gay man from a small northern village gets sucked into the heady world of working for his local MP, and faces many big dilemmas.
Review: Around the World with Nellie Bly
An intrepid 19th century traveller in the hands of a first class 20th century story teller. A perfect reminder than adventures aren’t just for boys!
Review: The Last Return
A highly entertaining ensemble performance that is a masterclass in characterisation and comedic timing
Review: Truth’s a Dog that must to Kennel
'Stand up meets metaverse' - Bravo, Tim Crouch, the Fool we need to interpret our sad, new world.
Review: The Kettling
Highly effective piece of youth theatre drama ostensibly covering climate change but including a whole lot more
Review: Beneath
A highly interesting absurdist environmental performance with an intense message given air from under the ocean
Review: Boris the Third
A lighthearted telling of Boris Johnson’s less than successful acting career. Slapstick abounds!
Review: 9 Circles
A monster play of words and ideas that leaves you speechless. Astute, political and personal.
Review: Admiral
A compelling and important subject brought to life by the charismatic Christopher Tajah
Review: Far Gone
Emotional honesty, physical dexterity and an engrossing story fuel this extraordinary coming of age story
Review: Self Service
Original idea, well developed and crafted. Mild-mannered delivery is refreshing!
Review: Velvet Determination
A musical journey through the challenges and career development of a gifted pianist
Review: Jesus, Jane, Mother & Me
A Brilliant Fringe Acting Debut in a Scintillating and Ultimately Shocking Play.
Review: War of the Worlds (On a Budget)
The unmissable, definitive version of a a budget-driven War of the Worlds
Review: Move Fast and Break Things
Intriguing impactful story, characters and fascinating video and puppetry!
Review: All Of Us
As Ken Tynan once said of another debut, I don’t think I could love someone who doesn’t love this play.
Review: Mary, Chris, Mars
Imaginative - and will appeal to families with an interest in space, astronauts and object/shadow puppetry.
Review: The Tempest
A joyous production, that without its gimmicky close, could certainly furnish a way in for many
Review: The Poison Belt
So what could a Sussex-based sci-fi tale of 1913 by Conan Doyle – a space-borne poison belt of gas that hits the earth – possibly have to do with the week of the greatest temperatures known in the UK?
Review: Much Ado About Nothing
This isn’t the most revelatory Much Ado, but the most consummate and complete for a while.
Review: Communicating Doors
An excellent revival and the best chance to see this remarkable thriller-cum-farce-cum-meditation.
Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
An exciting sense of being at the cusp of a new generation. There’s no knowing where this Dream might end.
Review: Dad’s Army
You feel you’ve been part of an invited audience at one of the original TV productions
Review: Shake the City
A real play bursting out of its hour-plus length; with complex interaction, uncertain journeys, each character developing a crisis of isolation only resolved by sisterhood
Review: Julius Caesar
If you’re a habitual groundling, go before this production vanishes back on tour
Review: Waitress
Halfpenny raises soaring music theatre, an ounce of gold in the throat and stars six inches above it.
Review: The Dance of Death
Highlights the truth of its bleak laughter. Humane Strindberg. Now there’s a thing.
Review: King Lear
Rarely has a Cordelia and Fool scaled such equal terms with such a Lear, rendering a kind of infinity.
Review: That Is Not Who I Am
Lucy Kirkwood prophesies what’s in store with savage fury, and no-one’s exempt, least of all her.
Review: The Southbury Child
Perfectly freighted; each character pitched with just enough choice to make us wonder what life, not Stephen Beresford will do with them. Outstanding.
Review: The False Servant
It’s not just gender-swerving but role-swerving that threatens sexual and social order. Surprises light up even the last fade.
Review: Cluedo
An object lesson in comic timing; a steep cut above the ‘real’ whodunnits we’re likely to see this year or next.
Review: Cancelling Socrates
Howard Brenton touching eighty is at the height of his powers. Tom Littler has assembled a pitch-perfect cast, reuniting two from his outstanding All’s Well. This too.
Review: Consent
Raine balances articulate ferocity with its opposite: a broken plea. Scott Roberts’ revival improves on the NT premiere. In his hands Consent’s a small classic.
Review: Henry VIII
A wonderful score and musicians, above all Bea Segura’s titanic act of shrivelling, make this a must-see.
Review: The Father and the Assassin
There’s no finer dramatisation of India’s internal conflicts. Shubham Saraf’s Gandhi-killer Godse stands out in this thrilling ensemble and storms it too.
Review: The Last
Chittenden’s done a great service not only to Mary Shelley’s novel, but to the way we imagine. And Amy Kidd’s exemplary.
Review: Straight Line Crazy
Danny Webb gives the performance of his life. Ralph Fiennes is coiled majesty. Two-and-a-half hours of such material have rarely been so thrilling.
Review: Underdogs
The latest play by Brian Mitchell (Lord God, Ministry of Biscuits) and Joseph Nixon (The Shark is Broken)
Review: Airswimming
Superb revival of Charlotte Jones’s play about two women incarcerated for fifty years for bring different. With a standing ovation of such force that convention had to be broken with the actors forced back on stage.
Review: Marys Seacole
No simple swapping of heirs and originals, but a dream of the future by Seacole, or equally present dreams raking the past. Do see this.
Review: Moral Panic
A film censor navigates turbulent times in his work and at home - a comic one-hander with some horror thrown in.
Review: Cock
A superb revival of Bartlett’s warmest, most ground-breaking, perhaps most enduring play so far.
Review: A Very Great Mischief
Winner of the Rialto New Writing Scratch 2020. Look out for this play when it returns.
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: Hay Fever
An exceptional production in so many ways, this Hay Fever boasts some superb acting, on occasion great aplomb
