BWW Review: WHAT A CARVE UP!, OnlineNovember 2, 2020At a time when live theatre has again been yanked from our grasp, the joint efforts of The Barn Theatre, The New Wolsey Theatre and The Lawrence Batley theatre to produce an adaptation of Jonathan Coe’s What a Carve Up! is a welcome tonic amidst such ever-darkening days.
BWW Review: TONIGHT AT THE LONDON COLISEUM: SHARON D. CLARKE, London ColiseumSeptember 18, 2020FFew performers in the industry are on top of their game like Sharon D Clarke right now. After storming performances in Caroline, or Change and Blues in the Night in London, Clarke was in rehearsals for the former show on Broadway when COVID-19 hit. From the London Coliseum, she now begins a series of online cabarets, Tonight at the London Coliseum, with brio and passion.
The Shows That Made Us: FOLLIESSeptember 23, 2020I owe a lot to Follies - friendships with fans and actors and occasional pieces of journalism have resulted from the show - but it made me realise how transformative live theatre can be. Thinking about it, it's ironic that a show signalling the death of old Broadway should ignite such a passion, but isn't that the point of Follies?
BWW Review: THE DEEP BLUE SEA, National Theatre At HomeJuly 10, 2020The latest NT at Home digital offering is Terence Rattigan's 1952 play The Deep Blue Sea, which was performed at the National Theatre in 2016. Directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring the indomitable Helen McCrory, this post-war microcosm bristles with desperate passion.
BWW Review: THE GRINNING MAN, Bristol Old Vic At HomeJune 27, 2020a?oeAnd so we find ourselves gathered once again at the altar of sweet distractiona?? purrs Julian Bleach's Barkilphedro, an ambitious court clown, at the beginning of The Grinning Man, a new musical with book and lyrics by Carl Grose and music by Tim Philips. If only, you might think: being in a theatre would do more than put a smile on my face right now.
BWW Interview: Robert Glenister Talks THE SEAGULL at the Playhouse TheatreMarch 12, 2020Robert Glenister is currently treading the boards at the Playhouse Theatre in Anya Reiss's adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull. Starring alongside Game of Thrones's Emilia Clarke and Indira Varma, The Seagull marks Glenister's second production with director Jamie Lloyd. Glenister's recent theatre credits include Alys, Always at the Bridge Theatre and Pinter Four as part of Lloyd's Pinter at the Pinter season. BroadwayWorld spoke with Glenister about the production, adapting Chekhov, and the importance of star casting for commercial theatre.
BWW Review: WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN, Sam Wanamaker PlayhouseFebruary 28, 2020Following the lacklustre reception of The Taming of the Shrew, Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women opens in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as part of the Globe's continuing 'She Wolves and Shrews' season. Where Shakespeare's play showed a woman tamed, however, Middleton explores the unbridled rage and fallout of women scorned.
BWW Review: THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, Dominion TheatreFebruary 25, 2020When you think of theatre, what shows come to mind? An obvious answer may well be Wicked. The writer of songs such as 'Defying Gravity' and 'Popular', Stephen Schwartz is for many the epitome of musical theatre. But cast your mind back to before Wicked and remember The Prince of Egypt, a 1998 animated film for which Schwartz penned 'When You Believe'. Now at the Dominion Theatre and bolstered with 10 songs penned by Schwartz, a new adaptation of the 1990s DreamWorks film defies little other than entertainment.
Michael Billington Talks About His Career at the National TheatreFebruary 25, 2020At a platform at the National Theatre on a blustery February evening, Michael Billington spoke with artistic director Rufus Norris about his career and processes. Billington stepped down from his role as chief theatre critic of the Guardian, a position he held for 48 years, at the end of 2019.
BWW Review: PASS OVER, Kiln TheatreFebruary 20, 2020After you have seen Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over, you might give a second thought to the next street beggar you see and, probably, ignore.
BWW Interview: Kevin Mathurin Talks THE VISIT at the National TheatreFebruary 19, 2020Kevin Mathurin is currently appearing in The Visit, Tony Kushner's adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play of the same name at the National Theatre. Mathurin plays Bill, one of the inhabitants of Slurry tempted by Claire Zachanassian's offer of a billion dollars in exchange for the murder of one man...
BWW Review: THE HIGH TABLE, Bush TheatreFebruary 15, 2020Love was in the air at the Bush Theatre this Valentine's Day with the opening of Temi Wilkey's new play The High Table. A heartfelt drama that spans generations of a Nigerian family, this is a confident debut.
BWW Review: THE HAYSTACK, Hampstead TheatreFebruary 7, 2020Terrorism. Online security. Passwords. Encryption. Cookies. These are all familiar terms in the modern world. Odds are, as audiences take their seats in the Hampstead Theatre to watch Al Blyth's new play The Haystack, they'll finish a text or quickly dash out an e-mail before turning off their phones. The walls have ears, they used to say a?' but now, the threat seems much closer, with the objects we rely on daily becoming tools to invade our privacy. But is this a necessary evil?
BWW Interview: Debbie Kurup Talks THE PRINCE OF EGYPT in the West EndFebruary 10, 2020Debbie Kurup's recent roles include Blues in the Night at the Kiln Theatre), Sweet Charity at Donmar Warehouse), and Girl from the North Country at the Old Vic and in the West End. Kurup is now in Stephen Schwartz's The Prince of Egypt at the Dominion Theatre, playing the role of Queen Tuya. She spoke to BroadwayWorld about self-representation, the large scale of the show, and the theatrical magic that awaits audiences.
BWW Review: FAUSTUS: THAT DAMNED WOMAN, Lyric HammersmithJanuary 28, 2020If like many you find yourself wishing you could change the world right now, you might want to first pop down to the Lyric Hammersmith to see Chris Bush's Faustus: That Damned Woman. Taking Christopher Marlowe's Renaissance play and bringing parts of it into the twenty-first century, Bush's new work reminds audiences that dealings with the devil always ever benefit one person. Hint: it's not you or me.
BWW Review: THE SUNSET LIMITED, Boulevard TheatreJanuary 25, 2020a?oeWhat is a true book?a?? Cormac McCarthy's early attempts to distinguish the nature of fiction in The Sunset Limited are, at the very least, ironic. A programme essay from Joe Penhall suggests the difficulty of the play form is the reason McCarthy has only ever had two performed. To be blunt, it shows.