BWW Review: 3WOMEN, Trafalgar StudiosMay 19, 2018Katy Brand makes her playwriting debut at Trafalgar Studios with 3Women, a supposedly progressive play which unfortunately falls into the pit of problematic feminism. Written with the right spirit and presenting a very tongue-in-cheek script with plenty of funny one-liners and biting characters, the play doesn't rise up to the occasion.
BWW Review: GREAT BRITISH MYSTERIES?, Soho TheatreMay 15, 2018Will Close and Rose Robinson explore monsters, myths, and Scotland in their exhilarating Great British Mysteries?. Directed by Joseph Hancock and following a sold-out run in Edinburgh back in 2017, the show is presented as a live-action mockumentary. Video projections aid the performers, who are righteously and rather pleasantly exasperating.
BWW Interview: Sudha Bhuchar Talks RETRACING OUR FOOTSTEPSMay 14, 2018Actress, playwright, and founder of Bhuchar Boulevard Sudha Bhuchar is curating three nights of play readings with her sister Suman at Royal Court Theatre A celebration of British/South Asian playwrights, the three nights see Partap Sharma's A Touch of Brightness, Hanif Kureishi's Borderline, and Harwarnt Bains' Blood presented along with panel discussions.
BWW Review: LIFE AND FATE, Theatre Royal HaymarketMay 10, 2018Vasily Gossman's novel Life and Fate lands on the Theatre Royal Haymarket's stage in all its glory. Presented by St Petersburg's Maly Drama Theatre in Russian with English surtitles, the production has an earthy and raw vibe. Lev Dodin pens and directs the adaptation, which was born directly in rehearsals back in 2007 when the whole company improvised their way through the 700 pages of the original book.
BWW Review: THE FALL, Southwark PlayhouseMay 4, 2018Commissioned as part of National Youth Theatre's 60th anniversary in 2016, James Fritz's The Fall takes a candid look at young people's relationship to their elders mixing humour with a deeper contemplation of life and death.
BWW Review: TOMORROW AT NOON, Jermyn Street TheatreMay 2, 2018As soon as their Reaction Season was announced in autumn 2017, Jermyn Street Theatre launched a competition to all identifying as female playwrights; submissions were open and 390 anonymous people sent in a five-page scene responding to Noel Coward's Still Life. The winners - Morna Young, Emma Harding, and Jenny Ayres - were then commissioned a one-act play engaging with Coward's Tonight at 8:30, which resulted in Tomorrow at Noon.
BWW Review: WET, Theatre N16April 30, 2018Holly (Tamsin Newlands) and Sophie (Claire Heverin) are aspiring (and broke) filmmakers. Frustrated by their sex lives and the lack of female-lead porn, they find themselves writing an erotic film of their own. Written by Grace Carroll and Bryony Cole, Wet is politely funny with a couple ingenious directorial hints.
BWW Review: MASTERPIECES, Finborough TheatreApril 27, 2018Originally produced at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in 1983, Sarah Daniels' Masterpieces is revived on commission by Finborough Theatre. Progressive and revolutionary in the past, now it becomes sticky and frigid. Its three middle class couples do a lot of talking but lack action, taking the high road to make a point that's eventually missed.
BWW Review: THE PHLEBOTOMIST, Hampstead TheatreApril 26, 2018When Bea (Jade Anouka) and Aaron (Rory Fleck Byrne) meet, they both think they've found happiness. He's intelligent, handsome, and with a high rating, she's a phlebotomist in a centre dedicated to blood testing. Char's (Cherrelle Skeete) existence is on the line because of the test, so she turns to her close friend Bea for help. In a world where your genetic profile determines and threatens quality of life, employability, and rights, human relationships turn into a simple game of numbers.
BWW Review: THE WRITER, Almeida TheatreApril 24, 2018Ella Hickson premieres The Writer, a new momentous play about the patriarchal cage of the theatre business. After the success of Oil in 2016, she challenges the status quo through a young writer who wants to change the world. While her character is being kept down by the narcissistic tendencies of the industry, she soars with a metaphoric and poetic piece.
BWW Review: TONIGHT AT 8:30, Jermyn Street TheatreApril 22, 2018Jermyn Street Theatre's Artistic Director Tom Littler brings to the stage Noel Coward's cycle of one-act plays in three ravishing triple bills. Tonight at 8:30 marks the biggest and most ambitious project in the theatre's life, but Littler makes it look like a walk in the park.
Michael Grandage Introduces His Revival Of RED At Wyndham's TheatreApril 19, 2018Director Michael Grandage is reviving Red by John Logan, it opens at the Wyndham Theatre on the 15th of May and it sees Alfred Molina reprising his role as Mark Rothko and How To Get Away With Murder star Alfred Enoch as his assistant Ken. We were recently invited to snoop around the rehearsal room while Grandage disclosed his relationship with the show and why it's crucial to bring it to the stage now more than ever.
BWW Interview: Alfred Molina and Alfred Enoch Talk REDApril 23, 2018Alfred Molina is reprising his role as Mark Rothko in John Logan's play Red, teaming up once again with director Michael Grandage for the first London revival (and West End premiere). He's joined by How To Get Away With Murder star Alfred Enoch.
BWW Review: THE COMEDY ABOUT A BANK ROBBERY, Criterion TheatreApril 13, 2018The Comedy About a Bank Robbery celebrate their second birthday amidst a tsunami of laughter. The new cast members shine while the veterans have the comedy locked down to perfection. 'Everyone is a crook' in Minneapolis in the late 50s, so when City Bank is entrusted with protecting a diamond worth half a million dollars, escaped convict Mitch Ruscitti sets off to steal it. Love triangles, mistaken identities, and various unfortunate gimmicks lead the characters on a laugh-out-loud adventure.
BWW Review: THE COUNTRY WIFE, Southwark PlayhouseApril 5, 2018Director Luke Fredericks gives a new spin to William Wycherley's salacious comedy The Country Wife, taking it from its original Restoration setting to the crackling Roaring 20s. Sprinkled with anachronistic nudges, shirtless scenes, and a luxurious set and costume design by Stewart Charlesworth, the show has plenty of different kinds of eye-candy.