Review: THE DEVIL MAY CARE, Southwark Playhouse
by Cindy Marcolina - January 14, 2025
The American production of George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil's Disciple was, famously, the first financial success for the Irish writer. Though originally set during the Revolutionary era, Director Mark Giesser adapts it to a later war, perhaps in an attempt to modernise its themes and draw a parallel...
Review: THE MAIDS, Jermyn Street Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - January 11, 2025
French dramatist Jean Genet is a rarity on British stages, and I can see why. There are more popular writers that do what he does, only better. Genet’s 1947 The Maids is never stark enough to match the claustrophobic brutality of Beckett, nor darkly comic enough to out menace Pinter....
Review: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 1936, Trafalgar Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - January 10, 2025
Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts are getting a foothold in London’s East End. Shylock, here a single parent, requests a pound of flesh from Antonio, part of Mosley’s aficionados, in order to clear his debts. The demands of the Jewish moneylender who’s endlessly abused in public by the same people who req...
Review: BELLY OF THE BEAST, Finborough Theatre
by Tsitsi Tsopotsa - January 13, 2025
This world premiere, directed by Dadlow Lin, strips away theatrical artifice to focus on the raw humanity of its characters, delivering a powerful commentary on how schools struggle to adapt to evolving understandings of gender identity....
Review Roundup: Did TITANÍQUE Sink or Swim in the West End?
by Aliya Al-Hassan - January 10, 2025
When the music of Céline Dion makes sweet Canadian love with the eleven-time Oscar®-winning film Titanic, you get Titaníque, New York’s most award-winning splash hit that turns one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical musical fantasia....
Review: COLIN HOULT: COLIN, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - January 13, 2025
Colin Hoult: Colin is a show in which Hoult tells the audience the story of his life, beginning with the origins of his name (he was named after his father, referred to as “Big Colin”) and leading to having children of his own (not named Colin). We learn about his childhood obsession with Elvis, and...
Review: TITANÍQUE, Criterion Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - January 10, 2025
What started as one-night showing in Los Angeles, after docking on Broadway, in Canada and Australia, Titaníque has now sailed into London. Based on the idea that global pop icon Céline Dion was actually the hero of the 1997 James Cameron film, Titanic, the absurdity of this dazzlingly camp and fran...
Review: BILL BAILEY: THOUGHTIFIER, Theatre Royal Haymarket
by Aliya Al-Hassan - January 06, 2025
A comedian, a musician, a nature-lover, a philosopher. Bill Bailey has now surely also cemented his status as national treasure. His latest show, Thoughtifier, is about his intriguing thought processes, channelled through music. So nothing new there then. However, Bailey ensures that a show that run...
Review: ROB COPLAND: GIMME (ONE WITH EVERYTHING), Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - January 06, 2025
Rob Copland: Gimme (One With Everything) begins with quite the introduction, with Copland not actually beginning the storytelling of the show for several minutes. Before the show, I had seen Copland doing some warmup stretches, which quickly made sense once he ran onto the stage, jumping around and ...