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Shadow Host
It isn’t a tale of two halves, really; more like one of four uneven quarters. I genuinely enjoyed the first half of the first half: the writing felt sharp, the dialogue quick, the energy alive. Things were actually happening. I wanted to know more. And, with hindsight, a good chunk of that early brilliance may…
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What a load of wobble
Spoiler alert – this is a new play – do not read on if you don’t want to know about what happens There is very little positive to say about Anna Ziegler’s Evening all afternoon at the Donmar. For a play about the importance of connecting, it really does not connect. I suppose it did…
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References in the round
I appreciate that conversations at my dinner table may currently be far removed from most people’s everyday experience. With two children fascinated by religion, philosophy as well as drama, and English literature A-levels and science GCSEs on the go simultaneously, our evening conversations regularly involve debates on the god argument interwoven with circle theorems and…
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Not quite a musical
I am always fascinated that nowadays anything and everything is being turned into a musical. Even Silence of the Lambs, apparently. Conversely, I feel strongly that not everything should be adapted for the stage, so I was somewhat sceptical about booking this show. But having fallen in love with Denise Gough’s performance in People, places…
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More than tropes
The plot is little more than a combination of wedding clichés: a series of interconnecting vignettes set minutes before a wedding is supposed to take place, complete with wedding jitters, dancing on beds, fights, and drinks. Despite the lack of a substantial storyline, I really do not regret going. It was my first “scene‑specific” performance,…
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Grief and guilt
(Spoiler alert – this is a new play, and I do write about what happens in it) This is a 95‑minute play, performed without an interval, high in emotion and very well acted. It follows a young, pregnant couple from their mid‑pregnancy scan, during which they experience the joy of feeling the baby move for…
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First bad crêpe of the year
Even when I don’t particularly enjoy a play, I rarely regret going to the theatre. But Woman in Mind is an exception. The strength of my feelings has nothing to do with the acting. In fact, Sheridan Smith flipping between reality and conjecture was impressive; Romesh Ranganathan as the bumbling doctor – a role that…
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Now
Sir Ian at Richmond Theatre, raising money for the Orange Tree: https://orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/ian-mckellen-26/ Not a play, rather ‘The best of classical music’ or ‘The best opera arias.’ Two plus hours of one of the world’s greatest actors reciting poems and Shakespeare’s prime soliloquies. And all the while Sir Ian makes you feel that this is not…
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In denial
The play unfolds under a sun that becomes a moon that becomes a window, transformed from one to the next by astonishing lighting. The stage is stripped back and altar-like – sparse but not soulless. The fallen tree foreshadows the downfall to come. The opening scene says everything you need to know if you are…
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The existential tiger – Aesop’s fable for the XXI-st century
Set in the early days of the second Gulf War, and premiering before the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, this harrowing play charts the brutal acts taking place both before and during the American occupation from the vantage point of the ghost of an existential tiger. Suspended in purgatory, the tiger’s ghost walks the…
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