Review: The Plough and the Stars at the National Theatre

The Plough and the Stars

National Theatre (Lyttleton)
Review on Thursday 18th August 2016
★★★★

The National Theatre love reviving an epic, and Sean O'Casey's powerful classic The Plough and the Stars has definitely benefited from the magic of the Lyttleton stage.

Review: Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour at the National Theatre

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour 

National Theatre (Dorfman)

Reviewed on Tuesday 16th August 2016

★★★★★

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour comes bursting in to the National Theatre after its celebrated debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015. Based on the novel by The Sopranos by Alan Warner, it tells the story of six good Catholic school girls, whose road-trip to a choir competition proves to be more eventful than they ever imagined.

Review: Unreachable at the Royal Court

Unreachable 

Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs)

Reviewed on Wednesday 13th July 2016

★★★

Matt Smith returns to the London stage after his stint as 'American Psycho' Patrick Bateman at the Almedia in 2013, to play an alter together kind of anti-hero.

Review: The Deep Blue Sea at the National Theatre

The Deep Blue Sea 

National Theatre (Lyttelton)

Reviewed on Monday 11th June 2016

★★★★★

After their critical success with Medea in 2014, director Carrie Cracknell reunites with Helen McCrory to revive Terence Rattigan's devastating masterpiece The Deep Blue Sea.

Review: Bugsy Malone returns to the Lyric Hammersmith

Bugsy Malone

Lyric Hammersmith

Reviewed on Wednesday 29th June 2016

★★★★

After its critical success last year, the Lyric Hammersmith's Olivier Award nominated Bugsy Malone returns to their main house for a second summer outing. Car chases, splurge guns and a vat full of glittery flapper dresses; there's a lot of fun to be had in Sean Holmes' production, and the kids are firmly at the forefront of it all.

Review: Barbu at the Southbank Centre’s Spiegeltent

Barbu

Southbank Centre (Spiegeltent)

Reviewed on Wednesday 22nd June 2016

★★★

The Southbank is alive with the sound of French-Canadians, as Cirque Alfonse rolls into town. Following up from their last outing in 2013 with Timber! the group returns to the London Wonderground with the eclectic Barbu.

Review: Sunset at the Villa Thalia at the National Theatre

Sunset at the Villa Thalia

National Theatre (Dorfman)
Reviewed on Thursday 9th June 2016
★★★

Playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell, known for his devastatingly good play The Pride (Royal Court, Trafalgar Studios) makes his National Theatre debut with Sunset At The Villa Thalia - a sweet gem set in Greece.

Review: Human Animals at the Royal Court

Human Animals 

Royal Court (Jerwood Space Upstairs)
Reviewed on Monday 6th June 2016

★★★

Dystopian dramas are all the rage at the moment, and Stef Smith's bold new piece Human Animals is another chilling play to add to that collection.

Review: The Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre

The Threepenny Opera
National Theatre (Olivier)

Reviewed on Thursday 26th May 2016

★★★★

The latest offering at the National is a dark reimagining of Brecht and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera. This new adaptation by Simon Stephens, and directed by Rufus Norris is saucy, sadistic and a little bit scary.

Review: The Suicide at the National Theatre

The Suicide 

National Theatre (Lyttleton)

Reviewed on Thursday 12th May (matinee)

★★★

A play titled The Suicide doesn't exactly appeal straight away, but when you notice the tag line, 'A comedy', you can't help but be intrigued.

Nikolai Erdman's classic Russian text has been given a modern multicultural makeover by Suhayla El-Bushra, swapping the traditional for kebabs and Tinder references - it's certainly bold.

Review: The Flick at the National Theatre

The Flick

National Theatre (Dorfman)
Reviewed on Thursday 28th April 2016
★★★★★

Theatre can be a bold, bright attack of the senses. It can also be a still, reflective creation that can leave you wondering long into the night.

Review: Another World at the National Theatre (Temporary Space)

Another World: Losing Our Children to Islamic State

National Theatre (Temporary Space)

Reviewed on Monday 25th April 2016
★★★★

You can’t turn the news on without seeing footage from some extremist group in the Middle East. Over the past few years, the rise in terrorist organisations such as ISIS, has been the hot topic of conversation. Who are these people? And how do they seduce British teenagers into joining their revolution? Playwright Gillian Slovo interviewed a number of people, from parents of those new recruits, to school children, lawyers and reverends, and the results is 95 minutes of harrowing and eye-opening theatre.

Review: Les Blancs at the National Theatre

Les Blancs 

National Theatre (Olivier)

Reviewed on Thursday 14th April 2016 (matinee)

★★★★

The National comes up trumps with its production of a never seen before Lorraine Hansberry epic - 'Les Blancs' (The Whites). The playwright, best known for her classic 'A Raisin in the Sun', passed away aged 34 before ever completing this piece, but told of her desire for the play to one day be finished and performed. Step forward Robert Nemiroff who has adapted the text and left it in the very capable hands of director Yaël Ferber to give Hansberry's second masterpiece the life it deserves.

Review: X at the Royal Court

X

Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs)

Reviewed on Thursday 14th April 2016

★★★

What would you do if you were stuck in space? No communication with Earth. The same walls, same faces and same dried foods forever. This is the premise of Alistair McDowall's new sci-fi piece at the Royal Court.