Category: London

  • The Limehouse Golem film review ****

    The Limehouse Golem, 15th September 2017 Now I love a well told Victorian Gothic melodrama and by and large this is what you get here. It is based on the novel, Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem, by the prolific (if occasionally wayward) author, Peter Ackroyd, though the screenplay by…

  • Britten Sinfonia at Milton Court review *****

    Britten Sinfonia, Helen Grime This is Rattle, Milton Court Hall, 20th September 2017 Purcell – Fantasia Upon One Note Oliver Knussen, George Benjamin, Colin Matthews – A Purcell Garland Helen Grime – Into the Faded Air Oliver Knussen – Cantata Helen Grime – A Cold Spring Thomas Ades – Court…

  • Stravinsky from Rattle and the LSO at the Barbican review *****

    London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle Barbican Hall, 24th September 2017 Igor Stravinsky – The Firebird (original ballet) Igor Stravinsky – Petrushka (1947 version) Igor Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring So here is is. The second coming. Sir Simon Rattle kicks off his tenure at the helm of the…

  • Girl From the North Country review ****

    Girl From the North Country The Old Vic, 20th September 2017 (Girl From the North Country is transferring to the Noel Coward Theatre from 29th Dec 2017 through to 24th Mar 2018) I am afraid there is a bit of a rant coming. If the Old Vic is going to…

  • Knives in Hens at the Donmar Warehouse review *****

    Knives in Hens Donmar Warehouse, 21st September 2017 Now I guessed I was going to like this. All the clever folk who know about plays and stuff had raved about it. Written in 1995 by David Harrower it is considered a classic of British modern theatre. Its ostensible subject matter,…

  • Oslo at the National Theatre review *****

    Oslo National Theatre, 19th September 2017 Well I’ll be damned. I didn’t book Oslo at the earliest opportunity, as is my wont for most of the NT output, and only took a swing at it because of the NYC reviews. And even then I wasn’t sure. I mean how could…

  • Mosquitoes at the National Theatre review ****

    Mosquitoes National Theatre, 18th September 2017 Two sisters. Some sad stuff happens to them. Sciencey backdrop. There you go. That’s Mosquitoes. Except that is isn’t. Lucy Kirkwood is not the type of playwright to let us off the hook that easily. She chucks a lot into this pot, brings it…

  • Man to Man at Wilton’s Music Hall review ***

    Man to Man Wilton’s Music Hall, 15th September 2017 I am confused about this. Is it an expressionistic masterpiece that explores the nature of gender identity and German history through devastating poetry, or a piece of pretentious fuck-wittery which couldn’t be bothered to serve us up a coherent story? Was…

  • Loot at the Park Theatre review ****

    Loot Park Theatre, 14th September 2017 There has been a lot of progress in the last 50 years in this country. Good people are more tolerant and accepting of the identity of others (though there are still plenty of bigoted d*ckheads to be found polluting the discourse), The fairy tales…

  • Cat On a Hit Tin Roof at the Apollo Theatre review ***

    Cat On a Hot Tin Roof Apollo Theatre, 13th September 2017 Hmm. I was expecting so much more of this production. It’s Tennessee Williams. An all star cast. The imprimatur of the Young Vic. And Benedict Andrews, who was responsible for the, by all accounts, revelatory A Streetcar Named Desire…