At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: Theatre

  • Judith at the Arcola Theatre review ***

    Judith: A Parting from the Body Arcola Theatre, 7th September 2017 I am guessing they don’t watch Bake-Off in the Barker household. Howard Barker does not write easy plays. By his own admission he wants each of us to experience his plays as an individual: none of that namby-pamby rush…

  • Prism at the Hampstead Theatre review ****

    Prism Hampstead Theatre, 14th September 2017 Full disclosure. I love Terry Johnson’s plays. The marrying of “high” and “popular” culture themes and structures, the mix of humour and, as he calls it “brainy stuff, the abrupt lurches in tone: all this works for me. I have many more plays to…

  • Against at the Almeida Theatre review ****

    Against Almeida Theatre, 9th September 2017 The more plays I see the more I realise there are many ways to build a work of theatrical drama. You can build the foundations on language and the space around it, You can create powerful, memorable, immediate characters. You can construct a plot…

  • road at the Royal Court Theatre review ****

    road Royal Court Theatre, 7th September 2017 Another useless review as this revival of Jim Cartwright’s seminal debut play is about to end its run. But I would be pretty confident it will pop up again somewhere in the next few years. And that is because, as this production shows,…

  • Rabbits at the Park Theatre review ***

    Rabbits Park Theatre, 17th August 2017 Even after seeing Rabbits I am scratching my head somewhat as to why I did. Others have remarked on the slightly wayward output of the Park Theatre under Jez Bond’s tutelage but you can’t fault the breadth of the offers and it is all…

  • Bodies at the Royal Court Theatre review ****

    Bodies Royal Court Theatre, 10th August 2017 Bodies is my first exposure to the writing of Vivienne Franzmann and I hope it will not be my last. A few quibbles aside this is overall a thoughtful play which sympathetically explores the issues that it chooses to highlight. Here’s the set…

  • Dessert at the Southwark Playhouse review ***

    Dessert Southwark Playhouse, 5th August Dessert is the first play I have seen from actor/playwright Oliver Cotton and I have to say that overall I enjoyed it. Subtle it ain’t but it makes its points with a deal of humour, and occasionally, an enlightening punch. The title gives an insight:…

  • Queen Anne at the Theatre Royal Haymarket review ***

    Queen Anne Theatre Royal Haymarket, 3rd August 2017 Tricky customers history plays. How to introduce the characters and explain events without slackening the dramatic pace. It’s OK if your Will Shakespeare. He wrote the history. Or at least someone before him wrote something, which he then purloined and turned it…

  • Angels in America at the National Theatre review *****

    Angels in America: Part One Millennium Approaches and Part Two Perestroika National Theatre, 29th July 2017 That Tony Kushner is an ambitious playwright. This will comes as no surprise to you experienced theatre lovers but, having seen this and The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to…

  • The Tempest at the Barbican review ****

    The Tempest Barbican Theatre, 27th July 2017 Now I would watch Simon Russell Beale read the telephone directory. Particular past favourites of mine include a Brechtian Galileo, a Face in the Alchemist, alongside Alex Jennings and Lesley Manville, his Stalin in Collaborators, a Timon in the Hytner production, which persuaded…

  • Directors’ Festival at the Orange Tree Theatre review

    Directors’ Festival 2017 Even Stillness Breathes Softly Against A Wall *** The End of Hope ***** Albert’s Boy *** Orange Tree Theatre, 26th, 27th, 28th July 2017 Now this really is a mighty fine idea. Take five short plays by some of Britain’s finest contemporary playwrights and hand them over…

  • Ink at the Almeida Theatre review *****

    Ink Almeida Theatre, 24th July 2017 Recipe for a very satisfying night at the theatre. Choose your company. I spend the vast majority of my theatre going life flying solo. So it is such a pleasure to be joined by some choice chums. In this case the SO, the Blonde…