Category: Theatre
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On Bear Ridge at the Royal Court Theatre review ***
On Bear Ridge Royal Court Theatre, 21st November 2019 Knockout premise. Some splendid dialogue. Beguiling, complex characters. Inspired design courtesy of Cai Dyfans. Supported by the lighting of Elliot Griggs and sound of Mike Beer, And engaging performances from the outstanding Welsh cast of Rhys Ifans, Rakie Ayola (the first…
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Botticelli in the Fire at Hampstead Theatre review **
Botticelli in the Fire Hampstead Theatre, 20th November 2019 Us pensioners, well nearly in the case of the Tourist, as well as the real-dealers who haunt the matinees at which he largely frequents, are getting our eyes opened in Roxana Silbert’s first season as AD at the HT. Nothing fusty…
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Shook at the Southwark Playhouse review *****
Shook Southwark Playhouse, 16th November 2019 The Papatango New Writing Prize is apparently the biggest of its kind in the UK, offering its winner the guarantee of a production and a commission to support a follow up play. The Funeral Director, Hanna, Trestle, Foxfinder, and especially Matt Grinter’s Orca, have…
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The Beauty Queen of Leenane at Queens Theatre Hornchurch review ****
The Beauty Queen of Leenane Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, 14th November 2019 From one side of London to the other. All on track until the very last gasp, so snuck in a few minutes late to this. A big thanks to the very helpful ushers at this friendly house. TBQOL isn’t…
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Alls Well That Ends Well at the Jermyn Street Theatre review *****
All’s Well That Ends Well Jermyn Street Theatre, 6th November 2019 Hard to credit but the Tourist had never seen a production of AWTEW until now. Which made the pleasure in seeing Tom Littler’s pint sized production, in tandem with the Guildford Shakespeare Company, even sweeter. Wiki tells me that…
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When the Crows Visit at the Kiln Theatre review ****
When the Crows Visit Kiln Theatre, 6th November 2019 An adaptation of Ibsen’s Ghosts, relocated to modern day India. Seems like a good idea no? It was. In fact better than I had expected even with its visible flaws.. Anupama Chandrasekhar has written a play that takes the Norwegian master…
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Solaris at the Lyric Hammersmith review ****
Solaris Lyric Hammersmith, 2nd November 2019 One book, a Soviet TV adaptation, two films. And now a play. And, between us, the SO and I have all the bases covered. SO, a big fan of Stanislaw Lem’s ground-breaking 1961 dense sci-fi/horror novel, me, unusually tolerant of Tarkovsky’s high culture, languid…
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Sydney and the Old Girl at the Park Theatre review ***
Sydney and the Old Girl Park Theatre, 1st November 2019 After the resounding success of Madame Rubinstein at the Park Theatre a couple of years ago it was a pretty easy sell to get BUD, KCK and the SO along to the same venue to see our favourite potty-mouthed, near-octogenarian…
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Our Lady of Kibeho at the Theatre Royal Stratford East review *****
Our Lady of Kibeho Theatre Royal Stratford East, 31st October 2019 Old Billers, now set to enjoy retirement as he steps down from his job as chief critic at the Guardian, knows a thing or two about theatre. So, when he identified, with his colleagues, OLOK as one of the…
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Little Baby Jesus at the Orange Tree Theatre review ****
Little Baby Jesus Orange Tree Theatre, 28th October 2019 No flies on this. Arinze Kene’s coming of age play which first appeared at the OvalHouse in 2011 is high octane stuff. Which here, under the direction of this year’s winner of the JMK Award, Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, and a committed cast…
At Home He Feels Like A Tourist 