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The Duchess of Malfi at the Almeida Theatre ****
The Duchess of Malfi Almeida Theatre, 2nd Jan 2020 No question Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall is talented. Her Summer and Smoke, the dreamy Three Sisters here last year and now this. And for those, like the Tourist, who get a little antsy about her intemperate use of de jour…
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Ravens at the Hampstead Theatre review ***
Ravens: Spassky vs Fischer Hampstead Theatre, 18th December 2019 I can see why Tom Morton-Smith would have alighted on the infamous chess match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer in 1972 in Reykjavik. There are a ton of tomes on the subject and, after all, if it was good enough…
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A Kind of People at the Royal Court Theatre review ****
A Kind of People Royal Court Downstairs, 16th December 2019 Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti was a new playwriting name for me. No longer. A Kind of People takes a not uncommon subject, racism in contemporary Britain, and not uncommon set-ups, a mixed race marriage, friendships, a party, a workplace, and conjures…
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Fairview at the Young Vic review ***
Fairview Young Vic Theatre, 11th December 2019 Fell like a bit of a fraud putting pen to paper on this. For, I confess, I did not completely understand Fairview. African-American playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for the play. The conceit is ingenious. A birthday dinner for…
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My top ten theatre productions of 2019
Even this is a month too late. Hopeless. Anywhere here is my take on the best theatre of 2019. There were a lot of really good productions in 2019. But these were the ones which pinned me to my seat. Where I was wowed by just what theatre can do.…
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Stewart Lee: Snowflake/Tornado review *****
Stewart Lee: Snowflake/Tornado Leicester Square Theatre, 10th December 2019 It’s Stewart Lee. He is so far above other comedians that it makes me wonder why they bother. Of course it is a 5* review. Even when he is meandering he is a genius. Here the show was delayed by a…
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Three Sisters at the National Theatre review ***
Three Sisters National Theatre Lyttleton, 9th December 2019 Opportunity partially missed I am afraid. Inua Ellams has come up with a brilliant idea by transporting Chekhov to 1960s Nigeria, specifically during the Biafaran Civil War. Yet his urge to educate and contextualise leaves the dialogue heavy on exposition. And, in…
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Death in Venice at the Royal Opera House *****
Death in Venice Royal Opera House, 3rd December 2019 Fresh from the superlative semi-staged version of Peter Grimes from Ed Gardner, the Bergen PO and assorted chums and straight into this. A top drawer new version of Death in Venice from David McVicar. I have fond memories of seeing Deborah…