Thursday, April 11, 2024
Theatr Clwyd, MoldLucie Lovatt’s elaborate comedy exploring the housing crisis in rural Wales is provocative and conceptually ambitious yet still pleasingly entertaining
Caryl and Meirion …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AMWednesday, February 21, 2024
Sherman theatre, CardiffThere’s no shortage of smart ideas in Bethan Marlow’s drama of adolescent awakening in rural Wales, but they whiz by before they really develop
There isn’t much…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06PMThursday, February 8, 2024
Bristol Old VicThis play with songs has pleasing performances but needs a clearer idea of what it wants to satirise
A comedy double act since their university days and now working as nannies…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AMThursday, November 9, 2023
Wales Millennium Centre, CardiffThis Welsh-language retelling of an ancient myth is a huge endeavour, with great performances and lots of promise
Here is a Welsh-language theatrical rarity: …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AMMonday, October 30, 2023
Sherman theatre, CardiffManon Steffan Ros has translated Ionesco’s play into Welsh for this technically ambitious and compelling production
Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist classic warns tha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07AMSunday, October 22, 2023
The Riverfront, NewportGavin Porter’s exploration of grief through the experiences and funeral traditions of the residents of Cardiff’s Butetown pays tribute to the rituals that bind a c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:37AMFriday, May 12, 2023
The Other Room, CardiffSet on the scaffolding atop a building that never gets finished, Matthew Trevannion’s two-hander is full of dazzling ideas
What goes up must come down. Gravity, ligh…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMSunday, March 26, 2023
Birmingham Rep theatreWiliam Young, an actor with learning disabilities, gives an affecting, lived-in performance as Lennie in this assured adaptation of Steinbeck’s Dust Bowl classic
In …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:00AMMonday, March 6, 2023
Swansea Grand theatreRichard Mylan’s grim narratives are filled with sympathy and compassion, lifted by Sophie Melville’s all-consuming and fearless performance
As noted in a programme g…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00AMFriday, September 30, 2022
Theatr Clwyd, MoldBrisk direction, plucky performances and complex lyrics propel this original adaptation, as the hunt for a source of renewable energy comes under threat
To paraphrase that …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:03AMFriday, September 23, 2022
Watermill theatre, Newbury An excellent cast animate Karla Marie Sweet’s adaptation with a drilled menace, while contemporary songs are employed to remarkable effect
Karla Marie Sweet’s …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:25AMThursday, July 21, 2022
The Other Room, CardiffMelding ancient stories with current crises, Tamar Williams’s clever version of Branwen’s story from the Mabinogi is elegantly directed
In a week when the climate …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33PMThursday, July 14, 2022
Theatr ClwydBoth actors excel in Katherine Chandler’s fictionalised account of the attempted murder of a Swansea woman in 2015
Carl walks into a cafe in Swansea where Hayley works as a wai…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMThursday, May 26, 2022
Theatr ClwydFifty years of a tender idyll are reimagined with dignity, grace – and the odd meta moment
At the time of her death in 1829, at the grand age of 90, Eleanor Butler had been liv…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMWednesday, May 18, 2022
Sherman theatre, CardiffWhile there are some strong performances and the conceit is intriguing, this modern-day version of the classic fails to convince
Towards the end of Brad Birch’s rei…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AMFriday, April 8, 2022
Bristol Old VicGiles Terera’s lyrical and inventive drama about a brutal episode in British history brims with urgency, pain and ultimately pride
In November and December 1781, 132 enslave…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AMWednesday, March 30, 2022
Sherman theatre, CardiffThe drama may miss a beat, but the music, sleek production and talented ensemble provide a tempting treat for the soul
In the week that saw the lifting of almost al…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMWednesday, March 16, 2022
Sherman theatre, CardiffThis stylish play packs a lot in and has strong performances but its darker nuances are smothered by whimsy
Performed and captioned in Welsh, English and some French,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12PMWednesday, March 9, 2022
Bristol Old VicA father and daughter meet for the first time in 50 years in this evocative and powerful exploration of grief
It is August 2000. In a Seoul hotel at the second state-organised…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AMWednesday, December 1, 2021
Sherman theatre, CardiffPanto tropes are happily pooh-poohed with a gender-swapped Scrooge and properly terrifying puppetry in Joe Murphy’s triumphant Dickens redo
Attend the tale of Ebbi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:03PMMonday, October 25, 2021
Theatr Clwyd, MoldMark Lambert is superb as a widower given a digital assistant in Tim Price’s rumination on loneliness, privacy and ethics
It is March 2020, and widower Roger (Mark Lamber…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:12AMFriday, October 1, 2021
Sherman theatre, CardiffNo details are spared in Rhiannon Boyle’s frank and funny exploration of the sperm bank route to parenthood, starring the charismatic Bethan Ellis Owen
A Welsh idio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:12PMWednesday, September 22, 2021
Theatr Clwyd, MoldKaite O’Reilly relocates August Strindberg’s classic to a Welsh stately home in postwar, post-pandemic 1921
‘What do you know about magnificence?’ asks Christine th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:18PMWednesday, September 8, 2021
Schaubühne, BerlinThe multiverse in Chris Bush’s Kein Weltuntergang, directed by Katie Mitchell, lays bare our contradictions and complicity in the climate crisis
Ambivalence and contradi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AMSunday, August 22, 2021
Theatr Clywd, MoldLetting the audience choose props and costumes adds both absurd and affecting possibilities to this selection of 15 new short plays
Directed by Theatr Clwyd’s artistic di…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:42PMThursday, August 19, 2021
Theatre on the Downs, BristolClear in its message and the targets of its take-downs, this play’s rhetoric is persuasive but it leaves you yearning for more
Performed in Bristol’s new pop…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:32AMWednesday, June 30, 2021
Available onlineShôn Dale-Jones’s autobiographical show tells the story of his lockdown through texts, WhatsApp group chats and Zoom calls with loved ones
Like the denizens of Love Island…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AMWednesday, June 16, 2021
Theatr Clwyd, MoldRhodri Meilir is brilliant as a beleaguered pizza topper inspired by the Finnish film-maker in Alan Harris’s black comedy
Originally due to be staged in spring 2020, Alan…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:48AMFriday, May 28, 2021
Sherman theatre, CardiffA pair of piercing performances give real depth to Lisa Parry’s smart two-hander about faith and community
It is the end of the school week and precociously self-po…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12PMFriday, March 13, 2020
Sherman theatre, Cardiff Daf James follows up his sensational 2010 play Llwyth with a return to its characters a decade on
Daf James’s Llwyth (Tribe), first staged in 2010, was a sensation…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AMMonday, March 2, 2020
Sophie Stone stars in Kaite O’Reilly’s show which celebrates the forgotten women of the second world war with a powerful visual language
Sophie Stone extends her right arm and lets her h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:02PM 
