Friday, January 26, 2018
One-man show about political extremism on the internet occasionally disturbs Do boys never leave the playground? Just when I was reasonably sure that the crisis of masculinity was an old-fas…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:01PMThursday, January 18, 2018
Toby Jones, Zoë Wanamaker and co breathe vibrant new life into classic Pinter comedy of menaceIs modernism dead and buried? Anyone considering the long haul of Harold Pinter’s The Birthda…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:00PMFriday, December 15, 2017
New play about refugee camp life in Calais is a grueling docu-dramaRefugees, it is said, have no nationality – they are all individuals. This new docu-drama, deftly put together by theatre…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:12PMTuesday, December 5, 2017
New drama about political extremism is brilliantly written – mostlyThe political story of our time is the upsurge in support for Jeremy Corbyn, leftwing leader of the Labour Party, mainly …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:54PMFriday, December 1, 2017
New play about Syria is upstaged by its animal performersThe civil war in Syria spawns image after image of hell on earth. Staging the stories of that conflict presents a challenge to playwr…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:42PMWednesday, November 22, 2017
International season continues with savage Ukrainian war playWar is morally acidic: it dissolves social rules, loosens inhibitions and gives permission to men to behave like animals. And the…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:06PMFriday, November 10, 2017
All-star cast in modern American classic celebrate the ideal of the dealAmerican classics dominate the straight plays in London’s West End. Whenever a producer wants to revive a straight d…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:04PMTuesday, November 7, 2017
New play about getting away from it all by Peep Show writer fails to enlightenIs Buddhism a path to finding spiritual enlightenment – or just an excuse for not facing your personal problem…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:24PMThursday, November 2, 2017
New play about storytelling examines a children’s book craze – and its repercussionsHarry Potter has a lot to answer for. The phenomenal success of J K Rowling’s books, and of their fi…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:48PMMonday, October 30, 2017
New adaptation of Patrick Hamilton novel is thinly written and poorly stagedThe second world war is central to our national imagination, yet it has been oddly absent from our stages recently…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:36PMThursday, October 26, 2017
Brand-new London theatre is wonderful, but its first show is disappointingGiven the rather uneven record of the National Theatre at the moment, there’s already a certain nostalgia for the …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:06PMMonday, October 23, 2017
This site-specific revival of 1953 courtroom drama works like a treatSome site-specific theatre feels like a really good fit. You could say, in this case, that it seems like poetic justice. …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:42PMFriday, October 20, 2017
New play about gay parenthood suffers from an identity crisisA new baby is like an alien invasion: it blows your mind and it colonises your world. For any couple, parenthood can be both exal…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:12PMTuesday, October 17, 2017
Doctor Foster writer explores Englishness with enormous metaphoric zealProlific writer Mike Bartlett is the most impressive penman to have emerged in British theatre in the past decade. The …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:18PMMonday, October 9, 2017
New two-hander is a stylized account of a nihilistic realityWhat does it mean to feel contemporary? Feel. Contemporary. According to theatre-maker Chris Thorpe, whose new play Victory Condit…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:33PMAnne-Marie Duff and Kenneth Cranham in unconvincing rom-comPlaywright Simon Stephens and director Marianne Elliott are hyped as a winning partnership. Their previous collaborations include T…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:54PMTuesday, October 3, 2017
Comedy about Labour Party history is starry, but tediously overblownProlific playwright James Graham aspires to be nothing if not timely. His latest, a play about the Labour Party, was origi…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:42PMMonday, October 2, 2017
New Chilean play about terrorism is satirical, but ends up non-committalIn the 1960s, we had the theatre of commitment; today we have an attitude of non-committal. Once, political playwright…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:24PMFriday, September 22, 2017
Heartwarming new play about young love is good fun, if a bit slenderLocation, location, location. Jim thinks he lives in the “shittiest” small town in Scotland. It’s Mallaig, on the we…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:48PMMonday, September 18, 2017
Award-heavy American play about the Oslo Accords is highly entertainingDocumentary theatre has a poor reputation. It’s boring in form, boring to look at (all those middle-aged men in suits…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:18PMTuesday, September 12, 2017
Playwright August Strindberg goes psychotic in Howard Brenton’s latestAnyone who likes playing “Spot the weirdo” will find themselves instantly at home in Howard Brenton’s new play, …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:12PMWednesday, August 23, 2017
Anniversary revival of Joe Orton’s farce is a delight from start to finishFifty years ago this month, playwright Joe Orton was murdered by his lover Kenneth Halliwell. His debut play, Ente…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:33PMTuesday, August 22, 2017
The star director’s revival of a nineties classic is atmospheric but unconvincing Hark, is that the call of the earth I hear? In a frenetic urban world, the myth of rural simplicity exerts…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:42PMFriday, August 18, 2017
New American drama about God and violence is baggy, but often brilliantLuke is a Silicon Valley billionaire, a high-tech wizard. And he’s just had a message from God. And what does God say…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:36PMMonday, August 14, 2017
New play about democracy is entertaining, but a bit too tricksy A new plague is sweeping British theatre: audience participation. Instead of just sitting back and enjoying the show, your vis…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:18PMThursday, August 3, 2017
Broadway legend Stockard Channing dominates this family dramaThe 1960s were “hilarious”, says one young character in this revival, starring Broadway icon Stockard Channing, of Alexi Kaye…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:33PMTuesday, July 11, 2017
New drama about surrogacy is rich in metaphor and fraught with conflictSurrogacy is an emotionally fraught subject. The arrangement by which one woman gives birth to another’s baby challen…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:12PMTuesday, June 27, 2017
Rupert Murdoch saga by ‘This House’ playwright is too detailed and overblownThe recent general election result proves that the power of rightwing press has diminished considerably in the…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:04PMThursday, June 22, 2017
Audience participation cannot save a trial that suffocates in abstractionCan the theatre be a courtroom? A good public place to debate morality and to arrive at profound decisions. You could…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:33PMTuesday, June 20, 2017
New American satire about families only rarely hits the markDonald Trump’s electoral success was, we have been told, fueled by the anger of the American working class. But how do you show …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:12PMSunday, June 11, 2017
Katie Mitchell returns with a powerful account of depression and despairDorothy Parker’s take on suicide is called “Resumé”: it goes, “Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:33PM 
