All stories by Tom Birchenough on BroadwayStars

Friday, August 23, 2019

Appropriate, Donmar Warehouse review - fraught family reunion blisteringly told by Tom Birchenough

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s 2013 play is tensely dark, as well as very funny You can’t fail to feel the ghosts in Appropriate: they are there in the very timbers of the ancient Southern pl…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:42PM
Monday, July 29, 2019

Peter Pan, Troubadour White City review - off to a flying start by Tom Birchenough

New West London venue opens with a zestful spectacular to suit all ages London’s Troubadour White City theatre has got off to a, literally, flying start.

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:06AM
Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Equus, Trafalgar Studios review - passionate intensity by Tom Birchenough

Lean and hungry brilliance in Ned Bennett's production of Peter Shaffer When he gave Martin Dysart, the troubled psychiatrist protagonist of Equus, a line in which he speaks about “moments…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:54PM
Thursday, June 20, 2019

Three Sisters, Maly Drama Theatre, Vaudeville Theatre review - a Chekhov of luminous clarity by Tom Birchenough

Stagecraft skill and company playing meld seamlessly in Petersburg production Lev Dodin has been artistic director of the famed Maly Drama Theatre for some three and a half decades now, ove…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 11:48AM
Thursday, June 13, 2019

Sweat, Gielgud Theatre review - searing drama of working life by Tom Birchenough

The indelible power of Lynn Nottage’s new play confirmed in Donmar transfer There’s a joke early on in Sweat, Lynn Nottage’s superlative drama about American working lives, in which a …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:18AM
Monday, June 10, 2019

Bronx Gothic, Young Vic review - fervid intensity by Tom Birchenough

Okwui Okpokwasili’s solo performance piece is an astounding piece of theatre It’s hard, and finally fruitless to attempt to describe Okwui Okpokwasili’s Bronx Gothic in conventional te…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:03AM
Thursday, June 6, 2019

The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Cheek by Jowl/Pushkin Theatre, Barbican review - theatre satire updated by Tom Birchenough

Declan Donnellan riffs on Beaumont’s meta-comedy in flavoursome Russian Declan Donnellan has a rich record of working with Russian actors: his previous walk on the Slavic side, the darkly …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:48AM
Monday, June 3, 2019

King Hedley II, Theatre Royal Stratford East review - concentrated, enveloping drama by Tom Birchenough

Lenny Henry leads a strong cast in August Wilson’s 1999 play of African American identity The huge achievement of the last two decades or so of August Wilson’s life, right up to his deat…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:06AM
Tuesday, April 2, 2019

The Crucible, The Yard Theatre review - wilfully over-stirred by Tom Birchenough

Arthur Miller’s possession drama staged for spectacle The Crucible is a play that speaks with unrelenting power at times of discord, most of all when the public consciousness looks ripe fo…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:00PM
Tuesday, February 12, 2019

The Price, Wyndham's Theatre review - David Suchet stands supreme by Tom Birchenough

Powerful production of Arthur Miller's play of fraternal discord, past painThere’s a sublime equilibrium to Arthur Miller’s 1968 play between the overwhelmingly heavy weight of hist…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:42PM
Thursday, February 7, 2019

Pinter Seven, Harold Pinter Theatre review - elaborations of anxiety by Tom Birchenough

The season's closing pairing presents Danny Dyer and a radio revelationIt was back to the very beginning for this final instalment of “Pinter at the Pinter”, with its pairing of A S…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:32AM
Friday, February 1, 2019

Cost of Living, Hampstead Theatre review - tough but tender by Tom Birchenough

Adrian Lester compels in new American drama about care and connectionThe Off Broadway production of Cost of Living two years ago brought Martyna Majok the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:04PM
Thursday, January 17, 2019

The Daughter-in-Law, Arcola Theatre review - searing simplicity by Tom Birchenough

DH Lawrence's tragically inflected 1913 tale of family relationships powerfully toldThere’s a stark power to Jack Gamble’s production of DH Lawrence’s The Daughter-in-Law, which h…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:48AM
Thursday, December 13, 2018

The Merry Wives of Windsor, RSC, Barbican review - panto Shakespeare by Tom Birchenough

Love it or leave it production sends the RSC on a laboured way to EssexFor those of us who have never thought much before about links between pantomime and Shakespeare, Fiona Laird’s new M…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 11:32AM
Friday, December 7, 2018

Nine Night, Trafalgar Studios review - hilarity and heartbreak by Tom Birchenough

Natasha Gordon joins the company as her debut drama transfers from the NationalThis is Natasha Gordon’s first play, and in it she has created a whole world. A world of grief and laughter, …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:36AM
Thursday, September 27, 2018

Antony and Cleopatra, National Theatre review - Ralph Fiennes in marvellous throttle by Tom Birchenough

Supreme lucidity and two commanding performances make for a moving productionYou always wonder about those final scenes of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Are they really needed dramatically; do …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:48AM
Saturday, September 22, 2018

Eyam, Shakespeare's Globe review - plague drama, dark and loose by Tom Birchenough

Back to the 17th century: the village that cut itself off to dieThe end-of-season contemporary writing slot at the Globe must be a proposal as full of promise for playwrights as it is perhap…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 04:06AM
Monday, September 10, 2018

Underground Railroad Game, Soho Theatre review - scratching the American wound by Tom Birchenough

A furious, darkly comic riff on race, this frenetic two-hander dazzlesUnderground Railroad Game is scabrous theatre – in every sense. To start with, Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R Sheppard�…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:04AM
Thursday, August 30, 2018

Love’s Labour’s Lost, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - in praise of a fantastical Spaniard by Tom Birchenough

The ladies of France shine in a production that otherwise makes heavy weather If ever there was a play of “well bandied” words, it’s surely Love’s Labour’s Lost. The early Shakesp…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:06AM
Friday, August 10, 2018

Homos, or Everyone in America, Finborough Theatre review - a complex pattern of glee and profundity by Tom Birchenough

Jordan Seavey paints a landscape of New York gay life that is as moving as it is witty I’m still not entirely sure what the full associations of the title of New York playwright Jordan Sea…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:24AM
Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios review - family drama, creepy and cruel by Tom Birchenough

Orlando Bloom compels as the hitman-cop ruling Tracy Letts's dark, gothic worldRight from the beginning of this production of Tracy Letts’s very first play, it’s clear we’re in fo…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:48AM
Wednesday, May 30, 2018

The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety, Brighton Festival review - molto nervoso by Tom Birchenough

Calixto Bieito's melange of text and music delivers a mesmerising agony of desolationCalixto Bieito has a reputation as a radical theatre-maker, and by any traditional standards The Str…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:24PM
Friday, May 18, 2018

As You Like It / Hamlet, Shakespeare’s Globe review - ensemble emphasis sets leaner style by Tom Birchenough

Michelle Terry's new company explores gender fludity, charts new directionsThere’s a distinct feeling of back-to-basics to this opening double bill at the Globe under the theatre’s …

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 10:06AM
Saturday, April 21, 2018

Rasheeda Speaking, Trafalgar Studios review - unsettling comedy, thorny racism by Tom Birchenough

Bravura performance from Tanya Moodie in sharp new American drama of racial discordConflict and comedy can be unpredictable bedfellows, and Chicago playwright Joel Drake Johnson’s 2014 pla…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 09:48AM
Monday, January 29, 2018

The Open House, The Print Room review - razor wit, theatrical brio by Tom Birchenough

★★★★ THE OPEN HOUSE, THE PRINT ROOM A tyrannical family reunion and a dramatic volte-face in Will Eno's ingenious new dramaA tyrannical family reunion and a dramatic volte-face in Wi…

SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:45AM
Thursday, April 14, 2016

In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, Charing Cross Theatre by Tom Birchenough

Was Tennessee Williams breaking rules, or breaking apart when he wrote this 1969 play? A bit of both, probably, and the two main characters of the rarely performed In the Bar of a Tokyo Hote…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 03:19AM
Friday, April 1, 2016

Les Blancs, National Theatre by Tom Birchenough

Lorraine Hansberry’s career as a playwright proved tragically short. A Raisin in the Sun is by some distance her best-known work, a key piece about the African American post-war experience…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:09AM
Thursday, January 21, 2016

The Rolling Stone, Orange Tree Theatre by Tom Birchenough

I’m still pondering the title of Chris Urch’s new play. On the surface it’s clear enough: The Rolling Stone is a weekly newspaper in Uganda that has been notorious for pursuing that co…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 10:21AM
Friday, January 15, 2016

P’yongyang, Finborough Theatre by Tom Birchenough

Every incarnation of totalitarianism has its own specific mythology, which exists in different forms as it is believed at home and “translated” abroad (or not, in both cases). North Kore…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:20PM
Thursday, December 10, 2015

A Christmas Carol, Noël Coward Theatre by Tom Birchenough

Is Jim Broadbent Britain’s best-loved actor? The slate of screen roles he’s accumulated over the years – this Christmas Carol is his return to theatre after a decade away – has surel…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:46AM
Friday, December 4, 2015

Around the World in 80 Days, St James Theatre by Tom Birchenough

One of the joys about this stage adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days is the contrast between its phlegmatic hero Phileas Fogg, who deals with everything in terms of pre…

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:31AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards