Martin McDonagh’s 1996 play “The Beauty Queen Of Leenane having won both an Olivier and a Tony for Play OF The Year and Best Play respectively, has become a theatrical classic and its revival at the Lyric Hammersmith couldn’t be timelier with its themes of loneliness, isolation, mental health issues and primary care. Set in a grubby, unkempt, run-down house on a hill in the Irish village of Leenane in Connemara, when the play opens, we see 70-year-old Meg sitting in her rocking chair, keeping … [Read more...]
Dial M For Murder at Churchill Theatre, Bromley | Review
Dial M For Murder is probably best known for the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film version starring Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. However, Frederick Knott’s thriller was first seen on BBC Television in 1952 before transferring to the Westminster Theatre later that year and it’s been performed on stage ever since as a staple of repertory companies all over the country. Now, having been postponed a number of times due to covid, this latest production is finally touring the UK for most of 2021 starting … [Read more...]
Tomorrow May Be My Last at the Union Theatre | Review
As you enter the auditorium at the Union Theatre, the stage is set with musical instruments, suitcases, a large velvet couch, a clothes rail with tie-died tops and two 'hippie chicks' are quietly singing songs from the sixties such as 'Blowing In The Wind an' 'Are You Going To San Francisco' – all that’s missing is some burning incense. Then the two girls and a very tall man in a kaftan and sporting a large afro, start screaming “Janis, Janis” with the help of a pre-recorded crowd coming out of … [Read more...]
Paradise at the Olivier Theatre, London | Review
When Covid restrictions were lifted and theatres were allowed to re-open albeit, with social distancing, the National Theatre decided to turn its biggest space, The Olivier into theatre in the round which meant they could get more seats at the back of the auditorium. Now, with social distancing done away with, they’ve kept the configuration for the first production that is allowed full capacity, Kae Tempest’s play Paradise, which although a year late has finally arrived. Rae Smith’s set … [Read more...]
Bernie Dieter’s Berlin Underground at Underbelly Festival | Review
Recently I’ve been watching a lot of the Tokyo Olympics especially the kind of sports you watch once every four years and then forget about completely until the games come around again. What always amazes me is the way athletes have such total control of their bodies contorting them in all sorts of incredible positions that don’t seem possible – just watch Max Whitlock winning the gold medal on the pommel horse or what they get up to in Rhythmic Gymnastics using hoops and other apparatus; it’s … [Read more...]