Blood Knot is a two-handed, early (1960) play by South Africa’s most important playwright, Athol Fugard who also directed the first production in Johannesburg, when black and white actors were still allowed to perform together onstage. The action, such as it is, takes place in a shack in Korsten, Port Elizabeth and concerns brothers Morrie and Zach. Morrie is … [Read more...]

For those who only know Oscar Wilde through his light comedies such as The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere’s Fan, this adaptation of his only novel will come as something of a shock as it is a much darker affair. In fact, it is Wilde’s take on the Faust legend. Its publication caused a scandal as the author seemed to be questioning the basis of … [Read more...]

Cheating Death is the first play by Max Nowaz, who has previously written and self-published a couple of novels and a book for children. It started life as a one-act play performed in Bedford in 2013. Rather than write a second play, Max decided to expand his first into a full-length piece of dramatic writing, as well as setting up his own company 'First Time … [Read more...]

Granville Barker wrote this witty and compelling exploration of love, sexual attraction and independence in 1900. Perhaps realising that if the Lord Chamberlain would not allow Ibsen's A Doll's House to be performed, Agnes Colander stood no chance, he put it aside, to be discovered 100 years later amongst Barker's papers, revised by Richard Nelson, given a staged … [Read more...]

Something Underground Theatre Company was founded by Jonathan Brown, the author and director of Of Our Own Making, in 2006, since then creating one man/woman and ensemble shows.  The play, in fact, concerns Saif who is escaping from a Middle-Eastern country, being willing to do almost anything to reach the United Kingdom. The work has the feel of a … [Read more...]

Rosenbaum’s Rescue is a remarkable first play by A. Bodin Saphir, author in residence at Great Ormond Street Hospital, about the escape from Denmark to Sweden of over 7,000 Jews in 1943. A. Bodin Saphir has the rare gift of being able to write believable, amusing dialogue and of gradually being able to unfold the different character traits of each of his four … [Read more...]

The theatrical story of Burke and Hare, who provided Dr Knox with a plentiful supply of dead bodies for dissection in early nineteenth century Edinburgh, is the perhaps surprising, but inspired, choice of pre-Christmas fare at Jermyn Street Theatre this December. The undoubted success of this production is due in no small part to the imaginative script by Tom … [Read more...]

Season's Greetings, written by Alan Ayckbourn in 1980, is a black though often farcical comedy, especially in this production, about four days in the life of a dysfunctional family, starting on Christmas Eve and set in a typical suburban house. It has been imaginatively chosen as the third and final production in this autumn’s highly successful ‘weekly rep’ season at … [Read more...]

WAITING FOR GOD was a BBC Sitcom that ran from 1990 to 1994 about two spirited residents of a retirement home, Tom and Diana, who spend their time running rings around the home’s oppressive management. Its writer, Michael Aitkens, who was present at the performance I am reviewing, has adapted it as a highly amusing stage play, which, however, shows its TV origins … [Read more...]

After the success of The Hired Man (being revived at Hornchurch in the Spring of 2019), Howard Goodall turned his attention from ‘lusty, earthy’ choruses dominated by men, to a show in which women are prominent, attempting to tell the story of those who volunteered to join the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1941. It was successfully staged, with Maria Friedman, at … [Read more...]

It was an inspired idea of the Menier to revive Hugh Whitemore’s gripping play Pack of Lies this year: not only celebrating the life and work of the playwright, who died in July, but also taking heed of the public interest in Russian spies, following the Salisbury poisonings. This 1983 play, which originally starred Judi Dench and Michael Williams as Bob and … [Read more...]

There were nearly 250 episodes of The Goon Show aired on the BBC Home Service between 1951 and 1961, many of which were written by Spike Milligan, who was born 100 years ago, so it must have seemed a good idea to resurrect three of them, including the Famous Batter Pudding Mystery, and perform them live onstage to celebrate Spike’s centenary. The idea behind this … [Read more...]