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Reviews by John O'Brien

A Single Man at Park Theatre

October 22, 2022 Last updated: October 22, 2022 6:23 pm By John OBrien

Miles Molan, Phoebe Pryce, Theo Fraser Steele, Olivia Darnley, Freddie Gaminara - Photographer Mitzide Margary.

Christopher Isherwood is probably best known as the writer of the 1930s novel Goodbye To Berlin which forms the source for the musical Cabaret. He is a gay icon whose life and work continues to inspire people throughout the world. Leaving England in 1939 he escaped to America where he found work as a scriptwriter in Hollywood alongside Aldous Huxley. He became a US Citizen in 1946. During this post-war period, he experimented with drugs, became a Hindu and embraced the counter-culture. He wrote … [Read more...]

Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost at Southwark Playhouse

October 14, 2022 Last updated: October 14, 2022 3:39 pm By John OBrien

Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost

Tall Stories are a wonderful theatre company that clearly love everything about live performance. Founded 25 years ago Tall Stories was created by Olivia Jacobs and Toby Mitchell. Unusually they both write and direct. They clearly have a very strong and dynamic relationship. During their 25-year partnership, they have created 31 shows, including five adaptations of books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Their latest production is a brilliant adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novella The … [Read more...]

The Caucasian Chalk Circle at The Rose Theatre Kingston

October 7, 2022 Last updated: October 7, 2022 4:47 pm By John OBrien

The Company of The Caucasian Chalk Circle at Rose Theatre. Photo by Iona Firouzabadi.

“Grub first, morals later”, is Brecht’s best-known line. It's pithy, profound and penetrating. I was expecting more of this at last night's Rose Theatre production of his 1944 work The Caucasian Chalk Circle - alas my hopes were unfounded. Why? Let me count the ways. First I got to my seat at 7.20 in good time for the 7.30 start, however, the start was delayed until 7.40 and the interval was at 9.20. That’s almost two hours without a break. I'm told the average time a person can sit without … [Read more...]

Noughts & Crosses at Richmond Theatre

September 28, 2022 Last updated: September 28, 2022 4:11 pm By John OBrien

L to R Tom Coleman as Ensemble James Arden and Callum Nathaniel McCloskey as Ensemble and Effie Ansah as Sephy Photo by Robert Day.

Noughts & Crosses is a euphemism for blacks and whites. The Noughts are the whites and the Crosses are the blacks. In the world of the play, the Crosses are the dominant ethnic group wielding complete power over a subjugated white population: the Noughts. It's a fascinating and disturbing play which forces all of us to re-evaluate our fundamental assumptions about race and power. What would it be like to be white in a racist society where blacks formed the ruling elite? How would whites … [Read more...]

Bright Half Life by Tanya Barfield at The King’s Head Theatre

September 25, 2022 Last updated: September 26, 2022 11:31 am By John OBrien

Eva Fontaine and Susie McKenna. Bright Half Life. Pamela Raith Photography.

The intimate space of the King’s Head theatre provides the ideal arena for Tanya Barfield’s compelling two-hander about a bi-racial lesbian relationship. Vicky (a black woman) and Erica (a white woman) both lesbians engage in an endless back-and-forth battle of wills which over twenty-five years goes from being work colleagues to lovers to separation, old age and ill health. It's an intimate portrait of a couple up close and personal and so the compact space and closeness of the audience (I was … [Read more...]

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw at The Tabard Theatre

September 15, 2022 Last updated: September 15, 2022 6:38 pm By John OBrien

Pygmalion at The Tabard Theatre

As the pilgrims assembled at the Tabard Inn on the Old Kent Road in 1370 in preparation for the journey that became Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, so last night a group of contemporary theatre pilgrims mustered at the theatre at the Tabard in Chiswick just by Turnham Green Station. I was there to review Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, a writer who like Chaucer was a master storyteller. Written in 1912 Shaw’s Pygmalion has like the Canterbury Tales become a classic. Pygmalion has been made into … [Read more...]

The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe

August 1, 2022 Last updated: July 30, 2022 3:21 pm By John OBrien

The Globe Ensemble in The Tempest at Shakespeare's Globe (credit Marc Brenner)

The closest thing to time travel for any theatre lover must be the Globe Theatre on London’s South Bank. A spellbinding recreation of the original Globe it’s always a thrill to walk in on a summer night with hundreds of other pilgrims in awed anticipation of the play about to start. Last night's performance of The Tempest was sold out. The atmosphere was spine-tingling and the connection between the audience and the cast was electric. The audience wanted to enjoy themselves and the cast wanted … [Read more...]

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Latest News & Reviews

Charlie and Stan at Wilton’s Music Hall

January 25, 2023 By Alan Fitter Leave a Comment

It seems very apt that the story of two English music hall performers, Charlie Chaplin and Stan … [Read More...]

Othello: A Frantic Assembly production, co-produced with Curve

January 25, 2023 By Louis Mazzini Leave a Comment

Like The Merchant of Venice, with its profound antisemitism, and the misogynistic Taming of the … [Read More...]

West End transfer of Rose, starring Maureen Lipman

January 25, 2023 By Admin Leave a Comment

After sell-out runs at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester, and The Park Theatre, London, in 2022, Maureen … [Read More...]

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