Jim Cartwright’s Raz is simplistic; the stage is empty and all the various environments and props are created by the actor who happens to be Jim’s actor son, James. The play is set in a town in northern England and is about Shane, a 30-year-old man who works as a van haulage driver and still lives at home with his parents. It’s Friday, he’s been paid and he’s looking forward to “living it large” with a perfectly orchestrated evening of booze, drugs and girls. We first meet Shane, dressed … [Read more...]
Lord of the Flies at The Churchill Theatre – Review
Nigel Williams’ adaptation of William Golding’s novel is excellent. It tells the story of a group of school boys who, following an air crash, are stranded on a Pacific island. Whilst beginning their time on the island as one group the boys quickly fall out and some of them descend into a culture based on savage violence, hero worship and superstition. Jon Bausor’s set design is very impressive and enhances the production with some great attention to detail (ie a wing light still flashing on … [Read more...]
Hilarious Bad Jews at Theatre Royal Haymarket – Review
Bad Jews is a hilarious play written by Josh Harmon exposing the tensions when three members of a Jewish family are forced to spend a night together in a cramped New York apartment following the death of “Poppy” their Holocaust survivor grandfather and most “important family member”. A beloved grandfather has died and a treasured family heirloom with religious significance is up for grabs. But who is most deserving of it? Bossy, overbearing, fanatically religious … [Read more...]
Review of WEALD at Finborough Theatre London
Weald is playwright, Dan Foxsmith’s, third full-length play. It’s well written and observant, thought-provoking and emotional. The play is humourous in parts with some good one-liners. “The farm was there, wasn't going anywhere. It was solid, physical. Flagstones. Timber. Place housed the hopes and fears of hundreds of people, and I cast it to one side, just like that, because I was blindsided. All I needed to do was stand firm like the rest, take a breath and I'd've been fine. … [Read more...]
Chancers at The Bridewell Theatre – Review
Presented by the Tower Theatre Company and written by Robert Massey, Chancers is thought-provoking and humorous whilst showing us “there’s more than one way to win the lotto”. Dee and Aiden Farrell are a decent couple facing tough times. Hard hit by Ireland’s recession, they’ve had to rent their home to strangers, a rough shower from Dublin, and move their family into their almost bankrupt convenience store. On the verge of losing it all a chance of money comes their way, via an unpleasant … [Read more...]
A Table Set For Two at the Etcetera Theatre – Review
A Table Set for Two, is a two-header play, written by Andrew Skipper. The play which is a revival of the Underground Clown Club's production was performed at Camden’s Etcetra Theatre "On a rainy evening, Henry sits alone in his kitchen, reads the paper and remembers. In our lives the momentous and the mundane go hand in hand, but what is it that stays with us: which moments burn themselves into our minds, never to be forgotten? A Table Set for Two questions what stays with us; which moments … [Read more...]