The return of the musical theatre version of David Walliams Billionaire Boy to London’s West End provoked much debate between my eight-year-old co-critics about this production’s merits versus RSC/Tim Minchin’s Matilda (to which they unanimously bestowed 5 stars). I shall skip to the end as the adult adjudicator: Neal Foster’s Walliams adaptation cannot touch Matilda but the very fact that two siblings on the last day of Year 4 even had the argument is a fine endorsement of the newer show’s … [Read more...]
About Mary Beer
The Invisible Hand at Kiln Theatre | Review
Talky but tight, Indhu Rubasingham’s revival of Ayad Ahktar’s 2012 work offers a well-rendered play of ideas with continuing resonance. Using the intrinsic tension of captivity, Ahktar places us in close quarters with the instincts and emotions that lead to corruption and betrayal on both a daily and systemic basis - forcing an examination of our own beliefs along with the world’s power structures. Through deft exposition, we learn that Citibank Futures Trader, Nick Bright (Daniel … [Read more...]
Constellations at the Vaudeville Theatre, London | Review
Engrossing and laugh-aloud funny from the first scene, Michael Longhurst’s revival of Nick Payne’s 2012 Constellations is one of the most polished and precise productions I’ve ever seen. No allowances for the disruptions the theatre has endured are required to relish this work, but it’s a thrill to be reminded of what a truly tight theatrical experience feels like, no matter the nature of the disappointments you’ve suffered of late. With four different casts taking the roles of quantum … [Read more...]
The Winter’s Tale at The Roman Theatre, St Albans
Amongst the final quartet of Shakespeare’s plays, the text alone of The Winter’s Tale brings with it many staging challenges. A tragicomedy set in two different fictional kingdoms, Sicilia and Bohemia, the production needs to create two distinct worlds but unite the differing tones and tensions into a single work. It features a key role played by a child (admirably acquitted on press night by Finn Nichols, one of the two boys sharing the role of Mamillius) and rapidly introduces the harrowing … [Read more...]
Deborah Bruce’s Raya at Hampstead Theatre | Review
With superb performances and solid direction by Roxana Silbert, Deborah Bruce’s new play Raya is intriguing, but the writing feels as if it’s not quite finished. In the Hampstead Downstairs’ studio space, I had to blink a few times to check if such a laboratory stage was really showing me two thoroughly middle-aged, middle-class, heterosexual, white British characters bantering in received pronunciation about marriage, property prices, and the good old days in university as they dance around the … [Read more...]