Best Plays in London - New Plays in London

Attending a candle-lit performance in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe is an experience in its own right. The space is small but splendid - although it does require a certain abdominal strength to sit on a bench without back support for over three hours. Theatregoing becomes both an investment and a commitment; with the environment both contributing to the production’s ambience as well as requiring the show to prove that forgoing typical comforts is worthwhile and indeed … [Read more...]

A tired old man sits at a desk listening to tape recordings of himself from decades earlier. At times he basks in the warmth of memories from his youth; at others, he can’t bear the pain, the regret, and he switches the machine off. He means to make a new recording, but he can’t ever seem to get to the end of it, for the pull of the old tapes is too great. He is bound to them and the younger version of himself he hears, with all his hopes and fiery passions. John Chapman is the man, Krapp, in … [Read more...]

The so-called 'Golden Age of Hollywood' always attracts a certain nostalgia, and in this meandering retelling of the life and times of Ava Gardner, the writing fails to completely tear herself away from the rose-tinted spectacles of glitz and glamour. A slightly sad journalist by the name of Peter Evans (Anatol Yusef) is at first quiet when meeting Hollywood royalty Ava Gardner (Elizabeth McGovern). However, as this wordy play winds on, he warms and eventually falls in love with the … [Read more...]