Waleed Akhtar's new play is about platonic love in a contemporary context Platonic love should be simple " basically you're best mates. And without the complications of sex, what could go w…
Award-winning new writing is full of mystery and metaphor, but a bit too literary I live in Brixton, south London; in my street, for many years, a pair of trainers were up in the sky, hangin…
Debut two-hander explores a gentle love story of two practicing Muslims At one point, in John Fowles's 1977 novel The Magus, the guru character in the story compares sexuality before and af…
New play about the death of the most famous American woman of the Camelot era The death of Marilyn Monroe is a wet dream for conspiracy theorists. Like the assassination of JFK in the follo…
New play about secrets from the past is both funny and profound Following the huge success of Benedict Lombe's Shifters, which transfers soon to the West End, the Bush Theatre is riding hig…
New history play about football has a flawed second half Every day this week I'm watching a football match, and now " after April's production of Lydia Higman, Julia Grogan and Rachel Lemon'…
Dublin Fringe Festival hit from 2022 comes to London's main new writing theatre Faye is okay. Or, at least she says she's okay. But is she really? And, if she really is, like really okay, w…
Taboo-tickling comedy about both conceiving a baby and life as empty nesters "Welcome to motherhood, bitch!" By the time a character delivers this reality check, there have been plenty of la…
Katie Mitchell's staging of Maggie Nelson's bestseller is neither original nor beautiful When does creativity become mannered? When it's based on repetition, and repetition without developme…
Stephen Adly Guirgis's Pulitzer-Prize winner finally makes it to London It's often said that contemporary American playwrights are too polite, too afraid of giving offence. But this accusat…
New play-with-songs version of Dickens's 'Our Mutual Friend' is a panoramic Victori-noir "He do the police in different voices." If ever one phrase summed up a work of fiction, and the art …
Latest from American penman Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is less than the sum of its parts I've never been one for school reunions, but even if I had kept in touch with former classmates I think …
New comedy about masculinity and music is predictable and clumsy One island off the coast of Spain has more cultural oomph than all the rest put together. I'm talking about Ibiza, the sun-s…
New play about love and memory is exquisitely written and beautifully acted For the past ten years, Black-British playwrights have been in the vanguard of innovation in the form and content …
Lemn Sissay's adaptation of the Franz Kafka classic is just too wordy Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis" is a novella whose cultural resonance has echoed loudly down the years. As a modernist me…
New play about three sisters is full of energy, but also a bit too populist for me The National Theatre is meant to represent the whole nation " and not just the metropolitan middle classes.…
London transfer for the Royal Shakespeare Company's riotous comedy Western At its best theatre is a seducer. It weaves a magic spell that can persuade you, perhaps against your better judge…
Forgotten play by the author of Tom & Viv is realistic, but lacks dramatic focus British Theatre abounds in forgotten writers. And in ones whose early work is too rarely revived. One su…
Nina Raine's revival of Tom Stoppard's 2006 epic rocks, but also stumbles There is a song by Syd Barrett, founder member of Pink Floyd, called "Golden Hair". It's on his album The Madcap Lau…
Chris Thorpe's one-man show about nuclear weapons is intelligent and humane Let's start with what we know: the climate emergency is the single most burning question facing the planet. Our li…
Seasonal Eng Lit mash-up returns with its festive message of forgiveness It's an elementary fact that Dickens sells at this time of year " look at all the perennial Christmas Carols sproutin…
Samuel Barnett performs a sizzling monologue about sex and fatal attraction The Comedian runs, bounces even, onto the stage. The audience immediately applauds. He seizes the mic and makes se…
New comedy about toffs and tycoons is disappointingly juvenile and weak As Christmas looms, 'tis the season for comedy. And even the traditionally austere Royal Court feels obliged to join i…
Richard Bean's new comedy about old age occasionally glows, but stays lukewarm There's only a couple of things you need to know about playwright Richard Bean: he started out as a stand-up c…
Princess Diana's BBC soul-searching makes for a slender docu-drama Journalism is a despised profession. And when you consider the story behind the interview that Diana, Princess of Wales, g…