Practice of Zen considers the traditions, practicality, sensuality and strength of swordplay and resilience. Performed in Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles, this piece by Theatre …
Diana Varco brings her own experiences to this one-woman show, now streaming at the Brighton Fringe. The topics of abuse and sexual assault may not be an obvious choice for comedy, but Varco…
We're in Gran Canaria, where the paint is peeling on the chalets over at Los Hombres. Chatty guide Thabian (Kane Verrall) tells us over the tannoy we're there to have a good time. This is th…
Mark Ravenhill's production of La Boheme is pared down to 90 minutes and four on-stage characters, with a piano taking the place of an orchestra. This makes it intimate and immediate.
Sue Glover's play is set on Hirta, the largest island on St Kilda, and takes inspiration from the story of Rachel Erskine, Lady Grange, in the eighteenth century.
Composed by Frank Wildhorn with lyrics by Don Black, the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow's road to infamy is perhaps best known from Arthur Penn's classic 1967 film. Composed …
Even a minor Sondheim has something to recommend it, and ticking this one off leaves just two of his shows left for me to see live. My knowledge of Anyone Can Whistle was confined to…
Dirty Hearts, a new play by Paul Murphy, looks at relationships, friendships, ethics, secrets and morals close to home.
My first visit to this flashy jukebox musical inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was in December 2019, so it was great fun to revisit recently.
Emma Zadow's new play, Fridge, is a three-hander set in 21st century rural Norfolk as two sisters and a schoolfriend reunite seven years after a catastrophic event.
A father and son meet in a wine cellar. The son is a recovering alcoholic, and his dad (a ghost, who left the son a nice bottle of red wine in his will) doesn't seem to understand the harm a…
Ghosts of the Titanic is set in the time following the disaster " near enough for it to be in the immediate memory, far enough for people to have moved on, hungry for other stories.
We watch Romeo's journey from the age of five (with his mum painting his nails) to eighteen, always knowing he was gay but dealing with the expectations of his peers as a young black man.
Florian Zeller's puzzles of the mind (The Father, The Mother, The Son, The Height of the Storm) continue to baffle audiences in his new play, The Forest, now in residence at Hampstead's main…
Steven (a demonstrative David Ames) is celebrating his 47th birthday at the Manhattan branch of Joe Allen's, where posters from little-remembered shows line the walls.
Paul Bradshaw stars in his own coming-of-age comedy drama as Him, a young gay man finding his way through casual romance in London. With George Greenland utilising a coat stand and ta…
I wouldn't call myself a Kate Bush fan, one of the shoal of 'fish people' who revere her, yet her songs have soundtracked my formative years. So she's always been there in spirit. Sar…
Alexis Gregory's one-man show is a passionate and engrossing piece of theatre, created and assembled from verbatim accounts from gay men who have encountered key points in queer history.
Inspired by Peter Evans' biography, released after Ava Gardner's death, Elizabeth McGovern stars as the actress in the last years of her life, living in London.
Advertised as "an epic, intimate, family saga', this new show from theatre company Kandinsky is certainly innovative in its approach. Devised by its three performers (Nathaniel Christ…
This is the second in a series highlighting shows and companies that should have played during at this year's cancelled Vault Festival and should have a future life elsewhere.
Matthew Parker's revival of the popular off-Broadway musical based on the story of teenage murderers Nathan Leopold (1904-1971) and Richard Loeb (1905-1936) is now is residence at the tiny J…
"As the lead in the first London production of the censorship-smashing 1968 rock musical Hair, Paul, unlike many of his co-stars, did not reveal all. In a manner of speaking, he does now…"
The recent news of the cancellation of the whole Vault Festival 2022 is undoubtedly a big blow to both fringe theatre performers and audiences. This post is the first in a series high…
We are in Cornwall, forty years ago, on the 19 December 1981. A lifeboat in Penlee Station answers a distress call, but never returned, with the loss of sixteen lives.