Turing play still packs a punch We know a lot more about Alan Turing, the subject of Breaking The Code, than we did when Hugh Whitemore wrote the play in the mid 1980s. His once secret work on breaking the Enigma code during World War Two, possibly saving millions of ...
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If you've never seen Noises Off, You Really Should When I saw the first production of Noises Off back in 1982, I laughed so much I was fighting for breath. If I didn’t laugh quite so uncontrollably on this occasion, it’s only because it’s the fifth time I’ve seen Michael ...
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Production of Sondheim's musical hits the target Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is one of his lesser known musicals. Having seen this production of it at The Watermill, I understand why. There’s no story, no engagement with the characters and, like the would be assassins, it's hit and miss. On the plus ...
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Laura Wade's play is funny, thought-provoking and exhilarating The Watsons starts as a fairly conventional adaptation of a Jane Austen story taking place on a lovely white set by Ben Stones. Emma needs a husband and the question is, which of the three contenders will she end up marrying? Will ...
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Has Evita ever looked or sounded better?  I doubt whether Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita has ever looked or sounded better. As you enter the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, you're presented with a set that looks like bleachers or maybe a staircase which rises from the front ...
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Juliet Stevenson outstanding in Robert Icke's exposure of populism Dr Wolfe, played by Juliet Stevenson, prides herself on being logical and making medical decisions based on facts in a world of irrationality. Hildegard Bechtler’s stark set is quite a contrast to the detailed oppressiveness of her design for Rosmersholm. Here ...
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Hansard in the Lyttelton Theatre of the National Theatre is what I love about theatre. Forget video screens, background music, special effects. Simply two great actors live on stage telling a story to a live audience. For ninety unbroken minutes this couple bickers and takes swipes at each other until ...
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Present Laughter at The Old Vic is one of the funniest plays I’ve ever seen. Andrew Scott is the leading contender for the best actor of his generation ...
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While I have small reservations about this production, I found it a thoroughly enjoyable evening’s entertainment ...
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The Gielgud is one of the nicest theatres in the West End The Gielgud Theatre was known as The Globe for most of its 113 year history. In 1994, after a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe was built on the South Bank, iit was renamed in honour of Sir John Gielgud ...
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Lesley Sharp and David Morrissey provide laughter and emotion in Jack Thorne's family drama It's a world away from Jack Thorne and John  Tiffany's last collaboration- Harry Potter And The Curse Child- but the end of history is another moving drama about parent child relationships. The title may refer to a ...
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Bitter reviews for David Mamet's Bitter Wheat at The Garrick Even recruiting John Malkovich, one of the finest stage actors of his generation to make a rare West End appearance couldn’t sweeten the critics’ reactions to David Mamet's Bitter Wheat: “a flabby, cynical and pointless effort” cried Tim Bano in The ...
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A Masterclass in Playwriting and Acting Prism at Hampstead Theatre (touring autumn 2019) is a double pleasure. It marks a welcome return for Terry Johnson, author of Dead Funny, Hysteria and Insignificance with his first full length play in ten years. And it gives Robert Lindsay the chance to get his teeth into a role worthy ...
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Sweat- an important visceral play by Lynn Nottage. There is so much I could say about this play but I want to concentrate on the central story which concerns the deindustrialisation that happened in the US in the early 21st century. It's something we in the UK are only too ...
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Roger Allam shines in dull play Much is being made by the National Theatre of how this play and its author Githa Sowerby are not that well known and that if she had been a man, it would have been a different story. She would have stood alongside Bernard Shaw ...
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Sheila Hancock and James Nesbitt are the leading lights and Kirsty MacLaren shines There’s a lot to like in This Is My Family which is directed by Daniel Evans with a light comic touch. This is the second of CFT Artistic Director Daniel Evans' 'greatest hits' from his days at the Sheffield ...
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Avengers star Hayley Atwell is forceful co-star with Tom Burke   Rosmersholm is about wanting to pursue passion and change but being held back by the past – the political system, religion, inhertitance. At the beginning, everything is covered in dustsheets in this stately home- Rosmersholm. The walls show signs ...
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Downton Abbey star in clever one woman play by Christopher Hampton The set comprises a small living room with an old lady sitting on a chair alone on a thrust stage talking to the audience. She never stands up. For 100 minutes we listen, I mean really listen. The lady ...
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Anne-Marie Duff adds Wow Factor to excellent production of Sweet Charity Sweet Charity with book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. This would be an excellent production with any musical star but Anne-Marie Duff adds a wow factor. She may not be as good a ...
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Handbagged by Moira Buffini in a new production directed by Jo Newman Handbagged takes us through the major events of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as British prime minister. I use the word ‘reign’ deliberately because the story is told through a series of meetings between an increasingly regal Thatcher (Eve Matheson) ...
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