REVIEW: Follies (National Theatre) ★★★★★
Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s masterpiece Follies opened on Broadway in 1971. Directed by Broadway legends Harold Prince and Michael Bennett, the production was a financial failure. In fact, the musical didn’t see wide-spread success until its original London run in 1987, sixteen years after it’s Broadway debut. Since then, the show has been performed […]
Is an ‘Interval’ really necessary at the theatre?
This week, the highly anticipated production of Stephen Sondheim‘s musical Follies started previews at the National Theatre starring Janie Dee, Tracie Bennett and Imelda Staunton. With a running time of two hours and ten minutes, I was surprised to see that there is no interval (although this could possibly change before the official opening night) […]
REVIEW: THE BARBER SHOP CHRONICLES (National Theatre) ★★★★★
The Barber Shop Chronicles at the National Theatre is an utter gem of a play. Set in seven different barbershops around the world, the play interweaves different views and experiences and presents them in a powerful and punchy piece of theatre. Never preachy, the show delves into different aspects of what it is to be […]
REVIEW: COMMON (National Theatre) ★★★
England, 1809. The country, in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, is in a state of flux and uncertainty. DC Moore’s newest work Common delves into this turmoil, mixing together economic and political struggles with the notions of sin and the supernatural and their impact on the physical world. In the cavernous Olivier Theatre, we […]
ANGELS IN AMERICA starts previews next week at THE NATIONAL THEATRE
Angels In America is about America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis, and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. This new staging of Tony Kushner’s multi-award-winning two-part play is directed by Olivier and Tony award-winning director Marianne Elliott (The Curious […]
Further cast announced for FOLLIES at the THE NATIONAL THEATRE
1971, New York. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. Including such classic songs as Broadway Baby, I’m Still Here and Losing […]
REVIEW: TWELFTH NIGHT (National Theatre) ★★★★
The National Theatre brings a modern-chic version of The Tempest to the stage Chaotic capers and absurd romantic misconceptions in Illyria. The power house that is the National Theatre, plays a modern-chic interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic comedy Twelfth Night. Simon Godwin directs this production, and along with his impeccable cast, manage to wring out every […]
Award-winning PEOPLE PLACES AND THINGS set to tour the UK
Duncan Macmillan’s award-winning People, Places and Things will begin a major UK tour with a new cast this autumn, in a co-production between the National Theatre, Headlong, HOME and Exeter Northcott Theatre. Full casting to be announced shortly. The tour begins at HOME, Manchester (22 September – 7 October), and continues to Oxford Playhouse (11 […]
OUR LADIES OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR transfers to the West End
Following a critically-acclaimed opening at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, subsequent UK tour and sell-out run last summer at the National Theatre, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour opens in the West End in May 2017 at the Duke of York’s Theatre. Vicky Featherstone’s smash-hit production of Lee Hall’s musical adaptation of Alan Warner’s The Sopranos reunites […]
REVIEW: HEDDA GABLER (National Theatre) ★★★
Today, it is more difficult to choose a play and perform it in its traditional setting, rather than taking a contemporary angle. Ivo van Hove, a true example of this, chooses to take Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler from 1891 for his National Theatre debut. Hedda is a female character in literature that readers and audiences have […]