Gripping Nineties Suspense
Dead Guilty
by Richard Harris
Take Note Theatre at the Tabard Theatre, Chiswick until 27th June
Review by Andrew Lawston
We’re back to the mid-90s at Chiswick’s Tabard Theatre tonight, in the house of Julia, a freelance graphic designer from the days when cutting and pasting still meant exactly that, despite the equally nostalgic chunky computer monitor on the desk.
Julia has recently been in a car crash, after her employer John Haddrell suffered a fatal heart attack at the wheel. She is convalescing, undergoing various operations on her leg while working from home. She’s visited by Gary, a young local man who cleans and gardens for her (Julia’s “Daily Male”), as well as by Anne, her counsellor. In pain, depressed, and irritable, Julia mostly just wants to be left alone, as anyone who’s ever worked from home can surely appreciate at the best of times, but there is a particularly nervous edge to her irritation.
Read more…For Richer or Poorer
The Marriage of Figaro
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte after Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais
Wild Arts Summer Opera Festival at The Layer Marney Tower, Essex until 7th June, then on tour until 27th September
Review by Mark Aspen
It is a clear recognition of the quality of Wild Arts productions, that such a new opera company was chosen by one of opera’s superstar singers for her stage directing debut. Danielle de Niese’s career has spanned the world’s greatest opera houses for over three decades, and she was already singing at New York’s Metropolitan Opera whilst still a teenager. (And four years earlier, she had been singing with the Los Angles Opera.) Whether it be London’s opera houses, La Scala, Le Palais Garnier or Sydney Opera House, Danielle de Niese will have sung there. And, of course Glyndebourne is her base, both her artistic home and family home.
Bringing the verve and energy of the performers together under Wild Arts power-house, the inspired conductor Orlando Jopling, its founder and artistic director, and with the inspiration of the inimitable Danielle de Niese, Wild Arts forges a piece that is a pure triumph.
Read more…Top Class
Teechers
by John Godber
The John Godber Company at the Reading Rep Theatre until 13th June
Review by Sam Martin
John Godber’s Teechers has long held a special place within British theatre; its combination of sharp social observation, infectious humour and deep affection for education ensuring its enduring popularity. This latest production by the John Godber Company at Reading Rep demonstrates precisely why the play continues to resonate still, decades after its premiere. Cleverly updated for a contemporary audience, this version retains the spirit of the original while weaving in references to modern school life, creating a production that feels both nostalgic and strikingly relevant.
Read more…Harder Hit
The Shawshank Redemption
by Stephen King, adapted by Owen O’Neil and Dave Johns
Bill Kenwright Ltd at Richmond Theatre until 6th June
Review by Eleanor Marsh
There is a fashion for adapting successful movies into stage plays and musicals. The West End is flooded with such shows and without doubt some of these adaptations work better than others. It feels at times that there are no new ideas and so it was with some trepidation that I waited for the curtain to go up on The Shawshank Redemption.
The stage adaptation of the movie (itself an adaptation of Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption) was first produced in 2009, before the current infatuation with such things and is all the better for it. There is no pretence that this is anything other than a theatrical piece from the moment the curtain literally goes up on Gary McCann’s set. King’s story lends itself well to the medium and this production is both stylised and grounded in harsh reality.
Read more…Through a Mirror Darkly
Black Comedy
by Peter Shaffer
Orange Tree Productions at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond until 11th July
Review by Eleanor Lewis
The description ‘drawing room farce’ is outdated in 2026, it being quite some time since women did any withdrawing to specific rooms leaving the men to do whatever they did after dinner. Black Comedy, however, has such an air of vintage charm that you couldn’t really describe it any other way.
Known for his more famous work Equus, a dark, psychological drama exploring the nature of obsession and trauma (to hugely oversimplify it), Peter Shaffer’s range of talent was clearly not limited to serious drama. Black Comedy is both something of a surprise, and an impressively skilled piece of comedy farce which is very entertaining
Read more…Sunshine Brought to Heatwave
Eric and Ern
by Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens after Eddie Braben
Martin Clarkson and The Production Garden at BEAM, Hertford until 29th May, then on tour until 20th December
Review by Steven Roberts
Should you go to see Eric and Ern expecting to find out about the off stage lives of Morecombe and Wise, loves and events, then this is not the show for you.
What we are treated to is an evening of nostalgia and celebration of the lives of arguably two of the greatest comedy partnerships this country has ever known. And what a celebration it is, played out by Jonty Stephens (Eric) and Ian Ashpitel (Ern) with great affection and joy.
Even before the performance begins, the presence on stage of the famous red curtain, the sofa and coffee table, the double bed and the window, to be replaced by a grand piano for the second half, set the scene perfectly. This performance was to be all about the Morecambe and Wise TV shows of the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, mostly written by Eddie Braben, that many of us, of a certain age, grew up and fell in love with.
Read more…No Country For Old Ministers
I’m Sorry, Prime Minister
byJonathan Lynn
Barn Theatre Productions at Richmond Theatre, until 30th May, then on tour until 1st August
Review by Andrew Lawston
As London swelters in record-breaking May temperatures, it is something of a relief to enter the wintry world of I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, not to mention the air-conditioned auditorium of Richmond Theatre.
Classic sitcoms have proved to be a rich vein for theatre in recent years, with stage versions of The Good Life, Only Fools and Horses, and Fawlty Towers all finding a ready and enthusiastic audience. By comparison, Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister feel like a much more obvious candidate for stage adaptation. The original television version was particularly studio-bound, with lengthy character scenes and a small central cast.
Read more…Gunning for Fame
The Harder They Come
by Perry Henzell and Trevor Rhone, adapted by Suzan-Lori Parksby
Washington Square Films, Joshua Blum and Bruce Miller at Theatre Royal Stratford East, Newham until 4th July
Review by Ravenna Vale
Returning to the Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Harder They Come is not merely a musical revival, it is a cultural eruption. A blazing, bass-thumping, soul-shaking explosion of music, rebellion and joy that transforms the theatre into the streets of 1970s Kingston, Jamaica. Directed with staggering confidence by Matthew Xia, this production feels less like watching a show and more like being swept into a living, breathing revolution. By the curtain call, the audience was no longer sitting politely in red velvet seats: they were on their feet, dancing, cheering, singing, spilling out into Stratford still swaying to the rhythm, reluctant to let the night end.
Read more…Sans Everything?
Care
by Alexander Zeldin
Young Vic and A Zeldin Company co-production at The Young Vic Theatre, Waterloo until 11th July
Review by Eleanor Marsh
It is Dementia Action Week. Tube journeys and social media timelines are awash with images of forget-me-nots and stories of vibrant people whose sense of self has been lost due to this cruel disease. We are reminded that those of us fortunate to live into old age are also highly likely to fall prey to a similar fate. How appropriate then for the Young Vic to be producing Alexander Zeldin’s unflinching analysis of this most uncomfortable of topics.
Read more…It’s Hard to Conceive
The Harmony Test
by Richard Molloy
Putney Theatre Company at the Antony Bridges Studio, Putney Arts Centre until 16th May
Review by Harry Zimmerman
The Harmony Test weaves together two distinct storylines, with large dollops of comedy and serious sorrowful angst in equal measure, as we follow the fortunes of two couples at very different stages of their relationship.
We firstly meet teacher Zoe and terminally unemployed actor, Kash, who are trying for a baby. Zoe takes a pragmatic, clear eyed and common-sense approach to the task with almost military precision. She has a distinct fertility plan, incorporating vitamin supplements, a strict diet, planned conception timetabling broken down into optimum times and dates and even the judicious intimate application of a bag of frozen peas to maximise the prospects of success.
Kash is more laid back, preferring to let nature take its course, although his almost puppy dog desire to be helpful and proactive extends not only to the icing of certain body parts at appropriate times, but also spending money he doesn’t have on an extremely dubious “aid” to conception from a fellow actor he bumped into in Holland and Barrett, providing one of the comedic highlights of the show.
Read more…
Mark Aspen 