Nothing Island
Much Ado About Nothing
by William Shakespeare, adapted by Debris Stevenson
National Youth Theatre Rep Company at the Duke of York’s Theatre until 10th February
Review by Andrew Lawston
The concept of Much Ado About Nothing being updated to the world of reality TV may well spark scepticism at first glance, or an even more adverse reaction. But after just a few seconds’ thought, Shakespeare’s comic tale of young people manipulated into coupling up – and breaking up – for the amusement of others, becomes a natural fit for the domain of dating programmes like Love Island. And rather than acting as mere set dressing, the reality TV theme pervades Debris Stevenson’s new adaptation (or “remix” according to the programme) of the play for the National Youth Theatre, providing a timely and caustic commentary on disturbing trends in reality TV and social media.
Read more…Start Crossed Lovers
Noughts & Crosses
by Malorie Blackman, adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz
Pilot Theatre at The Rose Theatre, Kingston until 11th February, then on tour until 1st April
Review by Brent Muirhouse
As soon as the first seconds of light slowly pulsated on the boards of the Rose Theatre, accompanied by a disconcerting mechanical hum, it became clear that just as in Malorie Blackman’s 2006 novel the intention of this stage version of Noughts & Crosses was to create an unsettling experience for those watching on.
Read more…Man Management
A Society (For the Cutting up of Men)
by Daniel Carter
Network Theatre at Network Theatre, Waterloo until 5th February
Review by Heather Moulson
Boom! The London Vault Festival has opened, and we are straight in with A Society (For the Cutting up of Men). As the play opens, a vibrant bonhomie with eight women, dressed in eccentric costumes of Victorian skirts and hobnailed boots, promises a lively take on early feminist issues.
This colourful beginning keeps the weighty piece flowing. Genuine comic moments about dramatic music in books, and a backlash against chastity, work beautifully. Young Victorian women question the role of men and a non-patriarchal society, and assert their determination to infiltrate the male world. Adaptions of Virginia Woolf’s wry observations and of Valarie Solanas’ SCUM (the Society of Cutting up Men) manifesto is a great unconventional concept that verges on the true yet on the absurd.
Read more…Kill Joy
Thrill Me
by Stephen Dolginoff
Teddington Theatre Club at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre until 4th February
Review by Steve Mackrell
Thrill Me is an award-winning musical thriller, written by American playwright and composer, Stephen Dolginoff, which premiered off-Broadway in 2005. In the UK, it was performed at the Hope and Anchor theatre pub in Islington in 2019, and subsequently had a one-month run last year at the Jermyn Street Theatre.
The play is based on the true-life story of a couple of twenty-year-old students, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who kidnapped and murdered a fourteen-year-old boy in Chicago in 1924. However, the underlying interest of the drama is not so much the murder itself, but in the exploration of the motives of the two students, and in particular, their fascination with Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of Ubermenschen, “supermen”. This relates to the belief that certain individuals with superior intellect can act with disregard to the conventional rules of society, thereby rendering themselves above the law, and thus, not liable for their actions. The play shows how they both test this concept, with a bold plan to carry out a “perfect” murder.
Read more…Hope Reigns Eternal
The Shawshank Redemption
by Stephen King, adapted by Owen O’Neil and Dave Johns
Bill Kenwright at Richmond Theatre until 4th February, then on tour until 5th May
Review by Mark Aspen
Agony can be short and excruciating, or long and drawn out, like grief. But when the agony is extended over decades and decades, it effect is hard to comprehend. The long term loss of freedom is one such agony, and is the subject of the play, The Shawshank Redemption. Stephen King’s 1984 short novel is perhaps best known from Frank Darabont’s highly acclaimed film, made some twelve years later. However, this stage version brings out the claustrophobic horror of incarceration with stinging sharpness.
Director David Esbjornson has sculpted The Shawshank Redemption as a very uncomfortable play to watch, as it is meant to be. Grit your teeth, though, through the harrowing and raw early scenes, and you are rewarded with a thoughtful study of its powerful themes, the integrity of Andy, unjustly sentenced to two life sentences, and the hope of Red, the long-term prison “fixer”, who bond as friends. The mutual support of their unlikely friendship gives them the resilience to find coping mechanisms for the interminable agony of their captivity.
Read more…Under the Bed
The Red Within
by Oihane Rodríguez
Hecate Theatre Company at the Drayton Arms Theatre, Earl’s Court until 30th January
Review by Heather Moulson
A tense soundtrack and studied lighting created a fitting atmosphere for The Red Withinas we were greeted, as such, by Rosario amongst a striking tableau of four women. Rosario opened up to us with pathos, turmoil and wit, slotting us nicely in the picture. Unravelling a strict Catholic upbringing and alcoholic issues, Rosario revealed her ultimate act of homicide. The other three women who could so easily be taken for the lead’s alter ego ’s, the loving and protective aunt, Eladia, sister Alma and close friend Regina, revealed themselves at a more leisurely pace,. These characters had personalities and issues of their own but they were still vital for the dimensions in Rosario’s story.
Read more…Raw
Welcome Home
by Willy Hudson
Daisy Hale at the Soho Theatre until 11th February
Review by Denis Valentine
So writing a review with the last words of the shows lead in mind and the knowledge that anyone giving too much away of will result him finding them and biting a certain appendage off, it is time to talk about Welcome Home.
The show opens the audience up to the life and times of its lead Willy Hudson and is an autobiographical tale that leads almost up to the literal moment of his stepping on stage. It becomes very apparent from the opening moments that the show is very much crafted in its lead’s image and the audience will be getting not only a piece of theatre but also a bit of a rock concert at the same time.
Read more…Echoes of Futures Past
Escaped Alone and What If, If Only
by Caryl Churchill
The Questors Theatre at Questors Studio, Ealing until 4th February
Review by Andrew Lawston
Two challenging plays from Caryl Churchill take up the intimate space of the Studio at the Questors Theatre tonight. Both are brisk, under an hour in length, and walk a fine line between bleak and comic.
Escaped Alone brings four ladies together in a back garden on a summer’s day, to drink tea and gossip. Except this meandering and often witty conversation is punctuated by monologues, often from the visiting Mrs Jarrett who relates impending visions of apocalypse. As the back-projected sunny sky darkens, Mrs Jarrett begins to relate stories of four hundred thousand tonnes of rock crushing a town, and the gruesome lives led by the survivors. Or she describes the public health crisis that resulted from food supplies being redirected to television cookery shows.
Read more…And Then What?
Two Billion Beats
by Sonali Bhattacharyya
Orange Tree Productions at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond until 4th February
Review by Louis Mazzini
When a theatre is full of young people you know that the artistic director – and the cast and playwright – are doing something right, especially as some West End theatres and amateur groups are still struggling to recover their audience to pre-Covid levels. The Orange Tree Theatre, in Richmond, is one of the best small theatres in London and great things are expected from Tom Littler, the new artistic director formerly at Jermyn St Theatre. And things have got off to a good start with Two Billion Beats, an engaging and realistic two-hander, directed in this revival by Nimmo Ismail and Tian Brown-Sampson.
Read more…Stainless?
Steel Magnolias
by Robert Harling
Trafalgar Theatre Productions at Richmond Theatre until 28th January and then on tour until 22nd July
Review by Patrick Shorrock
Best known through the 1989 film, Steel Magnolias did actually start life as a play, which is presumably the justification for reviving it and taking it on tour now. It certainly challenges the view that the only certainties in life are death and taxes by adding a third: the importance of getting your hair done. Truvi and the patrons of her salon see their efforts to keep beautiful as battle armour against the disappointments of life. ‘Nobody has natural beauty’, Truvi tells her apprentice Annelle: beauty requires hard work and plenty of hairspray. They achieve a degree of female solidarity amidst the bickering, as their hair and nails are turned into something very different from what nature intended … …
Read more…
Mark Aspen 