Bloody Mary and the Nine Day Queen. Review by Barbara Lewis. Five centuries after King Henry VIII instigated the English Reformation, the press excitement around King Charles III’s decision to pray with the Pope is proof, were any needed, that some popular fascinations never die.
theatre
Blue/Orange, Review by Barbara Lewis. In the quarter of a century since the first staging of Joe Penhall’s exploration of how the system fails to serve the most vulnerable and potentially most dangerous in society horribly little progress has been made in delivering reform.
Mistero Buffo. Review by Barbara Lewis. Do we need to believe something to make it real? Conversely, if we believe something, does it become real? The question is central to our post-truth times and to Dario Fo’s daring questioning of blind faith that was for years banned as blasphemous.
The Trials. Review by Barbara Lewis. The Nuremberg Trials were considered fair, one of the jurors says during deliberations that are seeking climate justice – or is it revenge? – in a future not too distant from our already overheated times.
Sense & Sensibility, The Musical. Review by Barbara Lewis. Jane Austen loved music, but words were her supreme medium for conveying the nuanced feelings of her finest characters and the vicious superficiality of the mercenary social climbers that served to highlight the quieter virtues.
Clive. Review by Barbara Lewis. From “The Office” to “W1A,” workplaces have provided a rich vein of television comedy. Now “Clive,” by award-winning stage and screen writer Michael Wynne, proves that working from home is perfect subject-matter for a theatrical one-hander.
Death Comes to Pemberley. Review by Barbara Lewis. “Jane Austen wrote six novels, pretty much all about the same sort of thing,” declares the programme note to P.D. James’ artful sequel to possibly the most popular of the six (or seven, if you count the unfinished “Sanditon”).
Testament. Review by Barbara Lewis. Green Opera’s aim is to put sustainability and nature at its core, while redefining opera for a new era in which art and environmental consciousness unite.
Much Ado About Nothing. Review by Barbara Lewis. “Much Ado About Nothing” in the “humble opinion” of Associate Director Mark Collier is the perfect comedy.
Summers. Review by Barbara Lewis. Heejin Kim takes us to a near future where there is no longer any doubt that summers are something to fight rather than enjoy.
Fiddler on the Roof. Review by Julia Pascal. In Fiddler on the Roof, inspired by Sholem Aleichem’s 1894 Yiddish short story, and now a celebrated revival from the 1960s, we have to explore what this means today.
The Wanderers. Review by Julia Pascal. This is a fascinating mess of a play which engages on every level. Anna Zeigler’s conceit is literary as the narrative plays out two parallel timelines within designated chapters.
By Julia Pascal • added recently on London Grip, plays, theatre • Tags: Julia Pascal, plays, theatre