Mrs Warren’s Profession is the oldest profession. And the extraordinary Irish polymath George Bernard Shaw uses it to explore issues of exploitation, power and money. As an Irish man, Shaw knew firsthand what it was like to be a member of an oppressed people, Ireland being England’s oldest colony. There are to this day Irish…
During the past year, memories of the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park kept coming back to me a la Proust dipping his biscuit into coffee. So to go back last night and experience it again was incredible. It is the most perfect venue to see a show, with the trees encircling the space as if…
The Kite Runner is a wonderful play about the history and culture, people and politics of Afghanistan. Based on Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 novel, Matthew Spangler’s adaptation for the stage somehow manages to capture the many layers of complexity that give the novel such heft and power. The play gives us a story about a father…
JEW…ish is a delight, a joy, a real treat. Saul Boyer (co-writer with Poppy Damon) as Max and Edie Newman as TJ are superbly engaging and very watchable as the mixed Jew and gentile couple who try desperately to keep their love hate relationship on track. In a one hour tour de force they give…
Gavin McAlinden’s take on Macbeth is intriguing, insightful and innovative. Coming from Armagh he deploys his understanding of war, civil war and paramilitary violence to create a Macbeth that is located somewhere between the IRA, the Serbian mafia and Isis. Men dressed in sinister black clothing from head to foot, carrying Kalashnikovs and pistols are…
Scandi noir is all the rage on TV. Where does this Scandinavian love for all things dark, disturbing and dangerous come from? Geography would seem to be the most plausible explanation. Living in a part of the world where it’s dark for months on end has given the Scandinavians more than their fair share of…
To see A Midsummer Night’s Dream on a perfect July evening at the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park is to ask oneself as Demetrious does “Am I awake, or do I but dream?” A perfect comedy in the most perfect setting is a gift that prompted me to reflect on the riches that London has…
Matilda, watch out for there is a new kid on the musical block: Adrian Mole. The rivalry between these two shows which puts a girl and a boy respectively centre stage is set to become a must-see compare and contrast experience. Intriguingly, a male writer (Roald Dahl 1916-1990) has written a wonderful part for a…