My brush with a rabid monkey
India A crowded bus station. A lady monkey with a baby clinging to its neck sidled past me, eyeing the banana…
Brian Cox’s Bach has to be heading for Broadway
The Score is a fine example of meat-and-potatoes theatre. Simple plotting, big characters, terrific speeches and a happy ending. The…
PMQs was a façade
A bit of a stitch-up at PMQs, or so it seemed. The ‘opposition’ leader, Kemi Badenoch, ignored her duty to…
Shakespeare as cruise-ship entertainment: Jamie Lloyd’s Much Ado About Nothing reviewed
Nicholas Hytner’s Richard II is a high-calibre version of a fascinating story. A king reluctantly yields his crown to a…
We saw the real Keir Starmer at PMQs – and it was ugly
Strange atmosphere at PMQs. Our MPs seemed to believe that the Commons debate was a vital briefing session for Sir…
Tedious and threadbare: Unicorn, at the Garrick Theatre, reviewed
Unicorn, Mike Bartlett’s new play, involves some characters in chairs discussing a sexual threesome. That’s the entire show. Polly (Nicola…
If you have two hours to spare, spend it anywhere but here: The Years reviewed
The Years is a monologue spoken by a handful of actresses, some young, some old enough to carry bus passes.…
Kemi is starting to sound like Sir Keir
Kemi Badenoch has made PMQs her own. Her own what? Her own select committee. That’s how she runs it. She…
Stylish facsimile of Carol Reed’s film: Oliver!, at the Gielgud Theatre, reviewed
Oliver! directed by Matthew Bourne is billed as a ‘fully reconceived’ version of Lionel Bart’s musical. Very little seems to…
Kemi finally has a good PMQs
Genuinely, a historic day at PMQs. The plates are shifting. Labour whips spotted that Nigel Farage’s name was on the…
An excellent sixth-form drama project: Santi & Naz, at Soho Theatre, reviewed
Santi & Naz is a drama set in the Punjab in 1947 that uses an ancient and thrilling storyline about…
Starmer can’t keep blaming the Tories
Great stuff from Kemi Badenoch at PMQs. She was entertaining, tricky, probing, unpredictable. If she keeps this up she may…
The Traitors finale was a cruel spectacle
Blame Covid. That’s the origin of the BBC’s hit game-show, The Traitors. Workplaces are still deserted as people sit in…
Pious bilge: Kyoto, at @sohoplace, reviewed
The West End’s new political show, Kyoto, can’t be classed as a drama. A drama involves a main character engaged…
Cheerless and fussy: The Tempest, at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, reviewed
The Tempest is Shakespeare’s farewell, his final masterpiece or, if you’re being cynical, the play that made him jack it…
Keir can thank God for Kemi
Robots will never replace Sir Keir Starmer. No need. Silicon Valley is already using him as the template for an…
Exquisite: Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed
The Invention of Love opens with death. Tom Stoppard’s play about A.E. Housman starts on the banks of the Styx,…
The issue of rape gangs will not go away
Finally, we heard it. At PMQs today, the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, dropped the euphemism ‘grooming’ and said ‘rape gangs’…
Brutal and brilliant portrait of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
The Last Days of Liz Truss? is a one-woman show about the brief interregnum between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.…
Is Kemi Badenoch too nice to be Tory leader?
Kemi Badenoch got tough with Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs. Not tough enough, but at least she led on a…
Sumptuous but musically unmemorable: Elton John’s The Devil Wears Prada musical reviewed
The Devil Wears Prada is a fairy tale about an aspiring female novelist, Andy, who receives a job offer from…
Don’t blame this man for interrupting David Tennant
The curse of Macbeth strikes again. David Tennant’s turn as the Scottish psychopath was interrupted this week by a kerfuffle…
Kemi Badenoch is bad at PMQs
Flunked it again, unfortunately. Kemi Badenoch chose poor tactics at PMQs. She made flabby speeches instead of hitting the PM…
This Muslim playwright believes Yorkshire is headed for civil war
Expendable, at the Royal Court, is an urgent bulletin from the front line of the grooming gang scandal in the…
Kemi let Starmer off the hook again
Labour thinks it can win on immigration. Their new strategy was road-tested today at PMQs as backbencher Olivia Bailey opened…
