Theatre
Clueless
The Royal Court’s new topical satire, Word-Play, opens with a gaffe-prone Tory prime minister giving a TV interview in which…
Comic relief
The boss of the Royal Court, Vicky Featherstone, will soon step down and she’s using her final spell in charge…
Bad blood
In the 1990s, the BBC had a popular flat-share comedy, Men Behaving Badly, about a pair of giggling bachelors who…
Omission accomplished
Beneatha’s Place, set in the 1950s, follows a black couple who encounter racial prejudice when they move to a predominately…
More cuddly than cutting
Nothing demonstrates the inanity of profanity like an undercooked comedy. The famous Spitting Image puppets have returned in a political…
Penalty points
James Graham’s entertaining new play looks at the England manager’s job. Everyone knows that coaching the national side is just…
Not tuned in
When Winston Went to War with the Wireless is the clumsy and misleading title of a new play about John…
Rocky peaks
One of the earliest jukebox musicals has returned to the West End. When the show opened in 2002 the author,…
Weird and wonderful
A puzzle at Hampstead Theatre. Literally, a brain teaser. Its new production, Re-member Me, is a one-man show written and…
The ex factor
Mrs Doubtfire is a social comedy about divorce. We meet Miranda, a talentless, bitter mother, who tires of her caring…
Brief encounters
Brokeback Mountain, a play with music, opens in a scruffy bedroom where a snowy-haired tramp finds a lumberjack’s shirt and…
How do I hate thee?
A new play, The Misandrist, looks at modern dating habits. Rachel is a smart, self-confident woman whose partner is a…
Primer time
The Motive and the Cue breaches the inviolable sanctity of the rehearsal room. The play, set in New York in…
Upstart Crow without the jokes
The Swan Theatre has reopened after an overhaul and praise god: they’ve replaced the seats. The Swan is a likeable…
Sins of the father
Dixon and Daughters is a family drama that opens on a note of sour mistrust. We’re in a working-class home…
Deadbeats, halfwits and losers
Snowflakes, an excellent title, rehashes The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter. A guest in a hotel room is visited by…
The sting in the tale
The Secret Life of Bees is a fairy-tale set in the Deep South in 1964. Lily, a bullied white girl,…
This will hurt
A Little Life, based on Hanya Yanagihara’s novel, is set in a New York apartment shared by four mega-successful yuppies:…
Callous to the core
Berlusconi: A New Musical, an excellent title, has opened at a new venue in south London, Southwark Playhouse Elephant. The…
Divine comedy
Accidental Death of an Anarchist has been performed all over the world with varying degrees of success. Written by Dario…
A pulse but no heart
The murderous odyssey of Bonnie and Clyde is a tricky subject for a musical because the characters are such loathsome…
Anything goes
Further than the Furthest Thing is an allegorical play set on a remote island populated by English-speakers from all over…
Cumbersome muddle
Rupert Goold’s new show, Women, Beware the Devil, has great costumes, sumptuous sets and an intriguing chessboard stage like a…
The art of the deal
Winner’s Curse is a hybrid drama by Dan Patterson and Daniel Taub which opens as a lecture by a fictional…
Three hours of tripe
Standing at the Sky’s Edge is an ode to a monstrous carbuncle. The atrocity in question is a concrete gulag,…
