Review: ROCK 'N' ROLL, Hampstead Theatre
During its original run, real life happenings threatened to overshadow the fictional: Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett - whose presence and music is felt throughout Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll - sadly died in Cambridge where he was born and where this epochal play of cultural and political revolution is set over several decades.
Review: MARJORIE PRIME, Menier Chocolate Factory
Jordan Harrison’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist is a reflection on mortality that doesn’t dare to go into the depths of the matter. It ends up being rather stagnant philosophically and anthropologically, but Dominic Dromgoole’s latest production is a delicate take. Running at 85 minutes on paper but around 70 in reality, the piece’s greatly sophisticated performances and sleek look save it from its redundant nature.
BWW Review: MANOR, National Theatre
A heavy storm prompts a group of strangers to take refuge in a dilapidated manor, but they soon learn that they might not be as safe as they imagined. Joining Lady Diana (Nancy Carroll) in her home is far-right extremist Ted (Shaun Evans), his partner Ruth (Amy Forrest) and a host of other individuals, each with their own motives and agendas.
Rehearsals Are Underway For MANOR at The National Theatre
In this darkly comic play, a violent storm is brewing and Diana, played by Nancy Carroll (The Crown) is struggling to keep the roof on her rundown manor house. As the storm sweeps the coast, an explosive mix of people unexpectedly arrive in search of shelter including Ted Farrier, played by Shaun Evans (Vigil), a charismatic leader of a far-right organisation. Stranded together, this group of strangers must survive the weather - and each other.
The Top 20 New London Shows Opening In 2021
As theatre comes roaring back, this autumn and winter see plenty of exciting new productions, including big West End musicals and intriguing plays. Here are the shows that we’re most looking forward to seeing.
The National Theatre Announces New Programming and Launches 'National Theatre Together' Campaign
The National Theatre has today announced its programming until the start of next year with productions on all three South Bank stages as well as three major UK tours, two productions on Broadway, a return to cinemas, and a new feature film to be broadcast on television this autumn. In the week the theatre reopened for audiences again, six new productions were announced, and five productions halted by the pandemic were confirmed to return to the South Bank.
The State of the London Stage: What's Coming in June 2021
And they're off! London theatres have been open for several weeks now, and the reviews once again are coming hard and fast as a glance at this very site will confirm. Quick off the mark have been the smaller-sized shows: solo plays like Cruise or Harm or a three-person West End entry like Amy Berryman's Walden (though that title was beset by pre-opening dramas of its own, more of which below). But as the big musicals prepare their own re-emergence on to a scene marked out already by the producer Sonia Friedman's RE:EMERGE season (of which Walden is the first of three to open), excitement is in the air. The question now remains as to who, precisely, the audience is likely to be for these shows, given the difficulty for many in travelling to the UK.
BWW Feature: Five London Shows That Got Away
An ever-mutating virus has led to general uncertainty on and off the West End about the start-up of live performance. That shifting scenario in turn brings to mind some of the titles from this time last year that were sounding especially promising and that, with luck, will reappear at some point to make good on their potential.
BWW Review: BETRAYAL, Theatre Royal Bath
In the week that Dominic West appeared in a cringe-worthy “We’re still happily married” two-hander on the doorstep of his Wiltshire home with his deceived wife, the opening of Harold Pinter’s tale of betraying loved ones couldn’t be more timely.