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Romeo And Juliet (romeojuliet2021.com) Rating: Verdict: Polished but too polite Good Grief (originaltheatreonline.com) Rating: Verdict: Good but glib grief This Valentine’s Day is likely to be a more restrained occasion than usual. With restaurants and bars closed, it’s either the kitchen or the living room for that romantic date. So maybe it makes sense that … Read more
Audience participation. Two words that used to strike terror into the hearts of theatregoers and make them long to cower beneath their velvet seats. Happily, there is little to fear from the virtual equivalent and the explosion of so-called ‘immersive online theatre’. These are shows, led by actors in videos and voiceovers, in which friends … Read more
Present Laughter (Broadway HD – online and via app) Rating: Verdict: Lots of laughter present Kennedy: Bobby’s Last Crusade (stream.theatre) Rating: Verdict: Soft-focused eulogy Waiting For Obama (stream.theatre, Spotify) Rating: Verdict: Guns, not roses As Oscar Wilde cheekily suggested, we Brits have everything in common with America nowadays ‘except, of course, language’. I was therefore … Read more
War Horse (NT at Home) Rating: Verdict: Saddle up and ride! Julie (NT at Home) Rating: Verdict: Thin and tawdry Now Lockdown 3 is upon us, you may worry that theatrical rations will start to run low. Fear not! We still have plenty in our stockpile, with a good supply of new material promised on various … Read more
Lazarus (dice.fm) Rating: Verdict: Required viewing for Bowie fans Let’s not pretend to be surprised that the David Bowie musical Lazarus is a teeny bit pretentious. That was certainly the view of many critics when it first appeared in London five years ago. But for those of us who were certified Spiders From Mars, back … Read more
In the spirit of abiding self- delusion, here are five shows I’ll be wishing, and hoping, and praying go ahead, as scheduled When it comes to predicting the future, I always defer to that old joke about The Big Fella: ‘How do you make God laugh?’ Answer: ‘Tell Him your plans.’ So it is with some … Read more
A Christmas Carol (Old Vic, London; Bristol Old Vic; Dickens Museum, London; Polka Theatre, Watermill, Newbury) Verdict: God bless them, every one! Can it be a coincidence that so many theatres are doing A Christmas Carol this year? I think not. I reckon it’s the spirit of Christmases Past, rising up to banish our 2020 … Read more
A Christmas Carol (Bridge Theatre, London) Verdict: A delicious nut roast Rating: The first of this year’s cornucopia of Christmas Carols opened this week with the revered Simon Russell Beale as Ebenezer Scrooge at London’s Bridge Theatre. And, wholesome and nourishing though Sir Nicholas Hytner’s adaptation of Dickens’s festive tale is, it is, in all … Read more
The Cherry Orchard (ntathome.com) Verdict: Bittersweet cherries Rating: I Want My Hat Back (ntathome.com) Verdict: The hat fits, so I’m wearing it! Rating: Dear reader, dare I ask if, like me, you’ve lost track of your monthly entertainment subscriptions? I am thinking Netflix (£5.99), Now TV (£9.99), Apple TV+ (£4.99) and Disney+ (£5.99). However, I … Read more
Jane Eyre (Blackeyedtheatre.co.uk) Verdict: Trusty literary classic Rating: Rent (Hopemilltheatre.co.uk) Verdict: Put your mortgage on it Rating: Red (stage2view.com) Verdict: Dark red Rating: Jane Eyre is one of the hardest working heroines in all of Victorian literature. She’s a cast-iron steam engine of a character who really puts in the hours, shuttling from stage to … Read more