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West End / Majors
Unapologetically giddy entainment
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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Levin’s extravagantly plotted script is full of ingenious self-reference. It’s also outrageous; it strains credibility and appears thoroughly knowing about doing so. The result, besides a lot of good laughs, is a series of boldly theatrical and frankly camp moments, sometimes very silly yet perfectly calculated to jolt audiences out of their seats. Warchus has done a characteristically nice job of dusting off a somewhat creaky period piece and imbuing it with vitality |
| Written by | Henry Hitchings |
| Full review | http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/review-23875507-fun-and-games-in-deathtrap.do |
West End / Majors
Stronger on style and jokes than dramatic substance
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | It’s an enjoyable evening but the play finally feels too smugly delighted by its own ingenuity to be truly satisfying. |
| Written by | Charles Spencer |
| Full review | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/7988972/Deathtrap-Noel-Coward-Theatre-review.html |
West End / Majors
I'm not convinced this is a classic thriller
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | For all Russell Beale's style, and the personable presence of Jonathan Groff, of Glee fame, as the aspiring Clifford, Levin's play is a bit too self aware for its own good. With jokes about directors and critics, convergence of fiction and reality, and references to the "arthritic contrivances" of the theatrical thriller, you feel the play is as much a running commentary on the genre as a living example. |
| Written by | Michael Billington |
| Full review | http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/sep/08/deathtrap-michael-billington |
West End / Majors
Accurate, tense but ultimately unsatisfactory revival.
| Rating: | 2.0 |
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| Review | As an act of period restoration, this isn’t a patch on Warchus’ make-over of Boeing Boeing with Mark Rylance. |
| Written by | Michael Coveney |
| Full review | http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/london/E8831283898940/Deathtrap.html |
Fringe
Scorched at the Old Vic Tunnels
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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| Review | Wajdi Mouawad is the most performed contemporary playwright in the French language, yet he’s largely an unfamiliar name here. This searing drama of family, identity and the implacable blood-soaked cycles of revenge and civil war, punchily translated by Simon Scardifield, strongly suggests we should get to know his work better. |
| Written by | The Times |
| Full review | http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/theatre/article2717510.ece |
Fringe
Pieces of Vincent at the Arcola
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | The Vincent in David Watson’s play is not the Dutch painter and so the pieces are not bits of his ear. Such a play would probably be some sort of tragicomedy, whereas Watson’s eight scenes set out to be a portrait of how we live now. There are touches of comedy, nonetheless, and tragedies too, though none is directly connected to Vincent Cairns, the feckless but apparently loveable fella from Co Down whose death in a Southgate supermarket affects a number of other people. |
| Written by | The Times |
| Full review | http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/theatre/article2717522.ece |
West End / Majors
A Moment In The Woods
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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Timothy Sheader's INTO THE WOODS marked a first for me in all my years of going to the Open Air... the first time rain stopped play. How frustrating it must be to have had a well-reviewed show and not be able to stage it. However replacement tickets were issued and so I can now boast of having seen this production 1.5 times. For years I have wondered why INTO THE WOODS has been overlooked at the Open Air as it seems a natural choice for that space, but here it is finally and by and large I had an enjoyable time. It's a show and score that I have a particular fondness for - James Lapine's original production was the first musical I saw on Broadway. I was surprised by how many of the print critics got mardy over Sondheim's ever-darkening score but of course they are wrong. It is a glorious score which becomes more personal to the listener the longer you live with it. As much as i enjoyed the production, several elements just kept pulling my focus and have stayed in my mind as irritants. Although there was much to admire in Soutra Gilmour's multi-level metal set with it's walkways and ladders, I found myself hoping that it might somehow change in the 2nd act but no, a standing set is a standing set. It would also be an ideal set for the Engine Room in any future musical based on THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Gilmour's costumes were by and large drab. Sheader's concept of a runaway boy being the narrator was interesting but as good as the young actors were they both came to grief at the end of the first act where the Narrator has to do LOADS of exposition as well as sing the opening of "Ever After" - Sheader gets snaps however for not wimping out and still letting the Narrator be killed! I also was irked that any character who is seen as humourous - The Baker's Wife, Jack, Jack's Mother and Red Ridiing Hood - were played as Northern. Why? Especially as Jenna Russell had used the same shtick as Dot in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. I presume if she ever gets a crack at Mrs. Lovett she too will play it as if she were channelling Gracie Fields. Oh and don't get me started on Helen Dallimore's woeful Cinderella. BUT.... when it worked it was great and I would love to think that INTO THE WOODS will become as much as an Open Air fixture as A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in years to come. |
| Written by | ChrisNThat |
| Full review | http://chrisnthat.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-with-all-heightened-emotion-of-two.html |
West End / Majors
This year's Jerusalem!
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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| Review | An entertaining and funny muti-layered drama with much depth. Extraordinarily detailed production with seven impeccable performances. An absolute must-see and must-see again. |
| Written by | Gareth James |
| Full review | http://garethjames.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/clybourne-park |
Fringe
For attempting the impossible they've done remarkably well
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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| Review | On the face of it this is a truly daft idea for a musical. A wistful but intelligent tale that has won many hearts in both Novel and Film form. There's more than just ambition here however, a surprisingly effective condensation that takes in the big political and social themes whilst still telling an enchanting love story. |
| Written by | Rob Walport |
| Full review | http://tttcritic.blogspot.com/2010/09/remains-of-day.html |
West End / Majors
The acting flatters the script
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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Reviewed by zuberinoSeptember 06, 2010
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| Review | Mark Rylance and David Hyde Pierce are both supremely watchable, Rylance performing one of his now-habitual shape-shifts (I found it hard to believe that this was the same guy who played the sinister Hamm in wheelchair and dark glasses in Endgame at the Duchess just a few months ago) while Hyde Pierce puts on a new spin to his oft-spluttering Niles Crane persona. Sadly Hirson's script is unable to sustain the interest generated in the first third of the play which pretty much buckles under its own ponderous weight once Lumley and company arrive and the pontificating about high vs low art begins in earnest. |
West End / Majors
Outrageously funny and squirm-inducing
| Rating: | 4.0 |
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| Review | Martin Freeman pulls off a brilliant double. In the first half, he's the most racist of the characters – Karl Lindner, whose attempts to stop the sale are breathtakingly tactless. In the second, he's the oddly complementary Steve, the more-tolerant-than-thou white newcomer whose peeved efforts to bring the underlying racial antagonism out into the open expose him to the aggrieved charge of trying to tar the black representatives with racism and then trigger a disgracefully funny contest in which the unsmiling participants test one another's limits by telling escalatingly offensive jokes. |
| Written by | Paul Taylor |
| Full review | http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/clybourne-park-royal-court-london-2071157.html |
Fringe
A mixed bag but probably worth a trip
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | Some moments of loveliness, some more misguided moments. A strong line in ballads, less so in appropriate choreography and upbeat numbers. Full marks for effort though. |
| Written by | Ian Foster |
| Full review | http://oughttobeclowns.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-remains-of-day-union-theatre.html |
West End / Majors
Everyone's a little bit racist...
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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| Review | A show not without its shortcomings but in the moment, I absolutely loved it, the performances are just consistently fabulous with Sophie Thompson reaching sensational heights, the set looks great and the work that must go on during the interval to effect the change is impressive. Crucially though, it is often belly-achingly funny and I just love the fact that it proves that Avenue Q got it right: everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes! |
| Written by | Ian Foster |
| Full review | http://oughttobeclowns.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-clybourne-park-royal-court.html |
Fringe
Good, honest, old-fashioned fun
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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| Review | Given its origins in being two thirds a collection of rejected songs from other musicals, it is remarkable how well this show hangs together and just how darn good it is. It is packed full of good clean fun, there’s so many funny lines in here (including a fair few ones which the smuttier minded amongst us just lost it to!) a winning set of performances, tap-dancing and a full cast musical number that just bursts off the stage: sheer heaven. For me, it honestly is as good as small-scale musicals get. |
| Written by | Ian Foster |
| Full review | http://oughttobeclowns.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-state-fair-trafalgar-studios-2.html |
West End / Majors
Sexy, witty and full of silk pyjamas
| Rating: | 5.0 |
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| Review | Am with Mr TTC, this is a 4.7/5 which by opening night, should probably rise to the full 5. Sexy, witty, very attractively staged, this is a stonking return to form for the Old Vic and a welcome return to the stage for Andrew Scott, who with Tom Burke, make this an unmissable treat. |
| Written by | Ian Foster |
| Full review | http://oughttobeclowns.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-design-for-living-old-vic.html |
Fringe
A promising first outing for this musical adaptation of the classic novel
| Rating: | 3.0 |
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| Review | Not the finished article, but much to admire and enjoy |
| Written by | Gareth James |
| Full review | http://garethjames.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/the-remains-of-the-day |
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