Uncle Vanya, Chekhov, Almeida Theatre N1
Robert Icke’s new adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya is best summarised as an update – and an Anglicisation. Played in contemporary clothes, with sprinkled swearwords (so often touted as modern…
The Master Builder, Ibsen, The Old Vic SE1
The Master Builder, Halvard Solness, is universally acknowledged by his townsfolk as a lucky man: self-made and supremely successful in business, his good fortune is not due to skill or…
BAKKHAI, Almeida, N1
“Cleverness is not wisdom,” warn the Maenad chorus, as king Pentheus determinedly resists the rise of new god Dionysos’ cult in Thebes. Euripides’ Bacchae tells how the young god returns to…
THREE DAYS IN THE COUNTRY, National Theatre, SE1
Patrick Marber has taken Turgenev’s A Month in the Country and strengthened it in all directions, rather like an enthusiast restoring an aged, leaky old boat into a seaworthy thing…
The Invisible, Bush Theatre, for TheatreCat.com
“When I was growing up the poor were seen as unfortunates. Now they’re seen as manipulative. Grasping. Scroungers. It’s very sad.” So reflects Shaun (Niall Buggy), a charming, penniless old…
Philip Ridley’s Radiant Vermin for Theatrecat
Radiant Vermin has two strengths. One is its macabre twist, which I won’t spoil for you: but just watch Philip Ridley’s twist grow, strengthen and become ever more prominent, with…
Bloody politics: 3 Winters by Tena Štivičić, for TheatreCat.com
3 Winters takes us to the beautiful old Kos family house in Zagreb, Croatia, in three different years: 1945, 1990, and 2011. In a series of the slickest scene changes…
3 Winters review for London Theatre Guide
Croatia’s recent political history, nicely summarised for us in the 3 Winters programme (but even then, it takes three closely-typed pages) makes Northern Ireland look like a squabble at a…
2071: environmental not-quite-theatre at the Royal Court Theatre
Chris Rapley’s grasp of his subject is breathtaking: the concise elegance of his chain of thought, superb. But the overall effect of 2071 is that of a rather dry, if…
That Woman: Edward and Mrs Simpson at Tête à Tête
None of our Royals’ chaotic personal arrangements have been so constitutionally cataclysmic as Edward VIII’s passion for Wallis Simpson. Britain’s flag-waving fervour during the Royal Wedding, the Jubilee and the…