Reviews Roundup: The Constituent

The Old Vic

James Corden returns to the West End stage to star alongside acting superstar Anna Maxwell Martin in a relatively small play by Joe Penhall about a confrontation between an angry constituent and his basically decent MP. The Old Vic’s artistic director Matthew Warchus directs, putting the audience, traverse style, on two sides of a narrow stage for this look at the state of Britain and its politics. The critics praised the two leads but there were mixed feelings about the play: two really liked it and one handed out two stars.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (4★) was a cheerleader: ‘Played straight through at 90 minutes and resolutely focused on local politics, it becomes universal by being so specific.’ She pointed out, ‘Each of these characters is a victim of the system, hanging on, just’. She thought, ‘Maxwell Martin is subtly brilliant’

Aliya Al-Hassan for Broadway World (4★) also approved wholeheartedly. ‘Penhall’s script is not a polemic and brings out the humanity in the characters’. She liked both the main actors, saying, ‘The pair have excellent chemistry and their shifting relationship is very believable.’

For Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (4★) ‘Corden and Maxwell Martin are excellent’ and ‘Penhall’s play makes the case for more care and empathy. He reminds us of the other meaning of constituent — “to be part of a whole”.

Marianka Swain for LondonTheatre (4★) said, ‘The ideas occasionally supersede the people, but the strong cast, and a good amount of humour in Penhall’s script, keep us gripped.’

Natasha Tripney for the Standard (3★) thought ‘the surprisingly thin play squanders both its timely subject matter and the talents of the cast.’ She assured us, ‘Corden does a strong job, capturing the character’s intensity and increasing desperation’.

Sam Marlowe in The Stage (3★) thought it was a ‘crisp production’ and that ‘Penhall’s dialogue is packed with zap and zing’ She said ‘the performances are pretty much faultless’, however she found ‘the play is at once too narrow and too broad’.

Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (3★) thought ‘Penhall’s script…nicely handles the blend of comedy and darkening aggro.’ For him, James Corden was ‘all fixed intensity and hunched affability, then moves across 90 minutes to reveal a more bellicose side to the blustering persona, before showing us a sobbing emblem of broken Britain, alienated from the system’.

Susannah Clapp in The Observer (3★) found ‘The dialogue is heavy with explanation and the action slowed by overload’. She said James Corden showed ‘what a versatile actor he is.’ Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski (3★) praised James Corden as ‘an actor of range and substance’ and thought ‘Maxwell Martin is terrific’, but he damned the play with faint praise as ‘decent’.

Alun Hood for WhatsOnStage (3★) thought the play was ‘enjoyable, tartly funny and almost reaches the tension level of a thriller’ but he had a reservation: ‘it smacks of a very fine writer wanting to dash off something relevant and timely, without really offering anything genuinely illuminating or new‘. He observed, ‘Corden isn’t a subtle actor, painting with broad, blunt colours, and possessed of a monotonous line delivery…but his unique combination of manic energy, bluster and simmering aggression work well for the character.’

It didn’t get CityAM ‘s (2) Adam Bloodworth’s vote. He was contemptuous of its male star: ‘Corden is on auto-pilot’. He is hardly less complimentary about the play: ‘Joe Penhall’s script is full of jokes that don’t land and the set up is clunky and hard to believe.’ As for the production, ‘it’s over stylised to the point that it kills the drama’.

For The Times’ Clive Davis (2), the play was ‘tepid’, lines were ‘leaden’, Corden ‘can’t bring enough depth’, and Maxwell Martin ‘strikes a monotonously querulous note’.

Critics’ Average Rating 3.2

Value rating 42 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)

The Constituent can be seen at the Old Vic until 10 August 2024. Buy tickets direct from The Old Vic

If you’ve seen The Constituent at the Old Vic Theatre,please add your review and rating below

June 20, 2024

Reviews Roundup: Kiss Me Kate with Adrian Dunbar

Barbican Centre

Stephanie J Block and Adrian Dunbar sit in dressing gowns in a theatre dressing room in a scene from Kiss Me Kate at the Barbican Theatre London — Stephanie J Block & Adrian Dunbar in Kiss Me Kate. Photo: Johan Persson

The Barbican must be hoping Kiss Me Kate follows in the footsteps of that other Cole Porter musical Anything Goes which was a huge critical and financial success for them a few years ago. The added attraction is the prospect of seeing Adrian Dunbar from Line Of Duty as the male lead. The critics were generally complimentary about Bartlett Sher‘s staging of the musical-within-a-musical that is inspired by Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, and features songs such as I Hate Men and Brush Up Your Shakespeare. Their reaction to Mr Dunbar was on the whole lukewarm, but they had no reservations about the quality of his co-star, Broadway musical royalty Stephanie J Block.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

The Guardian‘s David Jays (4★) said, ‘In Bartlett Sher’s plushly enjoyable staging, it delivers glorious music and falderol frivolity.’ Clive Davis in The Times (4★) called it ‘enormous fun’. Tim Bano for The Independent (4★) found it, ‘a supremely lovely, supremely silly way to spend a summer evening’. He praised Stephanie Block’s solos as ‘models in how to control your voice, invest emotionally in a song and knock the roof off.’ Gary Naylor for BroadwayWorld (4★) was sure ‘few will leave feeling short-changed, even at these prices’.

Adam Bloodworth at City AM (4★) declared: ‘Stuffed with old-fashioned jokes that should probably have this show cancelled, hilarious comic sketches and some stunning pieces of choreography, Kiss Me Kate is a showstopper of a summer musical’. Alex Wood at WhatsOnStage (4★) said it was ‘a scorchingly successful night out‘. Tom Wicker for Time Out (4★) was also won over: ‘This is a lush, wittily spectacular production’. He had particular praise for Stephanie Block: ‘Block commands the stage. She’s charismatic, versatile and makes every note – in every sense – sing.’ He thought the two leads ‘have delightful chemistry’.

Nick Curtis in the Standard (3★) disagreed and described it as ‘solid, serviceable, but unexciting, thanks partly to the lack of chemistry between the leads.’ The Stage‘s David Benedict (3★) was on the same wavelength about the lack of chemistry: ‘Bartlett Sher’s fitful, over-bright, strained staging most often misfires because of chemistry – or, rather, the lack of it.’

So, what about Adrian Dunbar?

Fiona Mountford at the i (4★) devoted much of her review to praising him: ‘Dunbar can both hold a tune and command the Barbican’s imposingly large stage.’ The Times was happy enough with his performance, ‘He may not be the most potent of singers — at times he seems to be coaxing his voice over the hurdles — but he certainly doesn’t disgrace himself.‘ Time Out too was complimentary: ‘Dunbar has a decent voice and a lovely way with gentle comedy.’

A few reviewers had reservations. The Independent said, ‘He can hold a tune, but there’s a tight, buzzing bee quality to his voice’. The Guardian wasn’t convinced, ‘Dunbar has some dapper moves and a pointed way with a lyric. Vocally he is, shall we say, brave casting for a role often taken by operatic baritones’. The Standard noted, ‘He sings better than I had hoped but seems uncomfortable and off the pace throughout’.

Two more reviews were downright disapproving. The Stage said, ‘while Block acts with Adrian Dunbar…he merely acts at her…Dunbar gets away with comedy numbers, but his obvious unease around pitch and the extreme vocal range robs the songs and the show of emotion and potential glory.’ Broadway World liked him for ‘Television, films, straight plays… but not musicals’.

Average critics’ rating 3.8★
Value Rating 30 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)

Kiss Me Kate can be seen at the Barbican until 14 September 2024. Buy tickets direct from The Barbican

If you’ve seen Kiss Me Kate at the Barbican, please add your review and rating below

June 17, 2024August 28, 2024

Theatre Reviews Roundup: Kathy And Stella Solve A Murder!

Ambassadors Theatre

Two female actors sit together chatting in front of a microphone in a scene from the musical comedy Kathy And Stella Solve A Murder — Bronté Barbé and Rebekah Hinds in Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! Photo: Pamela Raith

Kathy And Stella Solve A Murder! is the latest British musical comedy to make the trip from the fringe to the West End. It follows in the footsteps of Six, Operation Mincemeat, Two Strangers and more. We seem to be in a Golden Age for the small homegrown musical, so much so they’ll soon have to form an orderly queue for a central; London venue.
In this musical by Jon Brittain and Matthew Floyd Jones, Kathy and Stella, who produce a weekly crime podcast, investigate an actual murder, but the show is as much about friendship as whodunnit. Unfortunately, the press night was cancelled after a flood and some major media have yet to offer an opinion. (Of course, the Guardian may simply be following its intermittent policy of not reviewing West End transfers.) It has been well received by nearly all those who have managed to see it. Bronté Barbé and Rebekah Hinds who play the eponymous investigators are praised, as are the rest of the cast. Opinion on the quality of the music is divided.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

For Alice Cope at Broadway World (5) ‘this show is a delight. The murder mystery story is largely told through the catchy and well crafted musical numbers…Every line is intended to not only entertain but also effectively drive the plot forward and develop the characters.’ She noted, ‘Bronté Barbé and Rebekah Hinds…have terrific chemistry’.

Alex Wood at WhatsOnStage (4★) discovered ‘a juicy, but never burdensome, through-line about the ways in which gender, true crime and online communities can intersect.’ He declared, ‘The second half is about as pacy and as raucous as they come.’ He loved the ‘sublime central performances’ and concluded, ‘All in all, it amounts to a killer addition to the musical pantheon.’

Radio Times’ reviewer Olivia Garrett (4★) shared his enthusiasm: ‘The show pumps out macabre gags and earthy one-liners like there’s no tomorrow.’ ‘The songs are definitely catchy,’ she assured us. As for the stars, ‘Barbé is excellent as the intelligent but anxious Kathy…Hinds matches her in every way as the belligerent Stella.’ Here’s the big climax: ‘Overall, Kathy and Stella is fresh, funny and comes with many layers to slice into. Whether you’re a fan of musicals or not, it’s bloody good fun.’

Marianka Swain writing for London Theatre (4★) loved it: ‘The show is buoyantly funny, teeming with macabre gags and Victoria Wood-esque specific one-liners, the pop-infused songs are instantly catchy…and there are narrative twists a-plenty.’

Andrzej Lukowski at Time Out (4★) was almost as excited, saying it ‘ingeniously yokes the breathlessness of the true crime podcast genre to the big emotions of a musical.’ He praised the ‘whip-sharp book and lyrics’ and said it was ‘abundantly creative, funny and musically dextrous’. Holly O’Mahony writing for The Stage (4★) called it ‘a knowingly silly, slyly funny story’.

Dominic Maxwell in the Sunday Times (3★) enjoyed the ‘energetic and inventive’ show. However, ‘The songs by Matthew Floyd Jones are jaunty and deft, but rarely memorable and ‘The show has an opinion on the appeal of true crime and podcasts, but chooses not to delve deep on such issues.’

Only Nick Curtis of the Standard (2★) went away unimpressed, complaining that it ‘asks you to laugh along with its ridiculous storyline, feckless lead characters and bland, belted-out score.’ He found ‘the constant barrage of gurning and caterwauling is a major turn-off.’ And concluded, it ‘left me dead inside.’

This is what Clare Brennan had to say in The Guardian (4★) about the show’s earlier run in Manchester: ‘A cracking cast plays the positives with gusto, swiftly seguing set and mood changes, delivering power ballads and comic routines with physical and musical dexterity.’

Average critics’ rating 3.8★
Value Rating 47 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)

Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! is at the Ambassador’s Theatre until 14 September 2024. Buy tickets direct from kathyandstella.com

If you’ve seen Kathy And Stella Solve A Murder!, please add your review and rating below

June 13, 2024August 6, 2024

Two Strangers (carry a cake across New York)

New British musical is an old-fashioned romcom

★★★

Two actors in evening dress high kick in a scene from Two Strangers carry a cake across New York at the Criterion Theatre in London — Sam Tutty and Dujonna Gift in Two Strangers. Photo: Tristram Kenton

If you’re a fan of romcoms, I think you’ll like this sweet- but not saccharine- musical comedy. Two Strangers (carry a cake aross New York), and this is not a spoiler, is set in New York, but it feels very British. A naive British man and a cynical female New Yorker meet because of a wedding. Think Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings And A Funeral. In fact, if anyone is planning a remake, Sam Tutty would be a shoe-in for Mr Grant, and Dujonna Gift would be a blooming sight better than the insipid Ms MacDowell.

It begins with a naive British man who only knows America through the movies meeting a cynical female New Yorker, because of a wedding. He is the son of the groom, she the sister of the bride. They are the ‘two strangers’. As for the cake, well, that is what Alfred Hitchcock and other filmmakers used to call a McGuffin, in other words a device, unimportant in itself, but vital to moving on the plot.

What Kit Buchan’s amusing script is really concerned with is their burgeoning relationship with each other and, perhaps even more importantly, the two characters discovering themselves. There are a few twists which, frankly, you might see coming from a long way off but the ending helps keep the show from being completely predictable.

Two Strangers has the comforting feel of the kind of musical that Cole Porter or the Gershwins were so good at, and the musical style also reminds one of that bygone era. But let’s not get carried away- while Kit Buchan provides some clever lyrics and Jim Barne‘s compositions range from smoochy to stirring, they are not the Gershwins. There isn’t a showstopper in sight. In fact, I didn’t come out humming even one bar of any of the songs.

Sam Tutty and Dujonna Gift are the top

Nevertheless, Two Strangers is an enjoyable musical comedy with an appealing mix of jollity and pathos. It would be easy for these two slightly clichéd characters to have grated but the two actors, who are actually both British, are very good. There seemed to be more affection than chemistry between them but both are charming, funny and have pleasant voices: his nice and easy, hers powerful. Sam Tutty, who has already made a name for himself in Evan Hansen, establishes a good rapport with the audience, thanks partly to his particular skill at using his facial expressions to comic effect. Dujonna Gift conveys strength that hides vulnerability.

Sam Tutty and Dujonna Gift in Two Strangers. Photo: Tristram Kenton

Tim Jackson directs and choreographs with a light comical touch. Soutra Gilmour’s set may be low budget but it’s clever. Two piles of suitcases which set the scene for the opening meet-cute at the airport, also suggest the towers of New York. Specific elements of it adapt for the later scenes, becoming cupboards, tables, and so on. A revolve mimics a luggage carousel but also keeps the show moving, literally, by bringing the characters together and pulling them apart.

Since its premiere in Ipswich nearly five years ago, and its re-launch at London’s Kiln Theatre, Two Strangers has come on leaps and bounds. It certainly deserves its run in the West End at The Criterion. For me, it didn’t quite reach the heights of great musical comedy but it is a good romcom that will leave you with a smile on your face.

Two Strangers (carry a cake across New York) can be seen at the Criterion Theatre until 31 August 2024. Tickets from twostrangersthemusical.com

Paul paid for his ticket.

Watch this review on the YouTube channel Theatre Reviews With Paul Seven

Click here to find out what other reviewers said about Two Strangers, its average rating, and its Value Rating.

June 7, 2024June 11, 2024

Ben Whishaw in Bluets – Royal Court Theatre

Bluets is a dream of a show

Ben Whishaw in Bluets at the Royal Court. Photo: Camilla Greenwood

Bluets is not a theatre show, it’s an unusual hybrid of stage and screen. It certainly won’t appeal to everyone, particularly those who love pure theatre. On the plus side, it’s not like far too many recent gimmicky stage productions where video is used to provide close-ups or scenes of what’s happening off-stage. Normally I would avoid that sort of thing, but this is something special.

It’s the making of a film, live, with the actors reciting words from Maggie Nelson’s book Bluets, while carrying out actions that are projected on a large screen. I admit this sounds more like something you might see at Tate Modern, and without the presence of Ben Whishaw, maybe it wouldn’t have made it to the stage of the Jerwood Downstairs theatre at the Royal Court. Having said that, director Katie Mitchell does have a long and distinguished record of creating what she calls ‘live cinema’. But, if it does sound strange, or even off-putting to you, I can only say I found Bluets both fascinating and deeply moving.

Let’s start with the words. After all, it is based on a book of what could be called short prose-poems, in which Maggie Nelson describes and meditates on three recurring themes- the effect of and gradual recovery from the breakup of a relationship, a close friend’s reaction to becoming a quadriplegic, and her fascination with the colour blue, which is genuinely interesting.

Kayla Meikle in Bluets. Photo: Camilla Greenwood

The language- its rhythms and metaphors- is poetic and moving. It’s also quite funny in a self-deprecating way. For example, she is excited to come across a book called Deepest Blue (I think) in a bookshop, only to find it’s about depression. She hastily puts it back, only to tell us she bought it six months later – pause- ‘online’.

Ben Whishaw will have sold many of the tickets and he does deliver, with a sad voice and a twinkling eye, but so do the other two actors Emma D’Arcy and Kayla Meikle. The trio sit in a row, sharing the lines, so that the words are delivered almost staccato by their alternating voices. The effect is to make you concentrate and hear every word. I found that the varied voices and personas made the author and her highly personal subject matter seem more universal.

Emma D’Arcy in Bluets at the Royal Court Theatre. Photo: Camilla Greenwood

Then there is the videoing. Each actor has a table next to them, a camera in front of them, and a monitor behind them. The film, shown on a big screen above them, illustrates what is being said. The actors sometimes stand in front of the monitors, as if they are green screens, and this, thanks to superb lighting by Anthony Doran, converts onto the large screen as them seeming to walk down a street, drive a car, or dry their hair in a changing room. Often, the actors’ heads or hands are viewed in close-up as they rest on a pillow, or touch each other, or handle blue objects. It is an extraordinary experience to watch them talk and move, sometimes in synch, and then see this, combined with some pre-recorded moments, become a movie before one’s eyes.

Cinema, which is usually immutable, becomes a live performance. The way it can change in small ways from night to night suggested to me the way our mental lives -feelings, memories, dreams- change with each circumstance and in each moment. The live video is a masterpiece in coordination, designed by Ellie Thompson and directed by Grant Gee.

The adaptation of Maggie Nelson’s book by Margaret Perry is a fine work in itself, and the soundtrack by Paul Clark, which mixes music, nature and street sounds, is as disturbing and reflective as the language.

Bluets is only 70 minutes long but it has the timeless quality of a dream or a memory.

This is the opening production of the first season by the Royal Court’s new artistic director David Byrne. After a lacklustre period under Vicky Featherstone, when I all but stopped going to the Royal Court, I am now looking forward to some exciting times ahead.

Bluets can be seen at the Royal Court until 29 June 2024

Paul was given a review ticket.

June 4, 2024July 29, 2024

Reviews Roundup: Punchdrunk’s Viola’s Room

One Cartridge Place, Woolwich

Punchdrunk’s Viola’s Room. Photo: Julian Abrams

After the scale and complexity of The Burnt City, Punchdrunk are back with a more intimate immersion piece in which the audience are led six at a time through a series of rooms listening to a story narrated by Helena Bonham-Carter, and there are no live actors. Co-directed by Felix Barrett and Hector Harkness, it tells of a search for a doomed teenage princess.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar (5★) loved it: ‘it inspires so much puzzling wonder that you want to go straight back in to find other undisturbed paths in the search for Viola.’ She explained that it ‘hovers delicately between bedtime story, fairytale, children’s game and nightmare…The story does not follow rational logic but turns into a weird kind of liminal babble dealing in unnameable fear, and you feel it as you travel through ever darker, narrower spaces.’

Andrjez Lukowski at Time Out (4★) was impressed: By its climax I felt like a character in a horror film, not least because of the tremendous soundtrack relayed by Gareth Fry’s extraordinary sound design…It might be short, but in those 45 minutes you’ll live a haunted lifetime.’

For Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph (4★), ‘it cast a simple, singular spell. Like Viola, I couldn’t quite bear to tear myself away; and in surrendering to feeling lost there lies an intoxicating sense of self-discovery.’ The Stage‘s Sam Marlowe (4★) said, ‘this is a beautifully wrought enchantment that skilfully blends the exquisite and the sinister.’

Anna James at WhatsOnStage (4★) praised ‘Impeccable design, labyrinths both literal and figurative, and a deep fascination with storytelling, intimacy and ritual maintain that ineffable Punchdrunk feel.’ The Observer‘s Susannah Clapp (4★) concluded: ‘Though often exquisite, sometimes apparently folkloric, Viola’s Room is sophisticated in its paradoxes. Its story is about compulsion and loss of control, yet this is the show in which Punchdrunk has most evidently controlled its own audience.’

Franco Milazzo reviewing for BroadwayWorld (3★) decided that, compared with The Burnt City, ‘Viola’s Room is overall a tighter work which offers a far more cohesive theatrical experience but, unlike many of the Punchdrunk productions before it, does not have enough wow factor to justify a second viewing.’

Nick Curtis in The Standard (3★) was underwhelmed. ‘Visually and atmospherically, it’s a work of rich detail, executed with elan…Unfortunately the story itself, by Booker-shortlisted novelist Daisy Johnson, is a thin, by-the-numbers assemblage of darkly symbolic fairytale tropes with a sensual modern topspin.’

The Times‘ Clive Davis (3★) was blunt in his response: ‘It’s pointless, I suppose, expecting much in the way of substance: Punchdrunk, you see, are masters of visual muzak. Viola’s Room resembles a fairground ghost train for hipsters, only there’s no train.’ Dominic Maxwell in The Sunday Times summed up, ‘Fabulous trimmings, needs more meat.’

George Simpson for The Express (3★) said, ‘Punchdrunk certainly lean into the sensory aspects of this piece over the substance of the narrative…It’s not for everyone, but if this is your bag you’ll get lost in wonder for 45 minutes.’

Fiona Mountford in the i (2★) was disappointed, ‘So underwhelmed was I by the whole set-up that I increasingly found myself longing to be frightened: anything for an enlivening dash of excitement…It’s an experience so evanescent as to leave barely any trace in our memory.’

Critics’ Average Rating 3.4★

Viola’s Room can be seen at One Cartridge Place, Woolwich, until 15 September 2024. Buy tickets direct from punchdrunk.com

If you’ve seen Viola’s Room, please add your review and rating below

May 24, 2024June 6, 2024

Tom Holland in Romeo and Juliet – reviews roundup 3.3★

Duke Of York’s Theatre

Tom Holland & Francesca Amewudah-Rivers in Romeo & Juliet. Photo: Marc Brenner

The hordes of Tom Holland fans may have little interest in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Romeo and Juliet, or even in the acting, but the critics had plenty to say about both. It’s not unusual to have mixed reviews but rare that they range from 5 stars to 1 star. What divided them was the multi-media production which thrilled some and alienated others. Reviews of Mr Holland were mainly complimentary, although it was Francesca Amewudah-Rivers’ Juliet that took the acting laurels.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (5★) was taken to the heights. ‘The West End hasn’t ever really seen an R&J like it,’ he claimed. He described its Hollywood star as ‘beefy of bicep, but pale, achingly tender, at times teary and then cheery, all hormonal vulnerability’ but reserved his greatest praise for Juliet: ‘Amewudah-Rivers, 26, is a huge find, by turns understated, coy, comically off-hand, and defiantly passionate.’ He praised director Lloyd for ‘placing the lyrical language centre-stage.’ His conclusion? ‘The street-wise, star-cross’d lovers hold us in their spell, stamp the play with a 2024 freshness’

Patrick Marmion in the Mail (4★) went all weak-kneed: ‘Sometimes, it even feels as if Lloyd is deliberately trying to throttle the life out of the febrile passion that normally drives this headlong love story. And yet, cometh the hour, cometh the (Spider) man… all 5ft 8ins of him. Damn, he’s a buff and good-looking bloke. His commanding cheekbones and curving jaw suck the breath from the audience and keep us wrapped in his dreamy gaze.’ The Standard‘s Nick Curtis (4★) asserted, ‘They’re the most spellbinding star-crossed lovers I’ve seen in years.’ Tom Holland, he said, ‘gives us an impressive foreshadowing of the classical actor he could become.’ Of the production, he told us, ‘The action is sliced, diced and interspliced into a brisk two hours, laced with occasional anachronisms, blinding lights and jagged bursts of industrial music.’ In defence of Jamie Lloyd, he said, ‘the narrow view of Lloyd’s productions as mere star vehicles ignores his always-detailed ensemble work and the way he promotes new talent. Freema Agyeman and Michael Balogun find rarely-plumbed depths in the Nurse and the Friar here.’

Olivia Rook at London Theatre (4★) called it ‘a sexy, intense, and haunting piece of theatre.’ ‘Holland’s assured performance…graduates from laddish confidence to rippling rage. His talent is easily met by rising star Francesca Amewudah-Rivers.’ Sarah Hemming writing for The Financial Times (4★) had this analysis, ‘this is a compelling production: vivid, sad, restless. It brings home forcefully — and perhaps this is its point in today’s world — that death is not romantic.’
Andrzej Lukowski In Time Out (4★) decided, ‘this is a show about dead people. It’s staged like a particularly stylish radio play, the cast frequently standing static but artfully framed, talking into old fashioned floor mics.’ As to the actors, ‘Holland has a powerful stillness to him’ and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers ‘has a beautiful voice, an elegant lilt that works perfectly in a production that eschews physical business.’ He advised, ‘adjust to its fugue state and it’s deeply compelling.’

Susanna Clapp in The Observer (4★) said (and she’s seen a few) Francesca Amewudah-Rivers ‘is one of the best Juliets I have seen…I have never heard “What’s in a name?” considered with such precise wonder.’ Tom Holland is ‘light but concentrated, not soggy with romanticism but slipping easily in and out of tears…Together they fizz, often humorously, pointing up the verse with 21st-century inflections.’

Then come the reservations about Jamie Lloyd’s production. Sam Marlowe in The Stage (3★) found ‘the use of mics is inconsistent and seems to serve no particular purpose, and some of the filmed footage is equally confusing.’ Nevertheless she thought ‘Lloyd’s production is an arresting vision of an inequitable society in freefall, and of lost young people desperately attempting to navigate the disintegration guided by nothing but their own confused and fervid feelings.’ Arifa Akbar of The Guardian (3★) thought ‘Holland and Amewudah-Rivers are perfectly cast, wired with an awkwardly cool teen energy, she a mix of innocence and streetwise steel, he jittering with sweaty-palmed earnestness’ but ‘Actors speak their lines – in a line – at the audience, a recurring tic in Lloyd’s work, now more insistently puzzling in its distancing, anti-dramatic effects, and too stilted to let loose the play’s passion.’ In the end, she felt that ‘The deliberate underplaying of emotion ultimately leeches the play of its tragedy.’

The Times’ Clive Davis (3★) declared himself ‘more perplexed than gripped‘. He explained, ‘What we get here is auteur theatre in which the actors are reduced to chess pieces to be nudged here and there by an invisible hand.’ It was, he said, ‘a conscientious but colourless radio drama’ in which ‘characters often address microphones rather than each other’. However he had positive words about Tom Holland: ‘This Romeo is quiet, fresh-faced and sensitive. In the opening scenes he really does convince you that he is an adolescent adrift, waiting to abandon himself to a doomed romance’.

’I was always interested, but I can’t say it made feel much,’ said Dominic Maxwell in The Sunday Times (3★).

After that, it gets worse. Hugh Montgomery of the BBC (2★) found it ‘a depressingly lifeless affair, which somehow manages to be both overstated and underpowered.’ ‘What really sinks things,’ he said, ‘is the continuous use of live camerawork.’ ‘Rather than the thrill of an unmediated live experience, the audience is dislocated from the performers, the performers are dislocated from each other, and there is little sense of a coherent world in which the characters exist.’ Tim Bano in The Independent (2★) called it ‘a Romeo & Juliet muttered through head mics, housed in a shell of industrial chic – or it was chic the first time Lloyd did it.’ As to the star-crossed lovers: ‘Holland’s acting skills are abundant in all the bits when he’s not speaking…he acts best with his face, she with her voice.’

Neil Norman of The Express (1★) didn’t mince his words: ‘Absolute drivel.’ He explained, ‘how quickly the trademarks of a Jamie Lloyd production have become clichéd and predictable.’ He didn’t like the star attraction either, ‘As Romeo, Tom Holland is a charisma free zone, achieving the unlikely feat of being both buff and weedy.’

Average critics’ rating 3.3★
Value Rating 21 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)

Romeo & Juliet runs at the Duke Of York’s Theatre until 3 August 2024. Buy tickets direct from thedukeofyorks.com

If you’ve seen Romeo & Juliet, please add your review and rating below

May 23, 2024June 29, 2024

Reviews Roundup: Passing Strange 3.6★

Young Vic

A middle-aged African American played by Giles Terera looks back on his life and how, as a young musician, he went on a musical odyssey to find himself and his place in the world. It’s a semi-autobiographical work by Mark Lamar Stewart, co-composed with Heidi Rodewald.

Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

Adam Bloodworth at CityAM (5 ★) loved it: ‘this rock musical about a young man who leaves his religious upbringing to devour the 1970s punk scenes of Berlin and Amsterdam stirs the soul.’ He continued , ‘It does so in a way I haven’t quite seen before: the story of the unnamed ‘Youth’ is delivered by a live rock band’s fourth-wall-breaking singer-narrator, played with a velvety confidence and almost frustrating suaveness by Giles Terera’ ‘There are some astonishing pieces of choreography.’ His conclusion was, ‘There’s nothing quite like this on the London stage right now.’
Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (4★) was enthusiastic: The show was ‘so wildly, and often loudly, offbeat that there’s never a dull moment.’ He ended, ‘Not revelatory, perhaps, but invigoratingly strange, and bittersweet.’

Fiona Mountford in the i (4★) declared, ‘Passing Strange is most definitely a musical, but it’s not like any musical I have ever seen before – and what a thrill it is.’ She continued ‘Passing Strange delights in toying with our expectations and casually breaking the fourth wall when it fancies, and Liesl Tommy’s tremendously self-assured production pulls it all off with conviction and panache.’

Dominic Cooke of the Sunday Times (4★) said ‘it is a vivid tale of a young man’s search for authenticity that knows authenticity is both liberation and bunkum. Pitched between rock gig and musical, memoir and performance art, it’s musical theatre that even those who don’t like musical theatre can love. It’s satirical, stirring, tuneful, tender, awkward, alive.’

Marianka Swain writing for LondonTheatre discovered (4★), ‘this form-busting show is still a distinctly singular experience, but surrender to its idiosyncratic rhythms and it’s a soulful, rich, witty wonder.’ She praised its star: ‘Terera is a total rock star in a role that could have been tailor-made for him.’ Kate Wyver in The Guardian (4★) offered a paean to the lead: ‘You can’t take your eyes off him. The script for this autobiography of an artist isn’t always nuanced but Giles Terera as its narrator is sublime, filling every line with the weight of time passed, every move with the knowledge of mistakes made. And he has a cracking turn on the electric guitar….He holds the years in his gaze, the longing, the loss, the what-could-have-been. He doesn’t just play the part, he lives it.’

Tom Wicker at Time Out (3★) found ‘Liesl Tommy’s staging of the show has charisma to spare…Terera is the lynchpin here, tying emotional loose ends together with effortless dexterity.’ His reservation was: ‘This production wants to have its cake and eat it, expecting us to laugh at everything in, but to take its own brand of earnestness seriously.’ For Sarah Crompton at WhatsOnStage (3★), ‘It is so exhilarating and Giles Terera so charismatic’. She liked the way it is ‘powered by a rich score (co-written by Stew and Heidi Rodewald) that mixes musical styles’. Where it fell down for her is that the ‘second act and the energy vanishes like air from a balloon…the lessons learnt by a young man on his life’s journey are replaced by platitudes about life and art’.

The Observer’s Susannah Clapp (3★) said Giles Terera gave ‘a beautifully relaxed, melodious performance.’ But, ‘the production never quite lands its art vs life message, while insistently making it‘. Nick Curtis in The Standard (3★) said it’s ‘simultaneously familiar, sketchy, self-indulgent and pretentious, but it’s told in Liesl Tommy’s new production with undeniable verve and brio.’

Anya Ryan in The Stage (3★) said, It’s a messy voyage of self-discovery…it feels somewhat self-indulgent.’ However the star did not disappoint: ‘Terera once again proves himself to be one of Britain’s most versatile actors working today, with charismatic confidence and a voice as sumptuous as ever.’
For Clive Davis in The Times (3★), ‘Some of the numbers, co-written with Heidi Rodewald, have a genuinely anthemic quality. It helps that the cast are quite capable of crashing through the fourth wall and joshing with the audience. And Stewart’s script contains zingers…It’s just a shame that the show runs out of ideas in the second half and turns mawkish at the end. Until then, it’s a blast.’

Critics’ Average Rating 3.6★

Passing Strange can be seen at Young Vic until 6 July 2024. Buy tickets directly from youngvic.org

If you’ve seen Richard III, please add your review and rating below

May 23, 2024May 26, 2024

Reviews Roundup- Richard III

Shakespeare’s Globe

Actor Michelle Terry playing Richard III sits on a throne — Michelle Terry as Richard III. Photo: Marc Brenner

The Globe’s Richard III arrives on a wave of controversy because of the frequently misogynistic criticism of its non-disabled artistic director Michelle Terry taking the lead role. As it turns out, references to the murderous king’s disability have been excised and attention is on his toxic masculinity in Elle While’s nearly all-female production.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

Tim Bano in The Independent (4★) described how ‘Michelle Terry takes Richard III and turns him into the kind of swaggering, entitled, entirely self-regarding mop-haired misogynist man that we’ve seen way too much of in positions of power in recent years.’ Claire Allfree in the Telegraph (4★) called her interpretation ‘a textbook reading in imaginative authenticity’. The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (4★) pointed out, ‘Elle While’s direction turns it into a play about toxic masculinity of the highest order.’ ‘the play’s shocks hit in all the right places,’ she said, ‘Ultimately, it is a fast-paced, energised and entertaining production, the humour sometimes overplayed and hammy, but nevertheless a hugely compelling picture of corrupted male power.’

The Observer’s Susannah Clapp (3★) said, ‘Terry’s king is a lethal child. She outshines everyone else in a stimulating, patchy evening.’ Anya Ryan in Time Out (3★) declared, ‘As a Shakespearean actor, Terry really is as good as it gets.’ Her reservation was that ‘There is solid thought behind this production that pushes The Bard’s classic into the modern day. But, this is Terry’s show and hers only.’
The Standard’s Nick Curtis (3★) found her ‘horrifyingly compelling in the lead’ but thought ‘Elle While’s production is shouty and unfocused. It also strains too hard for contemporary relevance.’

Isaac Ouro-Gnao writing for LondonTheatre (3★) said, ‘for the most part, Richard III offers up stinging comedy at the hands of a talented and diverse cast, guaranteeing a laugh even during its darkest moments.’
Dave Fargnoli in The Stage (3★) called the production ‘bold, uneven’. On the whole, he was impressed: ‘Although While’s strikingly modern style feels chaotic at times, this ambitious production offers an intriguing, under-explored angle on Richard’s familiar story.’

According to Alexander Cohen at BroadwayWorld (3★), ‘Richard is the all too human anti-hero of Shakespearean canon. Here he is more concept in a wider societal conversation about gender roles post #MeToo.’

Sarah Hemming at WhatsOnStage (2★) wasn’t impressed: ‘There is some richness to be found in exploring the ways in which misogyny and tyranny almost always walk hand-in-hand, boosted by the use of an almost all-female or gender-fluid cast, but it often has all the subtlety and nuance of a bejewelled codpiece.’
The Times’ Dominic Maxwell (2★) felt the same: ‘Not for the first time here [at The Globe] the bright ideas are ahead of the production’s ability to sell them…It’s a strategically shallow reading that makes one of Shakespeare’s most fascinating villains into a 2D commentary on a certain kind of male.’

Critics’ Average Rating 3

Richard III can be seen at Shakespeare’s Globe until 3 August 2024. Buy tickets directly from shakespearesglobe.com

If you’ve seen Richard III, please add your review and rating below

May 21, 2024

Reviews Roundup: Between Riverside and Crazy 3.4★

Hampstead Theatre

Danny Sapani in Between Riverside and Crazy

Following his triumph as King Lear, Danny Sapani is back as another fading patriarch, this time he’s a retired New York cop who had previously been badly injured by a white colleague. As the occupant of a Manhattan apartment, he takes in a variety of misfits while resisting eviction in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (4★) was full of praise: ‘Director Michael Longhurst revels in the text’s rollercoaster, tragicomic structure and draws rich, believable performances from the cast as a bunch of messy, messed-up people trying to keep their lives on track. Sapani is excellent, switching from warmth to wrath in an instant: infuriating one moment and endearing the next.’ Marianka Swain in the Telegraph (4★) said Danny Sapani is ‘titanic here as this sly, savagely funny, belligerent patriarch whose authority is ebbing away.’

Alun Hood at WhatsOnStage (4★) was impressed by ‘Michael Longhurst’s sizzling, thrillingly acted production’. It was, he said, ‘a warm, intriguing play, as wise as it is outrageous, as funny as it is grim, and in this UK premiere, it looks like a modern American classic.’ Franco Milazzo At BroadwayWorld (4★) described it as an ‘intelligent, intimate and ultimately optimistic study’

Andrzej Lukowski at Time Out (3★) experienced ‘a meaty watch, a pungent, spikey mix of laughs, tears and doomed defiance that centres on a multiracial group of misfits.’ Matt Wolf writing for LondonTheatre (3★) said, ‘Michael Longhurst’s production courses with the empathy found in the writing, not to mention a characteristic alertness to the storytelling swerves.’ For Arifa Albar in The Guardian (3★) it didn’t deliver as much as it promised, ‘In a production snappily directed by Michael Longhurst, there is much half said about institutionalised racism’ Nevertheless, ‘The performances are so strong, especially Sapani’s, that they propel the drama with lively, jibing humour’

The Times’ Clive Davis (3★) was another who felt the play fell short. While describing Danny Sapani as ‘a brooding central presence’, he also observed ‘too many underdeveloped characters’ are jostling for attention’ and ‘a nagging sense of implausibility.’ He said, ‘There are two or three plays crammed in here; for all the jokes, Guirgis never makes us care enough about any of them.’
Nick Curtis in The Standard (3★) had many reservations but came through the evening feeling positive: ‘This is a tricksy, rigged piece of drama, with a distended denouement. It’s still headily enjoyable, though.’ Dave Fargnoli writing for The Stage (3★) said the ‘knotty dramedy is overstuffed and tonally inconsistent – yet still gripping.’

Critics’ Average Rating 3.4★

Between Riverside and Crazy can be seen at Hampstead Theatre until 15 June 2024. Buy tickets from hampsteadtheatre.com

If you’ve seen Between Riverside and Crazy, please add your review and rating below