Pros: The bleak honesty of Motherhood or Madness and Eoin McKenna’s top-notch comedic delivery in Specky Ginger C*nt. Cons: Motherhood or Madness could benefit from a more imaginative lighting design, whereas Specky Ginger C*nt plunges too deeply into hopeless drama. In a renewed climate of female emancipation, women are unafraid to address motherhood in dispassionate tones. No longer seen as a gift from god, nor a state of bliss, it is often considered a mere inconvenience, a life-changing event over ...

Pros: Rats is smart and hilarious, with excellent performances and a bitingly relevant script.  Cons: The ending is predictable, and some of the emotional moments feel under-explored. In 2016, Microsoft released Tay, a chatbot that could learn by interacting with people on the internet. Sadly, the chatbot had to be shut down after it began spouting Nazi slogans and sexually explicit messages. If machines can learn from humans, they can also learn our biases, our flaws, and our cruelty. We ...

Pros: Superb script and performances Cons: A few plot points not entirely clear “Thank fuck for Ryan Air!” isn’t something you hear that often in real life or in the theatre, what with all the cancelled flights and relentless penny pinching. But this uncommon praise is understandable, coming from the lips of young misfits looking to flee small town life in Ireland for the bright lights of London. Iona (Caitriona Ennis) and Pingu (Elise Heaven) are best pals with a ...

Pros: An excellent cast of familiar faces give the play a much needed boost. Cons: A beautiful venue in serious need of refurbishment and a script requiring similar tender loving care. I feel quietly reassured when a Grade II listed building is purchased and restored to its original function. The Coronet in Notting Hill Gate is one such example. Designed by legendary theatre architect W.G.R. Sprague it opened with royal patronage in 1898 and hosted a variety of productions until ...

Pros: Rendezvous is inventive and immersive, with catchy songs and great performances.   Cons: The comic interludes can be frustrating, as they distract from an otherwise compelling story. Laughter is a powerful response to oppression. Comedy has a long history of speaking truth to power, and cabaret is no different. Czechoslovakia, a country that endured both Nazi and Soviet rule, had plenty of horrors to contend with, particularly for the Jewish population. But for one cabaret writer, plenty to laugh at as ...

Pros: Engaging, smart and surprising, Jess Latowicki carries you with her deeper and deeper. SDCU takes on baffling cultural matters with an engaging directness. Cons: Too baggy particularly around the end and could benefit from pruning, sharpening and general revision. The dance? Fun, but too long.  Jess Latowicki performs Made in China’s new show on a set made up of an over-fluffy carpet, a calming waterfall backdrop, and, we are soon to discover, a camera providing us with a live-stream of the performance, ...

Pros: A beautiful insight into the minds of four teen girls as they come of age. Cons: More work is required to make the conversations feel much more natural. Eve, Robbie, Misha and Looby: four teenage girls protected from much of the world due to the privilege of their private education. Of course that also means protected from boys. So it’s no surprise that much of Walk Swiftly and with Purpose explores that aspect of any teens life, the opposite ...

Pros: The original twist of a Poe horror classic. Cons: Too much focus on how the play is delivered (headphones, projections) and less on the content of the play itself, which feels overloaded. There are many things in common between the Spanish Inquisition and the Guidance Patrol of Iran. Both were created to maintain religious orthodoxy and police people’s morals. Neither was particularly keen on women. Edgar Allan Poe’s short horror story The Pit and the Pendulum recreates the torments of ...

Admirable effort from a cast determined to get their name out there.

Absence of atmosphere and a weak ensemble result in a production that fails to conjure any spirit.