Pros: The final twist is pretty clever. Cons: This show didn’t stand up to its name and made very little impact on me. The narrator of this drama is smartly dressed and has distinct manners. When he walks in, he puts his briefcase on the floor behind his chair, and invites us to pick some envelopes from a rack. These contain victim impact statements, talking about the aftermath of a big tragedy: loss, grief, and the inability to forgive. Then the ...

A living room drama which portrays the lives of three hopeless millennials but requires a brisk revision to realise its full potential.

The swinging friendship of two heroin addicts is used to expose one of the biggest failures of Thatcherism.

Pros: Painfully autobiographical. Cons: This show is not for those seeking entertainment. Have you ever wondered what happens inside the head of a person diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? How many times have you made jokes about ‘having OCD’ after lining up the pens on your desk or organising your wardrobe in chromatic order? I did this many times, and attending Sam Ross’s devised performance Can’t Stop Can’t Stop gave me a rare insight of how debilitating the actual condition ...

Pros: Candid and resounding. Cons: This show deserves a bigger audience. Anders Lee’s background as a comedian comes across distinctly in Dummy, although this is not quite the show one might expect. The jokes are there, as well as some awkward private revelations and a little interaction with the room. Yet, in his new work, Lee is promoting a socio-political message that is strongly relevant in our evolved civilisation. Diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder as a child, Lee is now a grown-up, ...

Pros: A poignant statement from the silenced benefit class. Cons: The actor’s stage presence is unconvincing. In the closing scene of KillyMuck, the protagonist Niamh (Aoife Lennon) raises a board that displays two stylised drawings. Three men are depicted standing on equal sized boxes. However, due to their different heights, only two men are able to see over the wall. This is how equality works: providing equal resources to everyone, but ignoring the specifics of each individual. On the bottom half, ...

The tenderness of brotherhood vibrates in the words of a WWI soldier.

Pros: Strictly Arts Theatre’s creative genius translates a heavy topic into a captivating performance. Cons: …not in this one. Police in the United States kill unarmed black people nearly twice per week. In 2015, only 13 of the 104 cases reported resulted in officers being charged with a crime and only 5 of them ended with a conviction – all below 5 years. Taking from these stifling figures, powerhouse Strictly Arts Theatre explores the unspoken link between mental health and ...

Engaging snapshot of the 21st century New York gay scene.

The hangover of colonialist and racist attitudes seen through the eyes of a Pakistani woman settled in the UK.