Mike BartlettDirected by Thea Sharrock★★★  I was persuaded, just in the nick of time, to give Mike Bartlett another go after I, like many others, left Earthquakes in London feeling disappointed. However, I was determined to go into it with an open-mind and this was helped by the fact that I was walking into the Olivier, which brings with it all the anticipation of encountering a mind-blowing set.  Productions staged in this theatre have each given different answers to the ...

Written and directed by Conor McPherson ★★★★ Courtesy of National Theatre Well, we have just entered the first few days of October, which means that the grueling period of Hallowe’en is upon us. Yes, entire aisles of supermarkets dedicated to low-grade costumes, children banging on your door, asking for the sweets which you inevitably have forgotten to buy (they never seem satisfied with apples or stale digestive biscuits), and, perhaps worst of all, the incessant playing of “Monster Mash” by ...

Edgar and Annabel  Sam Holcroft Directed by Lyndsey Turner ★★★★ The Swan  DC Moore Directed by Polly Findlay ★★★★ The Swan, courtesy of the Evening Standard As you will know from my review of Double Feature 2, I miserably failed to attend Double Feature 1 in late July due to an incident in the Solent. However, last weekend I made it back to the National’s pop-up performance space in the Paintframe to watch the second (well, technically the first…) batch ...

Nightwatchman  Prasanna Puwanarajah Directed by Polly Findlay ★★★★★ There is a War Tom Basden Directed by Lyndsey Turner ★★★★ Courtesy of the National Theatre In an ideal world, I would review Double Feature 1 first, and Double Feature 2 second – I’m sure you’ll agree with my exemplary logic. This was the original intention, as I was booked to see Double Feature 1 in mid-July, and I only saw Double Feature 2 last week. Our plan was to then release ...

Thomas Heywood Directed by Katie Mitchell ★★ Courtesy of the National Theatre The National’s recent productions have been so good that I suppose it was only a matter of time before they produced one that didn’t live up to the high standards we now expect. Despite being classed as Heywood’s masterpiece, I cannot profess to having heard of A Woman Killed with Kindness before the National’s revival. Some basic research reveals that it is a critically acclaimed piece, regarded as ...

Everything Theatre's James Hodgson argues that the success of One Man, Two Guvnors is a triumph for the National Theatre, the West End and the Arts.

Book and Lyrics by Alecky Blythe Music and Lyrics by Adam CorkDirected by Rufus Norris★★★★ Courtesy of the National Theatre The National Theatre’s London Road is a musical about the (recent) murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich. On the face of it, it sounds like it should be hugely distasteful: a horrifying and entirely true story which is still fresh in the minds of the victims’ families, which has been trivialised and turned into popular entertainment. Rather strangely though, it ...

Henrik Ibsen, in a new version by Ben Power Directed by Jonathan Kent ★★★★ Courtesy of the National Theatre We were very pleased when we got our hands on our tickets for Emperor and Galilean, but perhaps not for the correct reasons. In truth, before seeing this show the excitement was due to the fact that it meant we needed only to see London Road (which we intend to do this weekend) in order to have witnessed every single production ...

Clifford Odets Directed by Angus Jackson ★★★ Courtesy of the National Theatre The National’s season just past was absolutely second to none. With such shows as Frankenstein, The Holy Rosenbergs, and more recently One Man, Two Guvnors it has really been a triumphant few months for Nicholas Hytner and his team. Perhaps that is why their production of Rocket to the Moon went somewhat less smoothly, with its run being cut short at the last minute. Indeed, we saw it ...

Richard Bean, based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni Directed by Nicholas Hytner ★★★★★ Courtesy of National Theatre Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors, based on Carlo Goldoni’s Commedia dell’arte classic of The Servant of Two Masters, has been one of the most eagerly anticipated productions of the National’s current season. It reunites Nicholas Hytner with James Corden for the first time since Hytner’s outrageously successful production of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys catapulted Corden into the ...