Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond

Exit Productions is an interactive events company specialising in agency and involvement.   Their latest offering at The Vaults – ‘Fight Night’ – focuses on a boxing match and the build up immediately before the fight.  After assembling in the graffiti tunnel the evening’s audience were escorted to the ‘secret’ and rather chilly location nearby.  We were then split into two camps, using our North v South London affiliations. On this occasion the really uneven split meant that some people had ...

Feminism and fishnets, punk and precarious friendships, The Half Moon Shania shakes the Vaults Festival in this punk/rock opera reverberating with energy and poignancy. The show evokes youthful excitement and naivety within a dark smoky world. The rush and the barely organised chaos are infectious, but there are moments that don’t quite land as effectively as the rest of the show. THE G STRINGZ are a band of three best friends trying to secure a record deal in the Half ...

'good dog' associate director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour shares how this coming of age tale shines a light on the UK's marginalised communities.

Spanning the 30 days of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, this play tells the story of Rema (Raagni Sharma) and mother Mariam’s (Yasmin Wilde) journey and growth during this spiritual time. It is a heartfelt story reminding us of the importance of unity, friendship and love. It’s a topical issue for today’s society, addressing conflicts of religion, terrorism and community. Sara Aniqah Malk’s script is both pure and real. The little intricate lines that help to establish the mother-daughter relationship, ...

The Dip has the distinct honour of being the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen although, full disclaimer, I’m not really sure what it is that I saw. I think that might be the point of the piece. It’s 70 minutes of a psychedelic acid trip with an (extremely loose) narrative around a young man, Al, who is questioning and exploring his sexuality and attraction to his friend Nick. The audience are with Al on every step of this bizarre, largely ...

If there’s one topic which occasionally penetrates the news agenda through the cacophony of the Brexit debacle, it’s the ongoing refugee crisis, as the displaced population of war-torn Syria continues to strive desperately to reach some sort of safety in Europe. Jonathan Brown’s extremely accomplished play introduces us to Saif (Vincent Kerschbaum), Hassan (Hamza Siddique), Amira (Natali Servat) and her tiny baby, who have trekked through Egypt to the Mediterranean coast, whence they hope to board a boat to Italy, ...

The naked arse and abs on the marketing material and on the cover of the play text don’t belong to the actors in this production. Presumably they were cast after the publicity deadline, so stand-ins were required. The gays like topless twinks, don’t they, so any pecs will do the job, right? It’s sad that this crude and demeaning strategy continues to pervade the presentation of gay theatre productions, and that prominent voices in the queer community are content to ...

A lesser known Joe Orton play was the incentive for a long overdue visit to the Hope Theatre in Islington. I’m guessing most people wouldn’t be able to name more than three of his plays; Joe Orton actually wrote nine that have at some point been performed on stage. So I’m fairly certain The Ruffian on the Stair is one of the six you don’t know. It was originally written as a radio play and first broadcast by the BBC ...