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

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot revolves around Prince Myshkin (Saburo Teshigawara), a young man who returns to Russia, having spent four years in a Swiss clinic to treat his epilepsy. Soon, his good spirit and innocence clash with the dirt and evil of the local aristocracy. This is represented on stage in the contrast between the Prince’s pristine costume and the stark, if gorgeous, gowns of Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova (Rihoko Sato), the unworthy woman with whom he becomes increasingly obsessed. In ...

As Tom Hiddleston returns to the West End in 'Betrayal', we looked at some other European celebs who have returned to the stage – and others who could soon follow in their footsteps.

Mary’s Babies is inspired by true events.  From the 1940s through to the early 60s, Mary Barton and Bertold Wiesner ran a London-based private fertility clinic.  Medically ground breaking at the time, they assisted in the conception and birth of well over a thousand children, known collectively as the ‘Barton Brood’.  At the time, there was no statutory framework covering such procedures and with the clinic insisted upon absolute secrecy, all records were destroyed.  Regulations were introduced in 1990 whereby ...

A stunning cast and pitch-perfect delivery that’s full of clever ideas. This is an exemplar of Shakespearean theatre.

As you enter the small 60-seater basement space of the Pleasance Theatre you see a cast of five: three musicians playing Eastern European folk music on a cello, a guitar and an accordion, with two young men unaccountably wearing dresses, swaying in time to the music. Enter Madame Fanny (Kate Stokes), who’s also credited as the lead writer. She explains that it’s some time in the late 18th Century, and that she’s about to relate tales of her travelling exploits. ...

Sitting in a busy Jackson’s Lane auditorium five minutes in to Proteus Theatre’s Macbeth I was smiling, totally convinced by the setting and excited about what was to come. Presumably thanks to the involvement of movement consultant, George Mann, the opening was a tightly choreographed recreation of a 1980’s financial trading floor, full of wit and in-your-face charm. Twenty minutes in, however, an uneasy feeling was growing that the evening might have already peaked. By an hour in, impressive physical ...

Homegrown Festival: Occupy He. She. Him. Her. They.  Such little words but with so much meaning.  But as Elise Heaven tells us, gender is a social construct.  There are people who don’t identify as he or she, otherwise known as non-binary.  Such as Elise Heaven, who isn’t he or she, but as is Elise’s wish, the pronoun to use is “they”.  Except they is singular, not plural.  Well that’s going to mess my editor’s head up, that’s for sure. [Ed: ...

Homegrown Festival: Occupy There is an incredible buzz in the building tonight for the grand opening of Battersea Arts Centre’s Homegrown Festival: Occupy, an almost month-long takeover of this lovely old building, by under represented voices.  There is nothing quite like the hum of so many excited and engaged youngsters to make you smile and savour the energy and joy they can generate.  It’s almost worth going along just to sit and enjoy that feeling, but then again, whilst you ...

Any show suffixed with the words ‘Sings Streisand’ is always likely to fall between two stools. Is it going to be a singer performing her songs, or a tribute act trying to sound like her? Either way I sensed the performer in question might be on a loser. Liza Pulman (pronounced ‘Lyza’) manages to pull it off, but still lands somewhere between the two. A trained opera singer and member of Fascinating Aida, Liza has an impressive vocal range more ...

Shakespeare’s tale of deceit and malice is not an easy one to stage. Even with an interesting re-contextualisation set in the British Raj in 1919, the production at the Union Theatre fails to fully own this mammoth play.  The ‘green-eyed monster’ and the quintessential Machiavellian baddie Iago provide enough juice, drama, and betrayal to make a real meal out of. But to enjoy a meal one needs cutlery (bear with me on this metaphor), and that would be the actors. ...