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

Alexander WrightDirected by Dominic Allen★★★★  Pros: A thoroughly engaging performance by Jethro Compton. Cons: Not the best from Belt Up and may have lost some audience members along the way. Our Verdict: An intimate and moving evening of theatre, offering something entirely different from the norm. Courtesy of Belt Up Theatre Sat on a sofa in a dimly lit study, watching two characters struggle with each other as one tries to have sex with the other, it occurred to me ...

Sutton VaneDirected by Louise Hill★★★★★ Pros: Fringe theatre at its best, wonderful venue, fantastic acting and a completely engaging performance. Best fringe production we’ve seen.  Cons: None worth mentioning. Our Verdict: Superb. If you haven’t been to the Finborough before, then you’re missing out. Courtesy of the Finborough Theatre On Wednesday, one of my co-bloggers and I worked a normal 9-5 day. At 7pm, we met at the Finborough Theatre, our first visit to this much ballyhooed fringe venue, and ...

Michael FraynDirected by Lindsay Posner★★★★ Pros: Frayn’s superb script, the ridiculous achievement that is Act 2, Robert Glenister’s wonderful portrayal of Lloyd Dallas. Cons: Hardly any, slight issues with the deliberate bad acting in Act 1. Our Verdict: Probably the best farce ever written, an absolute must for all theatre fans. Courtesy of Alistair Muir for The Daily Mail Many of my deeply unfortunate friends (of which there are very few as it is…) have recently had to hear me ...

Alan BennettDirected by Christopher Luscombe★★★★ Pros: Alan Bennett’s script is superb and David Haig’s performance is outstanding. Cons: We can’t think of any… Our Verdict: A resounding success and highly recommended. Not ground breaking, but just very, very good theatre. Courtesy Tristram Kenton for The Guardian Having never seen the film or play before, I was really excited to see this production of Alan Bennett’s The Madness of King George III, and I was not disappointed. Without wasting any time, ...

We have yet more exciting news on the Musicals front to share with you all! Following a hugely successful run at the Chichester Festival Theatre, the classic Hollywood musical Singin’ in the Rain will be playing in London’s Palace Theatre from 4th February 2012. It’s supposed to be excellent if you believe the mainstream reviews, all of which were 4 or 5 stars. Obviously this is good news in it’s own right, but we’re also pleased that Priscilla has finally ...

William ShakespeareDirected by Emily Morrison★★★★ Pros: Confident and accessible Shakespeare, excellent portrayal of Angelo, interesting use of TV monitors in the set, talented young company. Cons: Not enough use of TV monitors, very hot theatre, a little expensive for what it is (£13/£10). Our Verdict: A good evening of theatre, definitely worth a trip to remind yourself that theatre doesn’t need money to be good!  So the year of the Shakespeare Festival has begun and in the run up to April, when it ...

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 ...

Sorry for the prolonged period of absence, but we were forced to take a brief hiatus whilst we pretended to be busy doing real work that actually pays the rent – although it will come as a surprise to many of you, Everything Theatre doesn’t provide a steady income stream…. In fact, since we started up in March 2011 we have generated an amazing £2.83 from our Google advertising revenue. Score. Anyway, on to more important things: We’ve received news ...

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 ...