Fringe/ OffWestEnd
We could argue for hours what makes a fringe theatre venue, and even then we doubt we’d come to a satisfactory definition. So to keep it simple, fringe here simply means the wonderful little venues, generally less than 100 seats, often located above or below or next to pubs, and very much at the heart of our theatre world, where all the magic usually starts.
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Review: Bound By the Wind: Echoes of the Past, The Rotunda Theatre Bubble, Brighton
An ambitious take on Mulan with strong ideas and committed performances, but underdeveloped writing and staging leave its promise only partly fulfilled.
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Review: The Dasslers, Bridewell Theatre
A tense retelling of the overnight collapse of a brothers’ relationship and the birth of two iconic sport shoe brands.
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Review: Everlasting Cake, The Questors Theatre
A heartfelt but wildly overstuffed new play that buries genuine emotional insight beneath a torrent of baffling ideas.
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Review: The Harder They Come, Theatre Royal Stratford East
The Hero brings the thunder; the whole cast is electrifying!
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Review: End of the Rainbow, Soho Theatre Walthamstow
A poignantly emotional, musically thrilling biography, unmissable for Jinkx Monsoon's exceptional performance alone.
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Review: Imitations, Hen and Chickens Theatre
A captivating and thought-provoking examination of how friends can help each other by talking through their issues, told through humour and heart.
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Review: PalesTEENian, Theatre Peckham
The unique perspective of a talented entertainer, presented through a coming-of-age story
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Review: Convo, Theatre Peckham
A new play that examines the challenges of a successful single mother estranged from her son. He hijacks her public appearance and demands the truthful conversation they never had.
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Review: Quartet in Autumn, Arcola Theatre
A 70s sitcom with an absence of cheer.
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Review: Debt Meat, Drayton Arms Theatre
Human flesh is currency in this disturbing dystopian drama that is a political allegory with echoes of Brazil and 1984