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 ...

Andrew Scott as Julian the Apostate Emperor and Galilean, Henrik Ibsen’s ‘lost masterpiece’, has just opened for the first time in English at London’s National Theatre. The three-hour-long epic Drama deals with the rise and subsequent fall of Emperor Julian the Apostate in the 4th Century AD. The play relies heavily on the actor playing the role of Julian to carry it through: indeed, a flat performance would make the entire experience totally unpalatable. But Andrew Scott, who plays this ...

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 ...

Jonathan Bate Directed by Tom Cairns ★★★ Courtesy of the Ambassador Theatre Group There is always a risk in going to see one man shows as the entire production rests on one person delivering an outstanding performance if the audience are to be kept engaged. Being Shakespeare is also a reasonably long one man show, running for 80 minutes over two acts. Fortunately, Simon Callow, one of Britain’s best loved actors, delivers a very engaging performance which makes it more ...

Tom StoppardDirected by Trevor Nunn★★★★ Courtesy of the Theatre Royal Haymarket In truth, we hadn’t planned to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead so early in its London run: we were actually planning on trying to catch the last performance of Blythe Spirit at the Apollo. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, we weren’t able to do so. Thankfully, quick thinking allowed us to snap up some front row seats to Tom Stoppard’s existentialist masterpiece, which turned out to ...

Harold Pinter Directed by Ian Rickson ★★★ Courtesy of Sonia Friedman Productions Rather controversially, I am always unsure about the works of Harold Pinter. On the one hand, I recognise that his writing is certainly very clever: economical and extremely human dialogue, emotionally reserved characters and the ability to develop the story and the characters without the use of longer monologues. On the other hand, I have always found his work a little hard to engage with on stage. Despite ...

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 ...

Nikolai Gogol, in a new version by David Harrower Directed by Richard Jones★★★ Courtesy of The Young Vic Julian Barratt is widely known for being one half of the comedic duo behind award-winning comedy The Mighty Boosh. It is no surprise then that The Young Vic’s new production of Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector, in a new version by David Harrower, which casts Barratt as a hapless mayor, has drummed up not only a considerable buzz but also very high expectations ...

William Shakespeare Directed by Josie Rourke ★★★★ Courtesy of Sonia Friedman Productions Sonia Friedman’s newest West End offering has been the subject of much excitement, and with heavy-weights David Tennant and Catherine Tate featuring in the line up, you can understand why. The show had almost sold out before it even opened, but despite the fact that Much Ado About Nothing is quite a safe choice of play, with expectations raised to such high levels there is always a risk ...