Rev Stan's Theatre Blog
London theatre reviews and interviews
Category: Lists
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Photo by Rob Laughter on Unsplash You know when you get appraised at work and scored on your performance? Well, I've done the same for the theatres Poly and I have 'friends' memberships for. Essentially these schemes are ways of theatres raising money and in return, you get perks like priority booking. Return on 'investment'?…
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So I've published my favourite fringe plays list and my least favourite plays list, time now for my best plays of 2018 overall, gleaned from everything I've seen – large productions and small, commercial theatres, subsidised and fringe: via GIPHY Misty, Trafalgar Studios A play which put the pulse back into the West End and…
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Not all the plays I see are brilliant. Some are 'OK' and easily forgotten but then there are those that haunt but not in a good way. Seeing 100+ shows a year it's inevitable that some will disappoint and these are the ones that did just that in 2018. 1. A Very Very Very Dark…
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2018 was my first year at the Edinburgh Fringe which produced a bumper crop of excellent plays (look out for transfer details) but London has delivered some gems too. Out of the 50-odd fringe plays there are 10 that really stand out but what strikes me most when revisiting them is how many evoked such…
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As the halfway mark of 2018 rushes past, it's time to reflect on the highlights and low lights of London's theatre productions so far (edit: scroll to the bottom for the most read posts). Julius Caesar warm-up gig, Bridge Theatre. Photo: Rev Stan I'm not sure whether it's a reflection of more varied programming generally…
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via GIPHY 2017 is already the year that brought us Andrew Scott's Hamlet, Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman and my introduction to playwright Branden Jacob-Jenkins and it's only six months in. There are a further nine plays I couldn't not include in my 'best of so far' list and that was with the bar set very…
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Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams, Mary Stuart Almeida Theatre. Photo Miles Aldridge I don't know whether the proportion of plays with female leads was higher this year or whether it was those plays that were particularly brilliant but either way I'm pleased this has ended up being such a female dominated list. The other surprise…
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Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet for the RSC 2016. Photo (c) Manuel Harlan It's been 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death this year and I think theatre land did him proud. From Ivo Van Hove's five-plays-in-one epic King's of War to a 90-minute Hamlet and a motion capture Ariel (I've yet to see the latter) here are…
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There's been some cracking fringe theatre this year – there's also been some best forgotten but we'll gloss over that. These five favourites are taken from a list of more than 40 fringe plays I've seen this year (in no particular order): Rotterdam, Trafalgar Studios 2 Fresh, contemporary, funny and packing emotional punch Rotterdam didn't…