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  • Review: The Good Landlord, Omnibus Theatre – needs more bite

    The Good Landlord, Omnibus Theatre and touring.

    It’s ironic watching a play called The Good Landlord when the Government has announced that more rights for tenants are coming into law.

    The title is also ironic because neither of the two landlords in Pound Road Productions’ play behaves in ways that are good.

    Jack (Jason Adam) is being evicted from a damp, mouldy, windowless flat for not paying his rent. His eviction comes just after his girlfriend has upped and left him.

    Together with his friend Shaun (Blayne Kelly), they decide to sublet a cupboard to try and make up the rent, but Jack decides he is going to be a ‘good landlord’.

    He throws himself into the role by praying on the desperation of an evicted woman, Sony (Caroline Gray), planning to rip her off as she’s about to come into money.

    However, Sony is not what she seems.

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  • Review: Old Fat F**k Up, Riverside Studios

    Olly Hawes, writer and performer of Old Fat F**k Up

    Olly Hawes’ play Old Fat F**k Up at the Riverside Studios is described as part autobiographical, but which parts are true?

    It’s something the writer/performer plays on throughout the piece, telling us that bits are true when there are question marks. There are also the parts that he wants to be true and others that he hopes don’t come true.

    He tells the story as if directing a film – or the six-part Netflix series he covets. He describes what we would see if watching TV, painting a vivid picture of the location of each scene..

    It’s a slice of life. A day. An overweight, middle-aged, tired dad under financial pressure, living in an ex-council flat with a boiler that might just be about to pack up. He has two young kids and another on the way.

    The realities of modern life are laid bare. It’s in hiding his phone from his kids so he can mindlessly scroll, traffic jams and NHS waiting lists.

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  • Video review: The Line of Beauty, Almeida Theatre

    The Line of Beauty review transcript:

    The Line of Beauty at the Almeida Theatre is a play that presents a slice of someone’s life over three years.

    It’s set in the 80s. It’s about a young gay man who ends up living with the very posh family of his friend from university.

    And it’s an examination of class, of the politics of the time – the father is an MP – and the gay culture, and the growing AIDS epidemic.

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  • Review: Fatherland, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs

    Jason Thorpe and Nancy Farino in Fatherland and Hampstead Theatre Downstairs

    Fatherland at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs is the story of an enthusiastic, fun-seeking dad Winston (Jason Thorpe) and a reluctant daughter Joy (Nancy Farino), on a road trip to Ireland to discover family roots.

    Winston has converted an old school bus for the journey and is seemingly motivated by a desire to take Joy out of herself, as she appears to be in a bit of a rut.

    But the more we get to know Winston, the less altruistic his motives look and the more feckless he seems.

    The bus scenes alternate with a parallel narrative thread in which Winston is having conversations with his increasingly frustrated solicitor Claire (Shona Babayemi).

    Through these, we discover he is some sort of life coach and is being sued.

    Winston has the potential to tip over into irritating character territory – he can certainly be frustrating. But there are a couple of elements to the play that pull him back from this edge.

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  • Review: The Problem With The Seventh Year, White Bear Theatre

    James McGregor in The Problem With The Seventh Year at the White Bear Theatre

    Is it better to know that something bad is coming and, then subsequently, while trying to prepare, worry about it, or live life in ignorant bliss?

    The Problem With The Seventh Year at the White Bear Theatre sees a man (James McGregor) trying to live a double life.

    By day, he’s a medical student on his way to becoming a doctor, possibly a paediatrician. By night, he’s embedded in the world of boxing, first as a competitor, but then, after a dirty fight, he becomes a ‘cutman’ at full-contact fights.

    The cutman patches up the fighters in between bouts, but also has the power to stop the match should they think a fighter’s injuries are too bad.

    Boxing is intoxicating for him. He’s drawn to the psychology and the violence of the match, which can sometimes spread beyond the competitors.

    It’s an addiction, a world he can’t stay away from, even when his medical studies are suffering.  He gets warnings about his not 100% attendance and his behaviour, which can become aggressive.

    The White Bear Theatre’s small, square performance space almost perfectly replicates a boxing ring.

    There are no ropes but a lights mark the edge of the fighting arena and there is the small stool for the ‘fighter’ to sit on in between bouts. A ‘ding ding’ between scenes (bouts) adds to the atmosphere – and tension.

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  • Review: Othello, Theatre Royal Haymarket

    Othello review transcript: Othello at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, starring David Harewood as Othello, Toby Jones as Iago and Caitlin FitzGerald as Desdemona, is a good, solid production of Othello.

    It’s got some really interesting features and ideas in it.

    Toby Jones stands out for me particularly. All the cast is good, but he particularly stands out as Iago.

    His performance is very nuanced. His comic timing is superb. He got quite a few laughs, but he’s also really creepy as well and really nasty.

    And I thought he played that really well.

    David Harewood’s Othello is very statuesque, very right and proper, as you would expect. There are signs quite early on of his violent tendencies, though, so when the final act comes, it doesn’t feel like a massive surprise.

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  • Video review: Born With Teeth, Wyndhams Theatre

    Video transcript: Born with Teeth at the Wyndham’s Theatre imagines a collaboration between Christopher Marlowe, played by Ncuti Gatwa and Shakespeare, played by Edward Bluemel.

    At the time, Christopher Marlowe is the much more famous playwright, and Shakespeare is very early career, hasn’t really achieved any fame as yet.

    And it’s a play about personalities and politics, the politics of the time, what was going on and the precarious position that writers were in.

    If they could get a patron, if they couldn’t get a patron, and what that patron could do for them. What they could get away with and what they can’t get away with.

    It’s also a play that’s about personalities. Christopher Marlowe is very much a larger-than-life character. He’s very confident. He’s quite arrogant.

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  • Video review: Hamlet, National Theatre – youthful energy that doesn’t always translate

    Hamlet video review transcript: Hamlet at the National Theatre has a younger cast to what you’d normally get with Hamlet, and I really like that, because it brings in a different level of energy.

    It feels very different to other productions I’ve seen recently. Certainly, Hiran Abeysekera, who plays Hamlet, has a lot of energy.

    He’s very youthful, he’s very witty, he’s quite cheeky, he brings out the humour in the part.

    The problem with that is in the darker, more contemplative, more tragic moments, you don’t get that contrast so much. It didn’t feel as big an emotional connection to other productions that I’ve seen.

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  • Review: Lifers, Southwark Playhouse

    Two men. One is old with white hair wearing a white vest and holding a hand of playing cards. the other is young and is wearing a prison officers uniform. You can see a window with bars in the background suggesting they are in prison.
    Peter Wight and James Backway in Lifers, Southwark Playhouse

    How much should we care about prisoners, particularly those serving sentences for serious crimes? And how much care should they receive?

    This is the overarching theme of Lifers at the Southwark Playhouse, a prison-set drama that follows the story of Lenny (Peter Wight), a prisoner in his 70s serving a life sentence.

    He uses a walking frame (which took a lot of form-filling and months to get), struggles to dress, and forgets where he is and who people are.

    Mark (James Backway) is a young prison officer who bends the rules to help Lenny. Would he show such care if he knew what he’d done to end up in prison, what any of the prisoners had done?

    Sonya (Mona Goodwin) is the prison doctor and Mark’s friend. She’s focused on her job, but has worked in the prison setting for a lot longer and has established firm boundaries of care.

    While predominantly a drama, Lifers is also laced with humour. Light relief comes in the form of Lenny’s fellow inmates Norton (Sam Cox) and Baxter (Ricky Fearon).

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  • Video review: Clarkston, Trafalgar Theatre

    Clarkston video review transcript: Clarkston at the Trafalgar theatre. It stars Joe Locke and Ruaridh Mollica as two co workers during the night shift at Costco in a small rural town in America.

    And Joe Locke’s character Jake, has blown in while on a journey across the country, and more, of which you find out later on in the play.

    Chris, Ruaridh Mollica’s character lives in the area, hasn’t really been out of the area very much, and is hiding away from his troubled mother.

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