Monthly Archives: September 2013

The opportunity to see French plays, apart from Molière, Feydeau and Cyrano de Bergerac, is pretty rare in the UK. Alfred de Musset (1810-1857), a French Romantic and dandy, poet and novelist, famous for his traumatic affair with George Sand, … Continue reading →

Butterfly Theatre Company performs two one-act comedies by Chekhov at lunchtime. The audience sits at tables. Drinks and lunch bags can be purchased. One-act plays were highly popular in the Victorian and Edwardian era as curtain-raisers and afterpieces. It might … Continue reading →

JB Priestley’s leaden socialist debate, set in the imagined aftermath of World War 3 (when an atom bomb had been dropped with apocalyptic effect) failed when it premiered in 1949. Members of a British family, living a quiet, idyllic, communal … Continue reading →

“There are three golden rules for financial success,” says playwright Dennis Kelly. “One, whenever you want something, take it. Two, lie to the depths of your heart. Three, embrace every second as if it were your last. Never, ever, ever … Continue reading →

Joseph Conrad’s political thriller, set in London in 1896 and involving the bombing of Greenwich Observatory, has been adapted by a company that goes in for slow mime, music hall comedy and totally unnecessary audience participation, all of which gets … Continue reading →

Christopher Marlowe’s history play, first performed in 1593 and widely acted until 1617, was not seen again until 1903. It was the king’s love affair with the low-born Gaveston which kept the play off the stage. Edward (John Heffernan) and … Continue reading →

Louise Brealey’s play about a female Pope was commissioned by the National Youth Theatre and they are staging it in a church in Piccadilly, which has a reputation for being progressive, liberal and supporting the ordination of women to all … Continue reading →

The Union has the laudable policy of reviving musicals by famous lyricists and composers which West End producers are unlikely to stage again. This flawed musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane, which premiered in New York in 1965 … Continue reading →