Monthly Archives: March 2016

This world touring production is a collaboration between equestrian Bartabas, flamenco dancer Andrés Marin and four horses. They echo and respond to each other’s presence. There are not many stage roles for horses these days. I know horses that auditioned … Continue reading →

The show is based on the biography of Berry Gordy, the founder of Detroit’s Motown Records. The performances of the artists on his label are recreated; and these include acts by Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the … Continue reading →

American playwright J C Lee’s Luce is set within a more modern context: the fear of home grown terrorism. Luce (Martins Imhangbe) is a 17-year-old high school student who has written an essay in praise of a right-wing terrorist. His … Continue reading →

Jean Anouilh, the most popular French playwright in the mid-20th century, equally successful in Paris and London, has been shamefully ignored for far too long. So I was thrilled to learn the Donmar was to stage Le Voyageur sans baggage. … Continue reading →

Sarah Kane’s Cleansed is extremely disturbing and unpleasant to watch. It was written shortly before she hanged herself in 1998. She was only 28 and famous for her graphic portrayals of violence. Prisoners are degraded and tortured. Actors spend much … Continue reading →

Robert Holman’s plays are about life as it is lived by ordinary people. German Skerries, very nicely acted in this revival by Alice Hamilton, was last seen nearly 40 years ago. The setting is a nature reserve in Teeside in … Continue reading →

The traitor in Jonathan Lynn’s play is the 84-year-old Marshal Philippe Pétail, the great French commander and an acclaimed national hero for his defence of Verdun in 1914. He surrendered to the Germans in World War 2 and set up … Continue reading →

Jean Genet (1910-1986), delinquent, thief, poet, novelist, playwright, spent most of his life in reformatories and prison. He had his first critical success in Paris in 1947 with The Maids, a sado-masochistic ritual of servitude and domination played out by … Continue reading →