London Archives - Page 21 of 150

A Moon for the Misbegotten – Almedia Theatre

29Jun

By Sadie PearsonNo Comments

London

A Moon for the Misbegotten – Almedia Theatre

Tonight, at the Almeida, A Moon for the Misbegotten lands like a blow wrapped in poetry—a raw, heartfelt collision of booze‑scarred souls, human flinches, and a moonlight that enthrals as much as it devastates. Leading the charge is Ruth Wilson as Josie Hogan, delivering a performance that’s fiercely grounded, physically charged, and impossible to ignore. Set on a rundown Connecticut farm in 1923, A Moon for the Misbegotten follows tenant farmer Phil Hogan and his strong-willed daughter Josie as they face the looming threat of eviction. In a calculated gambit, Phil hatches a plan to use Josie to manipulate their landlord, James Tyrone Jr. But as night falls and moonlight casts its harsh glow, the façade of strategy gives way to something deeper—unspoken grief, buried longing, and a frag...

26Jun

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Orpheus Descending – The Cockpit

Orpheus Descending is a difficult and unwieldy play in which the creative team and especially the cast of this production do an excellent job of infusing with serious energy and inventiveness. Orpheus Descending is another of Tennessee Williams plays set in small town USA examining the knotty and repressed relationships of its residents. Mostly we follow the story of Val Xavier (Johnathan Aarons), an outsider with a sordid past who is trying to make a new life for himself. He is quickly drawn into the maelstrom of the town. He is pursued by Carol Cutrere (Daisy Hargreaves), the town’s own scandal, who both wants him romantically and is trying to warn him of the potential danger he is in. Soon, however, Val is falling in love with Lady Torrance (Madison Coppola), the daughter of an I...

26Jun

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

This Bitter Earth – Soho Theatre

Following his recent turn as Emcee in Cabaret, American actor Billy Porter has clearly developed a taste for the West End. This time, however, he’s on directing duty, as he stages a new production of Harrison David Rivers’ play This Bitter Earth at Soho Theatre. It follows the relationship between Black playwright Jesse (Omari Douglas) and his white BLM activist boyfriend Neil (Alexander Lincoln), with fragmented snapshots of their love story playing out against the tragic backdrop of the killings of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and more Black people facing police brutality. Porter’s jaunty personal style translates to a slick and energetic staging, weaving the non-linear narrative together carefully through simple movement, props, and lighting changes. There are no other characte...

25Jun

By Zak RosenNo Comments

London

54.60 Africa – Arcola Theatre

In 54.60 Africa, what begins as a funeral for a continent quickly turns into a breathless adventure as ten friends of different ages and backgrounds, all members of the diaspora in London, spurred on by their Mother Africa, seek to discover and document all those 54 countries, and all that one and a half billion people, have to offer. All in one week. All in time for Gambia’s 60th anniversary of independence. From South Africa to Tunisia, Cameroon to Seychelles, Kenya to the Republic of Congo, this show is nothing short of extraordinary. Written and directed by Femi Elufowoju jr and based on his own experiences visiting all 54 African nations before his 60th birthday, 54.60 Africa approaches the events on stage with a simultaneous vitality and thoughtfulness, deeply attentive to the hum...

21Jun

By Zandra OdetundeNo Comments

London

One Way Out – Brixton House

One Way Out is the kind of play that doesn’t just speak, it shouts. But in the same breath, it leaves you in silence, sitting with a truth you didn’t ask for but needed to hear. Montel Douglas’s coming-of-age story doesn’t try to be subtle. It’s loud, local, and full of heart. It asks what home really means when a window breaks and your whole life shatters with it. The show opens with a physical theatre sequence that, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy, but it was done incredibly well. Tense, explosive, choreographed with purpose. The fight unfolds like a dance, and it's this moment that sets everything in motion. A broken window leads to a suspension. That suspension alerts the police. The police alert the Home Office. And just like that, someone’s life is over. That some...

The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs – The Kiln Theatre

21Jun

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs – The Kiln Theatre

The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs holds counsel for all of us seeking to find our queer foremothers who lived and loved despite the unjust laws of the land that aims to criminalize love. The synergistic partnership between writer Iman Qureshi and director Hannah Hauer-King will be cherished. They have managed to not only centre ‘community building’ on the stage but also brought a nuanced, intersectional perspective to the structural challenges that pose barriers to many from joining and sustaining communities. Supported by an award-winning cast, each of them brings such diversity of perspectives and emotional vulnerability to the portrayal of their roles. Fanta Barrie (Ellie) plays the butch lesbian lover on a journey of self discovery and curiosity, Georgie Henley (Ana) plays the white l...

Swallows and Armenians – Chelsea Theatre

21Jun

By Karen Morley-ChesworthNo Comments

London

Swallows and Armenians – Chelsea Theatre

The truth behind a British children’s classic is revealed with the premiere of Swallows and Armenians at the Chelsea Theatre. Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, set in the Lake District, was an instant success when published in 1930. However, the truth behind the inspiration for the story has been suppressed until now. The actor-musician production by Karen Babayan is based on her book Swallows and Armenians, which she wrote after extensive research. An Anglo-Arminian, Babayan discovered the central characters in the book, a quintessential English family, the Walkers, were based on an Arminian family, called Altounyan. Close friends of Ransome, the family spent the summer of 1929 in Coniston with the author, sailing two boats on the lake. This new production tells the story of...

21Jun

By Savitha VenugopalNo Comments

London

Medea – The Coronet Theatre

This is Medea like you have never seen it before. Director Satoshi Miyagi takes an ancient masterpiece, tweaks it, paints it in fresh colours, and creates a jewel that dazzles. This is no mere telling of a story, it is an experience. Performed in Japanese with English subtitles, the play is set in a restaurant in Meiji era Japan. It is a time of wide-ranging changes from government policies to education systems to trade. A group of male patrons in the restaurant has decided to perform Medea. Each character will be played by two people – a male “speaker” who will deliver the lines, and a female “mover” who will act them out. The female staff of the restaurant present themselves to be picked for the roles. They appear on stage dressed in kimonos of the same shade, brown bags on their ...

20Jun

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

4.48 Psychosis – Royal Court

‘At 4.48 when depression visits, I shall hang myself to my lover’s breathing’. Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis contains many lines like the one above that simply go through you. The play is a beautiful and terrifying exploration of the pain, anguish, despair, boredom and paralysis that accompany someone thinking of killing themselves. The work has an obvious resonance because it is Kane’s last before her own suicide, but the quality of the writing is such that it would be wrong to say that this is why the play is so impactful. Kane mixes honest, brutal statements with poetic, even biblical passages; lucid descriptions of a prescription with strange lists of numbers and staccato strings of words ‘flicker, punch, slash, dab, wring, press, burn, slash’. It is a startling piece of writing, w...

Kieran Hodgson: Voice of America – Soho Theatre

20Jun

By Zak RosenNo Comments

London

Kieran Hodgson: Voice of America – Soho Theatre

Kieran Hodgson, the avowed atheist bisexual vegetarian Brahms-enthusiast, wants to be a Voice of America. He even orchestrates a US presidential campaign style entrance to the theatre, complete with standing, chanting, and a great deal of handshaking. But he doesn’t quite let us forget that there is one voice hoarding all the oxygen when it comes to speaking of, and for, the United States, and he asks some vital questions about how to relate to the country, to its hope and promise, when trapped by the totemic power of that voice. Hodgson is hilarious, with every joke pulling peals of laughter from the audience, combining clever writing and delightful impressions (minus He Who Must Not Be Named) and a surprisingly dense amount of British cultural reference with an extended riff on Hodgso...