To begin at the ending. The audience loved it. Sadlerâs Wellsâ take on the 1979 film, based on The Whoâs 1973 album, Quadrophenia, choreographed by Paul Roberts and directed by Rob Ashford, has a comfortable majority of us on our feet. By âusâ I...
Theatrical experiences are rarely all good or all bad. Sometimes a reviewer wants to rave about certain aspects of a production, while other features leave him cold. So it is for me with this physical theatre adaptation of Thomas Hardyâs 1891...
âEngland is not a trick question – I promise you.â So says Gareth Southgate in the National Theatreâs brilliantly entertaining production of James Grahamâs take on Southgateâs time managing the England menâs football team. Southgate (played...
It is 1997. A train leaves Scotland bound for London. On board, John Josana, a journalist, is reading a book about Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for many years). The train is crowded. A tall man with a backpack takes the seat...
If I were to begin this review by telling you the stars of Birmingham Royal Balletâs revival of Cinderella are John Macfarlaneâs design and David Finnâs lighting (here honoured and adapted by Peter Teigen), you might infer that I was being...
On 4 August, 2011, a 29-year-old black man, Mark Duggan, was shot dead by police in Tottenham, London. Dugganâs death sparked a series of riots, beginning in Tottenham, spreading across London and on to other cities in England. From where he was...
The staging is simple: four straight-backed chairs, a backdrop for projections and, overhead, two rows of clothing hung on lines (theatre is a place for costumes and dressing-up, but also, we are reminded, the theatre we are here to pay our respects...
Immersive art shows have a chequered reputation, but Lightroomâs collaboration with David Hockney is something of a triumph. Perhaps it is that Hockney often works in light (quite literally, given his now famous iPad âpaintingsâ). Or perhaps it is...
Seven-(almost eight)-year-olds, Mickey and Eddie form an immediate bond when they meet by chance in a Liverpool park in the 1960s. Unruly, foul-mouthed Mickey thrills and appalls Eddie (âEdwardâ to his parents) with his unfettered language and...
Whenever âthe great and the goodâ turn out in numbers for a show, it is more likely they are anxious to be seen rather than to see. Laurie Andersonâs remarkable ARK: United States V provides a notable exception to this rule. Familiar faces are much...
Martin Thomasson