By guest critic Gregory Forrest
I swear to God the Theatre Upstairs is gonna give me an aneurism. An explosion. Pitch black. Shouts and screams and gunfire. The immediate sense of panic is all consuming, and I don’t blame one lady for having to bow out of Cordelia Lynn’s startling new play One For Sorrow.
by guest critic Joanna Trainor
There is something magical about watching this open air production of The Tempest in the gardens at the Actors’ Church. Sun going down, wind whistling through the trees – it is such a beautiful setting and the lighting and sound design by Benjamin Polya and Filipe Gomes respectively set the mood perfectly. Actually, the performance itself could have done with a little more actual magic*, not that we don’t appreciate a good coin being pulled from behind someone’s ear trick.
by an anonymous guest critic
An insight into the stark realities of the film industry, the Finborough Theatre’s production of Finishing the Picture is a perfect mix of grit and comedy. Loosely based on Arthur Miller’s then-wife Marilyn Monroe’s experience filming The Misfits in 1961, this is the play’s first European premiere and is harrowingly apt in a era of #MeToo allegations.
by guest critic Amy Toledano
The story of Elle Woods is one that many people are familiar with, and from the way the New Wimbledon Theatre was buzzing with excitement for it’s press night, it remains clear how many hold Legally Blonde close to their hearts. We have seen numerous productions of this show since it opened on Broadway in 2007, many of which have tried their best to be differentiate from the original. This version is no different.
by guest critic Meredith Jones Russell
Arriving at the Mill at Sonning you might as well be stepping in to an Agatha Christie novel before Brian Blessed’s revival of The Unexpected Guest even begins. A country retreat where the whole audience dines together before the show, this is an ideal setting for witnessing the rum old business of a classic whodunnit. And The Unexpected Guest does not disappoint.
by guest critic Meredith Jones Russell
A buoyant cast enters singing their hearts out to “Ireland’s Call”. They are dressed as a variety of Irish stereotypes: a man in a balaclava, a priest, Miss Ireland, an Orangeman, a rugby fan. Caricatures, certainly, but there’s a lot of energy, and the suggestion we might see some of these clichés unpacked and explored.
Then, suddenly, we seem to be in a completely different play. I Am of Ireland, an examination of the complexities and divisions of recent Irish history up to the present day, provides short monologues and scenes focusing on an entirely different set of characters, with a markedly different tone. Continue reading
by guest critic Maeve Campbell
Heading home from the Soho Theatre after watching Justin Hopper’s Flutter, it was striking to see crowds of people, mainly men, congregate outside the huge Hippodrome Casino that faces Leicester Square station. The detailed interior of the Grosvenor betting shop, immaculately imagined in the Soho upstairs space, had impressed, but felt rather distant from the location of the playing space. Now facing these worshippers to the church of gambling, it seems such snobberies were ignorantly informed. The play’s press describes it as “a love-letter to the high street bookies”. This love is a dark one though, rapidly told in this hour and a half melodrama.
by guest critic Rebecca JS Nice
Elixir’s programming at Edinburgh Festival 2016 packed out the purple cow and Thomas Gorham, Rowan Thomas and Cal Harris filled the expansive space with charisma and flying bodies. Playing to a much more intimate audience in the Underbelly’s Spiegeltent this year, Australian company Head First Acrobats carefully adapt their relationship with the audience which is bought right up close to a whizzing cyr wheel and regurgitated tonic water.
by guest critic Amy Toledano
Bingo hits you right where it hurts in this one-man comedy show at The Pleasance Theatre. With its mile-a-minute comedy stylings and all-too-relatable references to the difficulties of being an artist in London, Bingo with have you gasp-laughing the entire time.
by Laura Kressly
Claudia is a reclusive collector whiling away the time in her Brooklyn Heights townhouse overlooking the East River and lower Manhattan. Jonah is a young writer day jobbing for his old university’s academic archives. He’s been sent to see if Claudia has a priceless item, long thought lost, hidden away in her home. As her life approaches it’s midnight hour, she is desperate to cling to the last thing that gives her some power and Jonah is desperate to win this commission which would financially secure his immediate future.
The Play's The Thing UK 