By Laura Kressly
Waves quietly break along the beach outside a remote holiday home. A woman drinks Earl Gray, eats biscuits and mourns her infant son. Her husband checks on her regularly, but within the icy sea of debilitating grief, they’ve lost the ability to communicate other than through fantastical stories of mythical creatures. Time all but stops in this sparsely-written series of snapshots depicting a couple trying their best to piece their lives together after a tragedy.
by Meredith Jones Russell
A mixture of confessional monologues, recorded interviews, dance, music, and a hefty smattering of hardcore porn, Harry Clayton-Wright’s deliberately shocking, no-holds-barred, one-man show attempts to address how we learn about sex and how that education informs our wants, needs and desires for the rest of our lives.
by Meredith Jones Russell
Crocodile Fever is a shocking, staggering, darkly hilarious play which comes into its own in its second, bizarre half.
by Laura Kressly
Modern dating for straight women is a horror show of dick pics, ghosting, casual sex, stealthing, quashed hopes and heartbreak. Yet Polly keeps at it, convinced she’ll eventually find her lobster – a baffling and tasty creature that will commit to her for life. Fragile and fresh out of a relationship with a guy she thought was the one, she enthusiastically dips her toe back into dating in this cheerful account of her hunt for The One.
by Meredith Jones Russell
A two-person comedy about kids and foot and mouth disease doesn’t necessarily sound like the most appealing prospect. Don’t let that put you off. Bobby and Amy is a stunning portrayal of the strength of humans, community and friendship, with incredible performances from its talented leads.
by Laura Kressly
The Paines Plough Roundabout is the most reliable, new writing venues at the fringe. With a collection of work that represents the width and breadth of the UK both geographically and thematically, this year’s offerings are universally strong. From a family musical to a one-man show about a stalker, and everything in between, there is a great selection of shows for audiences looking for new work in a great venue that tours around Britain.
by Laura Kressly
A young woman unceremoniously returns to her family home, where her dad watches cooking shows on repeat and listens to battered cassettes on a boom box that’s probably older than she is. She looks worn and fatigued, though promises she’ll only be there as long as it takes her to get back on her feet. He doesn’t really listen.
by Laura Kressly
As ICE parasitically invade peaceful American neighbourhoods and imprisons people in concentration camps, the country’s president spaffs racism from his twitter feed and white supremacists take to the streets. Life for immigrants in the US, documented or not, is terrifying right now and Tegan McLeod’s “deportational road trip”, certainly proves this. Though immigration control and the human face it takes on here is horrifying, McLeod’s script never quite settles on the narrative she wants to tell.
By Gregory Forrest
Three unique family gatherings across three decades are marked by three ruined meals. The undercooked rice, untouched takeaway, and burnt lasagne are like a middle finger to the idea of the ‘hearth’, in this epic family drama that struggles to lift off the ground.
by Laura Kressly
In an unassuming takeaway pizza place somewhere in London, four men answer the phones and process orders. They also reminisce about the journeys that led them there. From Afghanistan, Albania and Eritrea, they made their ways through war zones, deserts and detainment centres on their own, as children. Now they’re adults with hopes and dreams like anyone, but they are irrevocably shaped by their experienced as children seeking safety in a country that’s doing its best to deter them, and others like them, from living safe and peaceful lives. It’s time for us to listen to what they have to say.
The Play's The Thing UK 