Review: Frontman, Chelsea Theatre

Written for Culture Wars In the past, Action Hero have miniaturised the big screen Western and the stadium daredevil. On one level, Frontman...

Review: The Malcontent, White Bear Theatre

Written for Time Out Written in 1603, as Shakespeare worked on Measure for Measure , The Malcontent sees a leader smuggle himself into the ...

Review: The Kitchen Sink, Bush Theatre

Like a Mike Leigh play with laughter lines where furrowed brows should be, The Kitchen Sink marks Tom Wells out as an extraordinary young w...

Review: Matilda the Musical, Cambridge Theatre

Written for Culture Wars Matilda ’s got its own Spiderman in the first five minutes: a spoilt brat in crude, homemade fancy dress. The RSC’s...

Review: The Riots, Tricycle Theatre

Written for Culture Wars London was still burning when Nicolas Kent proposed that writer Gillian Slovo assemble a verbatim piece on the subj...

Review: Reasons to be Pretty, Almeida Theatre

Written for Culture Wars Reasons to be Pretty offers none. Early on, in fact, it looks like an errant ‘r’ has snuck into its title. Reasons...

Review: TaniwhaThames, Oval House Theatre

Written for Culture Wars There is a sirensong quality to this watery devised piece from Shaky Isles Theatre – a London-based company with st...

Review: Salt, Root and Roe, Trafalgar Studios

Written for Culture Wars Eroded by dementia, Iola’s mind has lost its sharpness in the same way as the pebbles she collects from the beaches...

Review: Yerma, Gate Theatre

Written for Culture Wars Anthony Weigh has distilled Federico García Lorca’s ‘tragic poem’ into a litany of the life-cycle. It hammers away,...

Review: Next Time I'll Sing to You, Orange Tree Theatre

Written for Time Out If a hermit falls over, does he make a noise?' That's more or less the question asked by James Saunders's 1...

Review: Festen, Barbican Centre

Written for Culture Wars The tipple of choice at Helge Klingenfeldt-Hansen’s 60th birthday party is a glass of bitters. Appropriate indeed f...

Review: Hamlet, Young Vic

It’s the mental state of Denmark we should be worried about in Ian Rickson’s concept-heavy Hamlet , which places Michael Sheen’s long-awaite...

Review: Roadkill, Barbican Centre/Theatre Royal Stratford East

Written for Culture Wars Roadkill sears itself onto your conscience. It is a desperate and anguished scream that refuses to recede quietly,...

Review: Fanta Orange, Finborough Theatre

Written for Culture Wars Another day, another ethically complex play about our relationship with African nations. Perhaps even more than The...

Review: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Southwark Playhouse

Written for Time Out This fragile two-hander - as delicate and devastating as anything on the London stage right now - glistens with hope. T...

Review: The Swallowing Dark, Theatre503

Written for Whatsonstage Lizzie Nunnery’s taut and terse two-hander defies black and white thinking. Like the best drama, it presents an eth...

Review: Speechless, Arcola Theatre

Written for Time Out Something's not right when a programme is more enjoyable than the show it's supposed to supplement. It suggests...