The cast, distractingly poorly costumed and in a cheap set, are noticeably youthful from the off. Ibsen’s play, The Lady from the Sea, is a ponderous one, and I feel that its dramatic success relies upon a pervasive atmosphere of mystery. In it, Ellida, the second wife of Dr Wangel and stepmother to his two [...]

Tara Theatre’s Dick Whittington Goes Bollywood, written by Harvey Virdi (lyrics by Farrukh Dhondy) and directed by Jatinder Verma, is overtly adult-focused from the off. Although the sexual nudge-nudge, wink-wink innuendos are still there in all their unsubtle and unsophisticated glory, most of the humour is created from topical (and mainly political) references. Dave and [...]

King Lear can seem like a one man show, everything instigated by the mistakes of the self-deposed monarch and the play’s success entirely hinging on the lead’s act. Not so with this production: although Jonathan Pryce is a compelling Lear, shifting between benevolence, irrational tyranny, joviality, madness, and desolation with all the sensitivity and skill [...]

With its bizarre language, penchant for violence, and portrayal of an insular and dangerous youthful society, Enda Walsh’s play Disco Pigs is of the same ilk as Anthony Burgess’s infamous A Clockwork Orange. Currently showing at the lovely Tristan Bates Theatre, Blue Crate Theatre – a new company made up of recent Bristol Old Vic [...]