Reading Time: < 1 minuteA comedy play about AI taking over the music industry was my first pick when booking in reviews. The concept is fully in the zeitgeist as becoming more and more fraught. The show centres on Dave, a House Band Musician/Receptionist whose only ambition (he doesn’t have dreams) is to become…. A full time receptionist. On the way he ends up swallowing a music algorithm intent to take over the world.
Reading Time: 2 minutesEden Sher's I was on a Sitcom is a show well worth watching, even if you have never seen the sitcom the marketing is based on.
Reading Time: 2 minutesAlice Bunker-Whitney (writer) and Francesca Goodridge (director) combine tropes from well-known police dramas with suspense, a touch of insanity, and witty humor to create a killer show (pun intended). Mandy (Lindzi Germain) and Shanon (Hayley Sheen) have just murdered their boss at work. Without spoiling the plot of the show, the duo must navigate how to cover up their actions. However, they face obstacles such as a badge guy, a builder, a customer in desperate need of a skinny latte, and an aubergine seller who impede their efforts to cover up the bloodshed.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe opener is a spectacular bit of sketch work - starting in the hyper natural and taking you to the edge of absurdity and tension. Similar to the closer which genuinely left me weeping... no spoilers. The show is Woven together with sketches both absurd and challenging - with a horny hen repeating sketch which I could watch for days. It is however here where some of the pull back and reveal punchlines sometimes seem redundant - the sketches themselves being funny enough to not require the add on.
Reading Time: 2 minutesUnion is a black comedy from Max Wilkinson who returns to the Arcola Theatre following great success with his play RAINER. In Union, we follow Saskia on a run through various neighbourhoods and suburbs of London. She encounters friends and strangers, friendly and unfriendly, sharing life stories, talking about current issues and defending her company’s plans to redevelop parts of the city.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThere are a handful of jukebox musicals that can make you deeply reflect upon your life, and In Dreams is one of them. After leaving the auditorium, I found myself contemplating my existence, loved ones, and relationships with the deceased. While I am not a huge fan of Roy Orbison's music (which might betray my age), I thought the craftsmanship of David West Read (Schitt’s Creek, & Juliet) in creating both funny and heart-warming situations, along with the direction by Luke Sheppard (& Juliet, In The Heights), and the talent of the cast, produced an amazing piece of theatre.
Reading Time: 2 minutesFaulty Towers the Dining Experience offers an uproarious homage to the timeless 70s sitcom, Fawlty Towers, while transforming the restaurant ambiance into an immersive stage. Presented by Interactive Theatre International, this dinner-show delivers an unforgettable evening of laughter, driven by impeccable character portrayals, brilliant improvisation, and a wave of nostalgic hilarity that leaves guests thoroughly entertained.
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe do not follow a protagonist from start to finish of an adventure, nor a courtroom trial that tos-and-fros before reaching a verdict, nor any other more common structure you may see at other West End theatres. In The Jungle we follow a group of men, each from different walks of life with different outlooks but who all share the same two things; they all go to their local, and at their local they are all in the same choir – the Choir of Man.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThey, written by Kay Dick and adapted and co-created by Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom, and Imogen Knight, is an intriguing collection of 9 vignettes set in both the past and the future. In this world, where "no singles were speared" and "there's always danger in livings," artists and free-spirited individuals face constant danger. Violent vigilantes roam about, destroying anything that is aesthetically pleasing, cultivates sensibilities, or is poetry. They blind, mutilate, and even kill artists.
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn a mesmerising triumph of storytelling, All of It at the Royal Court captivates audiences with its fearless exploration of the human experience. Alistair McDowall's poetic triptych, directed by Vicky Featherstone and Sam Pritchard, weaves together themes as vast as love, family, mortality, and memory in a production that is both intimate and theatrical.