Category Archives: 2015

2015 Round-up

2015 ROUND-UP

Another end-of-year; another round-up. And here’s mine, partial, prejudiced and highly subjective. For, after all, living in London as I do, and as ever for us London theatre critics/reviewers (what is the difference? Answers on a postcard please!), we’re spoilt for choice. Continue reading

Dr Seuss’s The Lorax

Old Vic Theatre, London (*****)

© Manuel Harlan

© Manuel Harlan

Some shows just hit the ground running and never falter. Four years ago, Max Webster brought a remarkable production of Helen Edmundson’s Anna Karenina to the Arcola with graduates from Birmingham’s School of Acting (see Reviewsgate review). Clearly, we said, he was a name to watch. Well, others evidently took note and here he is at the Old Vic with a list of impressive credits to his name. And now in this first ever stage adaptation of Dr Seuss’s The Lorax, he’s delivered a corker of a Christmas show, for all that its message is a dark one. Continue reading

Les Liaison Dangereuses

Donmar Warehouse Theatre, London (****)

© Johan Persson

© Johan Persson

This was the show that was due to mark Michelle Dockery (Downtown’s Lady Mary Crawley) return to the stage. But in October she pulled out and would no longer be playing Madame de Tourvel, the woman of high moral virtue overwhelmed by arch seducer, Le Vicomte de Valmont. Continue reading

The Dazzle

Found111, Charing Cross Road, London (****)

© Marc Brenner

© Marc Brenner

Anything these days involving Andrew Scott is bound to draw the crowds. Sherlock’s Moriarty on the BBC, Bond’s nemesis (one of them) in Spectre, ever since he first appeared in a clutch of fringe productions (my first viewing of him was around 2004 in the Royal Court’s A Girl in a Car with Man), he commands attention. There’s something dangerously unnerving about him, even in his vulnerable moments. Continue reading