Theatre
I currently write two regular monthly columns on theatre: one for Prospect Magazine as their theatre critic, and one for The Stage, drawing in part on my experience as Chair of the Drama Section of the UK Critics’ Circle.
Prior to the pandemic, I was the New York Review of Books‘ resident London theatre critic, and I had previously spent several years as the junior theatre critic at The Times, reviewing for that paper two or three times a week. I have also contributed theatre reviews to The Spectator, The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal. As a theatre programme obsessive, I regularly contribute programme notes to theatre and opera venues, and welcome inquiries about potential work in this area.
As Critics’ Circle Chair, I organise our prestigious annual Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards, the only awards made in British theatre purely on the basis of professional theatre critics’ votes, and without any input from vested interests within the industry. We successfully relaunched in April 2022 after the Covid-19 pandemic with a ceremony at London’s Ham Yard Hotel. I also maintain an active interest in arts philanthropy. I can date the moment I fell in love with theatre to a Joanna Laurens production at the Gate Theatre, W11. Consequently, I founded a Young Supporters’ Network at the Gate and have sat on their Development Working Group, which means that this is the only venue at which I now exclude myself from reviewing.
Cyrano de Bergerac at Southwark Playhouse
reviewed for The Times, 23rd February 2016 Gender swapping is in fashion. Sometimes, a woman dressed as a man can teach us more than we realised about gender as performance or masculinity as bravado. Sometimes, as with Kathryn Hunter’s sinuous, tensile performance as Cyrano de Bergerac, it can give an...
Read MoreDoctor Faustus at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
reviewed for The Times, 17th February 2016 Sandy Grierson’s Faustus is the early-career academic’s everyman, though perhaps he’s been to the gym more often. Like most post-docs, he can’t remember why on earth he chose his interminable research project, and racks his files for more stimulating...
Read MoreThe Winter’s Tale, at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, SE1
reviewed for The Times, 8th February 2016 I’ve always loved The Winter’s Tale, but not everyone does. The rift in tone from tragic closet drama to rambunctious low comedy is tricky to pull off at the best of times. The Globe’s latest production, however, taps Shakespeare’s play for its darkest...
Read MoreCirque du Soleil: Amaluna at the Royal Albert Hall
reviewed for The Times, 20th January 2016 Female Prosperos are in fashion. Cirque du Soleil doesn’t quite offer us Helen Mirren, but the latest extravaganza at the Royal Albert Hall constructs a narrative loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest to anchor its usual blend of omni-tumbling acrobats,...
Read MoreThe Witches at Curve, Leicester
reviewed for The Times, 4 January 2015 It’s one of Britain’s favourite children’s books, but when I get an invitation to an adaptation of The Witches my nose wrinkles. And not, like the Grand High Witch, because proximity to children makes this singleton think I’m sniffing dog droppings. Roald...
Read MoreThere’s nothing confusing about a black actress playing Hermione Granger
written for The Spectator, 21st December 2015 A news producer rang up this morning, asking me to talk about ‘colour-blind casting’. Noma Dumezweni has just been cast as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the stage sequel to JK Rowling’s novels. So there I was, listening to a hack ask...
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