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.
Doctor Faustus, Shakespeare’s Globe
reviewed for The Spectator, 28 June 2011 The text that codified the old legend of the learned man who sells his soul to the devil, Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is one of the most influential plays in English history. It’s also one of the worst, from the point of view of the director. Scenes of...
Read MoreLuise Miller, Donmar Warehouse
reviewed for The Spectator, 20 June 2011 Something is rotten in the state of Württemberg. Well, not quite Württemberg, because the young Frederich Schiller didn’t quite dare to express directly his criticisms of his first patron, Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg. Instead, he set this searing attack on...
Read MoreThe Magician’s Daughter, Little Angel Theatre
reviewed for The Spectator, 15 January 2011 Theatre, like all the best addictions, is a habit for life. The sad facts of class and social immobility mean that that you’re far more likely to become a regular theatregoer as an adult if you were taken to the theatre often as a child, but it’s not...
Read MoreTwo Ados
Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s Globe; Much Ado About Nothing, Wyndham’s Theatre reviewed for The Spectator, 2 June 2011 Like most Shakespeare comedies, Much Ado About Nothing is often performed as a garden party fantasy of Merrie England – so it’s a treat to see two major...
Read MoreThe School for Scandal, Barbican Centre
reviewed for The Spectator, 27 May 2011 Deborah Warner’s latest production tries so hard to be outrageous, one almost wants to fake shock out of pity. When The School for Scandal first opened in 1777, it was lauded for its witty dissection of a shallow society obsessed with rumour and status, what...
Read MoreThe Kissing Dance / Bed & Sofa
The Kissing Dance, Jermyn Street Theatre; Bed & Sofa, Finborough Theatre, reviewed for The Spectator, 27 April 2011 There’s something awkward about the phrase “British musical”. It’s hard to think of the British musical as independent from the Broadway musical, which has dwarfed it for a hundred...
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