End is the third play in David Eldridge's trilogy about couples at different stages of their relationships. In this final instalment, Alfie (Clive Owens) and Julie (Saskia Reeves) confront Alfie’s imminent death from cancer. Their exchanges are at once humorous and deeply affecting as they revisit memories, moments of happiness, regrets, and past conflicts. Plans for the funeral become conversations about dying and tentative imaginings of what might lie ahead. Each of the three plays is set in the morning, a liminal period between night and day that suggests transition and vulnerability. However, in this instance, the strictly limited timeframe feels somewhat contrived. Too much is compressed into a span that in reality would unfold over several days. Dividing the play into a series of distinct scenes with overlapping discussions might have made for greater verisimilitude and prevented some of the abrupt changes in tone and subject matter. Within ninety minutes all five of Kübler...

“Life isn’t a game. It’s a ride.” This zany Canadian musical takes that mantra and blasts it into orbit. The setup is simple: six teens from the Saint Cassian Chamber Choir of Uranium City, Saskatchewan die in a roller-coaster accident. After that, the weirdness ramps up fast. The afterlife is presided over by a robot named The Amazing Karnak, a mechanical oracle who foresaw their deaths and calmly predicts his own. He informs the teens that one of them can return to life, but only if the vote is unanimous. What follows is a series of musical pleas as each teen lays out not just the life they lived, but the one they fantasised about. Their stories spill out in songs that swing between comedy and heartbreak. We meet the town overachiever, the macho Ukrainian immigrant, the closeted Taco Bell employee, the eager-to-please nice girl and even a teen whose identity is a complete mystery. This show is a gem. It sparkles with self-deprecating wit, meta jokes and killer performances. Baylie Ca...

Ani is a successful academic who lectures on Milton and has recently won an award for her latest book. She is in a relationship with a sensitive, gentle man, and on the surface, she seems to have it all. Yet beneath her success, Ani harbours a preoccupation with violent pornography which threatens to undermine both her personal and professional life. Sophia Chetin-Leuner’s drama explores two intertwined themes: the transgressive nature of sexual fantasies which gain their erotic power from being taboo and the fact that obsessive behaviour often stems from unresolved trauma. Ani’s addiction to porn and her excessive masturbation initially serve to numb her grief over her mother’s death. However over time, they begin to erode both her relationships and career. These themes are then developed through literary concepts, primarily drawn from Milton. The play opens with a reference to the Narcissus myth, which is later illuminated in Ani’s lecture on Paradise Lost , where she examines Milton...

In a medium-secure hospital, Naomi introduces a Caribbean cooking class as part of a therapeutic rehabilitation programme. She arrives with an almost naive optimism and goodwill, ready to face the various challenges presented by her three pupils. Ty is verbose, hyperactive, and craving attention. The newcomer, Daniel, is withdrawn and cautious, while the veteran, Leroy, remains stoic and quietly resigned to institutional life. Cooking together tests their social skills and gradually creates bonds none of them expected. Although set in an institution for people who struggle to cope with the outside world, Sophia Griffin’s After Sunday becomes a broader metaphor for human existence in general. The narrative moves through triumph and disappointment, loss and laughter, anger and camaraderie, estrangement and reconciliation. Even when bureaucracy cancels the cooking class, a sense of hope lingers. Change and growth may come slowly, often in small increments, but they do come. After Sunday ...

Coven seeks to transform the seventeenth-century obsession with witches into a musical in the spirit of Six . The historical horror becomes an anachronistic retelling inspired by the Pendle Witch Trials and by the idea that Jenet Device, a child witness in the 1612 trials, later became a victim of the dark arts hysteria in 1633. In the first act, Jenet is imprisoned with several women accused of witchcraft although their 'crimes' really consist of practicing natural healing, assisting in childbirth, or offending powerful men. All are victims of a repressive patriarchy, an authoritarian church, and a deeply corrupt legal system. However, the portrayal of these women and their stories feels heavy-handed, and by the end of Act I the central narrative and main character remain uncertain. Only in the second act, through a flashback that explores Jenet’s psyche, do we learn her history and recognise her as the true protagonist. The scattered plot threads from the first act then begi...

When considering this stage adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley , it is difficult to avoid comparisons with the acclaimed 1999 film starring Matt Damon as Ripley and Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf, or with the understated 2024 television miniseries featuring Andrew Scott in the title role. Yet, even among such distinguished company, this theatrical version of Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller manages to hold its own. It does not seek to create the lush atmosphere of the film, nor does it achieve the moody subtlety of the series, but it effectively conveys the erotic and moral tension of the novel. Although the opening felt somewhat awkward, Ed McVey gradually grew into the role of the ingratiating and immoral Ripley, and from his first appearance, Bruce Herbelin-Earle was entirely convincing as the capricious and flirtatious Dickie. Maisie Smith gives a strong performance as the alternately suspicious and gullible Marge and the rest of the cast demonstrates an impressive versa...

Nancy Farino’s debut play Fatherland tells the story of Joy, a young woman persuaded by her impulsive father, who curiously shares the name of George Orwell's protagonist in 1984 , to join him on a quixotic journey of discovery. However, it is a trip that in many ways is also a retreat for both of them from their current reality. Heartwarming and humorous, the play explores a parent and child relationship in which the parent has never truly grown up. Winston is a perennial optimist with a string of failed relationships who has recently reinvented himself as a self-styled life coach and who now finds himself in trouble. Coincidentally, daughter Joy is facing the collapse of both her relationship and her career when Winston convinces her to join him aboard a refurbished school bus and to trace their family roots in Ireland. Their odyssey is filled with humour and affection, offering sharp insights as Joy learns to understand and accept the engaging, irrepressible, and often irrespo...

This exhibition is the first comprehensive showcase devoted to Joseph Wright’s celebrated candlelit works, featuring pieces from 1765 to 1773. Wright of Derby emerges as a master of contrast, using the interplay of shadow and illumination to craft scenes that are both dramatic and thought-provoking. Evoking the intensity of earlier masters such as Caravaggio and drawing on the tradition of tenebrism, Wright’s manipulation of light and shadow imbues each scene with tension and theatricality. Figures gather around an array of objects, from classical sculptures and scientific tools to animal specimens and anatomical curiosities. Through these attentive observers, Wright examines the act of seeing itself, inviting viewers to reflect on curiosity, morality, and human perception. Beyond his technical brilliance in rendering light, he uses nocturnal settings to probe deeper, darker themes, including mortality, melancholy, and the sublime. His work resonates with an underlying sense of questio...

Performed by the exquisite Nederlands Dans Theatre, this brilliant production explores monumental existential questions. Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney have crafted an interconnected trilogy of meditations on existence and extinction. The first sequence confronts the loss of species and natural phenomena as our planet transforms under the pressure of climate change. The depiction of vanished life forms and global shifts is mesmerising. A monologue from a climate change denier, interpreted through a wonderfully loose and expressive performance to spoken word, adds both irony and poignancy. The second sequence reflects on humanity as a species defined by its intellect and suggests what might lead us toward our own extinction. Abstract ideas are translated into movement with remarkable clarity and emotional power, creating an experience that is deeply affecting. Figures in Extinction fearlessly engages with immense themes. As Crystal Pite notes in the programme, “We began with the desir...

This production of Othello marks David Harewood’s return to a role he first played at the National Theatre in 1997. His performance is commanding and engaging as he portrays a man undone both by his devious subordinate and by his own surrender to the “green-eyed monster.” Harewood dominates the stage whenever he appears, offering a richly nuanced interpretation that makes Shakespeare’s tragic hero both terrifying and sympathetic. His remarkable performance is only matched by Toby Jones’ compelling portrayal of Iago, the master of malice. Jones is delightful as he sneers and snarls while manipulating the trusting Othello, and the scenes between the two men are the highlights of the production. Both actors deliver Shakespeare’s lines with clarity and natural ease, making the language feel immediate and comprehensible. It is a refreshing change from the overly formal intonation often heard in classical productions. Unfortunately, Caitlin Fitzgerald’s Desdemona is less effective. At times...