Ravens: Spassky Vs. Fischer, Hampstead Theatre - ★★★★ - Until January 18, 2020


The game of chess has often been used as a metaphor for various aspects of the human condition, but in 1972 the whole world accepted a match between the Russian world champion, Boris Spassky, and American prodigy, Bobby Fischer, as a symbol of success in the Cold War. This was a period when the "bad boy" sports icon was being created with such personalities as John McEnroe and Muhammad Ali capturing the popular imagination. But, perhaps, the baddest boy of all was in the cerebral world of chess. Bobby Fischer set a new standard of eccentric and spoilt behaviour using it as a form of psychological warfare to undermine his opponent, and some would argue to change the game itself. Spassky is presented as a decent, non-political man who wanted to play by the old rules, what is referred to by one of his handlers as the bourgeois value of sportsmanship. He is the moral centre of the play and his world view is simply overwhelmed by Fischer's game changing behaviour. Robert Emms is mesmerising as the erratic, insecure American and he dominates the stage as Fischer does his opponent. Ronan Raftery is excellent and understated as the put-upon Spassky in this multi-layered play. Although it was rather long and the subject matter may seem dry to some, we were enthralled and couldn't help but think how this chess match's new pattern of psychological distraction, outside the rules of the game, has also become the modus operandi of current leadership in the political sphere. The metaphors continue.

 Reviewed by J.C.

  Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆ 

 Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

 WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until January 18, 2020
Mon - Sat: 7:30 pm, Tue: 2:30 pm & Sat: 3 pm
Hampstead Theatre
Nearest tube: Swiss Cottage
https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2019/ravens-spassky-vs-fischer/
Map & Location: Eton Ave, London NW3 3EU, UK

Most Popular

It Runs in the Family ★★★★ The Mill at Sonning | Feb 13 - Apr 12, 2025

Image
Ray Cooney's 1987 farce, It Runs in the Family , is still an audience pleaser. The absurd shenanigans of Dr David Mortimore as he tries to deliver an important lecture to his fellow neurologists, while simultaneously hiding from his wife the newly discovered 18-year-old son who is the result of a liaison with a former nurse at his hospital, still strikes the funny bone in 2025. Indeed, as things get more and more inane, the theatre echoes with laughter at the philanderer's plight and the ever more elaborate web of lies that he weaves. Human nature and its follies don't change or go out of fashion. The skewering of hypocrisy and the mad lengths to which dishonesty can go, are the staples of this comic genre, and Cooney manages to satisfyingly strike both notes in his light-hearted confection. For the cast and director, this kind of thing is all about timing, and Ron Aldridge gets the pacing just right while the actors nicely manage to walk the tightrope of always taking them...
Full Details »

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

Clueless - The Musical ★★★★ Trafalgar Theatre | Until September 27, 2025

Image
This latest American high school romcom opens with the irrepressible Cher Horowitz opining that "Everything is perfect," and while that might be an overstatement, Clueless - The Musical is certainly an excellent example of its genre. The show, which is based on a popular film, which was in turn a version of Jane Austen's Emma , is full of energy and has some very catchy songs from KT Tunstall. Emma Flynn as the obtuse, but well-meaning, Cher is a delight and Keelan McAuley as the serious-minded young altruist, Josh, displays some great vocals and considerable gymnastic ability. Both these principals manage to make their simple stock teenage characters appealing while invigorating the formulaic plot. While we have been down this path many times before, both Flynn and McAuley make the very familiarity of this journey thoroughly enjoyable. They are nicely supported in this endeavour by an enthusiastic cast who look like they are enjoying themselves and who manage to communi...
Full Details »

Edvard Munch Portraits ★★★★ National Portrait Gallery | Mar 13 - Jun 15, 2025

Image
Edvard Munch is emblazoned on the public imagination for one iconic picture, but as is demonstrated in this groundbreaking exhibition, there is so much more to this complex artist. In this first major show of Munch's portraits in the UK, his artistic development is traced through a series of extraordinary portraits. The show opens with a self-representation which introduces an outwardly confident, almost defiant, young man whose eyes are the only hint of the dark and troubled spirit within. The early death of his mother, his father's morose and reclusive nature and his sister's mental illness all formed the troubled artist we are familiar with, and this exhibition hits those notes in the first room which deals with family and Munch's involvement in the bohemian life of Kristiana (Oslo) in the 1880s. Indeed, Munch's obsession with death and dying is present in his painting of his brother Andreas Munch Studying Anatomy (1886) in which the skull is not only a study ai...
Full Details »

Men’s Business ★★ Finborough Theatre | Mar 18 - Apr 12, 2025

Image
The philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, once said that without government, life would be “nasty, brutish, and short.” The same might be said of this play, and the way the lives of its characters are presented. Charlie is a butcher who has "an affair" with Victor, a steel worker. Their abusive, sadomasochistic carry-on is no doubt symbolic (probably of the human condition) but in the end, it just becomes tedious. Neither of the characters develop, and their mean-spirited and violent interchanges are numbingly repetitive. Endless abuse and relentless couplings doesn't make for very interesting theatre, and this pair become almost cruel parodies of working class people. In fact, there is a point where one has the uncomfortable feeling that the playwrights are actually being quite condescending to these two pathetic individuals and their pathology, while the audience is being invited to become uncomfortable voyeurs at a very sad display of human dysfunction. Although a lot of time is...
Full Details »

Retrograde ★★★★★ Apollo Theatre | Mar 8 - Jun 14, 2025

Image
Almost single-handedly, Sidney Poitier changed the presentation of black people in film. His remarkable story is encapsulated into one afternoon by playwright Ryan Calais Cameron in what is a fascinating study of that murky place between standing with integrity and the necessity of compromise. In the 1950s, America was on a journey out of its racist past, but at the same time, it was in the throes of hysteria about the so-called threat of communism. To advance the former agenda, it seems that Poitier might have to buy into the latter, and to sacrifice both some of his principles and some of his friends. It is a moral dilemma that rings universally true, although it may not always be as starkly obvious as it is in this case. The play crackles with tension and the complexity of the ethical situation is presented in a wonderfully nuanced manner. Cameron nicely captures both the sense of time and place, while creating characters who don't fall into easy stereotypes. He also displays an...
Full Details »

Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo ★★★★ Royal Academy of Arts | Mar 21 - Jun 29, 2025

Image
If previously you've only thought of Victor Hugo as a writer, this exhibition demonstrates that there is a great deal more to the celebrated creator of Les Misérables . As well as being a highly successful author, and a politician of deep conviction, Hugo was also a talented and intriguing artist, and this opportunity to see some forty of his almost two thousand drawings is a not-to-be-missed occasion. Divided into four sections (Writing & Drawing, Observation & Imagination, Fantasy & Reality, Ocean) the exhibition shows that Hugo's originality and dramatic sense were not confined to his novels and poetry. With its cunning perspective and tantalising implications, a work such as The Town of Vianden Seen Through a Spider's Web (1871) recalls a tale by Edgar Allan Poe, while The Shade of the Manchineel Tree (Notes from a Trip to the Pyrenees and Spain) (1856) with its eerie skull, has an equally wonderful Gothic feel. The enigmatic Mushroom (1850) which almost ...
Full Details »

José María Velasco: A View of Mexico ★★★★ The National Gallery | Mar 29 - Aug 17, 2025

Image
This exhibition is a fine introduction to a 19th Century painter who is well-known in Mexico, but who has been under-appreciated outside of his native country. The academic style of José María Velasco fell out of favour in Europe with the growing influence of the Impressionists, and his reputation was also eclipsed by the great Mexican muralists who followed him. This current display of his work does justice to the subtlety and genius of this artist and is a wonderful invocation of his country at a turning point in its history. Velasco celebrates the natural world while he hints at the changes to be wrought by the oncoming industrial reality. We are moving from an agricultural society with humans living in harmony with nature to an industrial model and the subjugation of the natural world. Velasco lived in a world that was not only on the cusp of enormous social change however. It was one that was also facing a profound reassessment of its values. The artist himself was both a man of f...
Full Details »

Punch ★★★★★ Young Vic | Mar 1 - Apr 26, 2025

Image
Based on a true story, this powerful piece by James Graham which was originally commissioned by the Nottingham Playhouse has now arrived in London. Jacob is young, impulsive and an adrenaline junkie. He has dropped out of school and his one goal in life is the approval of his mates. Then, one fateful night, he hits a young man who dies as a result. His subsequent journey and his interactions with the young man's parents proves to be an extremely moving narrative and an insight into the concept of restorative justice. Indeed, the play becomes almost a plea for governmental investment in a programme which apparently can change the lives of many young offenders. However, unlike a lot of plays advocating for good causes, this one also succeeds in being good theatre. This is largely due the direction of Adam Penford who keeps things moving at a good pace and who draws some extraordinary performances from his cast. David Shields' portrayal of Jacob is absolutely riveting, and he is c...
Full Details »

Dear Martin ★★★ Arcola Theatre | March 5 - 29, 2025

Image
So what do you do when you discover that your wife has been exchanging love letters with a criminal psychopath who is incarcerated in a mental institution? When Dave, the cuckolded husband in this triangle, discovers this epistolary infidelity, he decides to write to Martin, the rival for wife's affections. Thus begins a very funny and very odd relationship between the two. Madeleine Brettingham's play squeezes a lot of chuckles from this curious bonding between the suave psychopath and the wimpish husband, but the situation is one which might also make us question some of the premises of this laughter. The humour is drawn from Dave, a rather sad, desperate individual seeking love and validation, who becomes the pawn of a person who lacks both morals and empathy. While the fact that these two are presented as caricatures may make the laughter seem more acceptable, the amusement provoked by Dave's misfortune and Martin's manipulation has a somewhat uneasy underpinning. T...
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings