Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre ★★★★ Sadler's Wells Theatre | September 5 - 16, 2023


It is difficult to believe that Alvin Ailey's extraordinary company is celebrating its 65th anniversary. This year, with a combination of new work and old favourites, it brings four different shows to London: Contemporary Voices, Modern Masters, Ailey Classics and 21st Century Creations. The first three programmes include Alvin Ailey's unforgettable choreography of "Revelations." Almost inevitably for us, this was the highlight of the Contemporary Voices program. Ailey's ability to capture the longing and exuberance of such spirituals as "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel," "Sinner Man," and "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham" remains both enthralling and inspirational. It's an almost impossible act to follow, and for all three programmes, in which has been included, it has wisely been selected as the concluding piece. For us, the opening , Kyle Abraham's "Are You in Your Feelings," has some engaging and extraordinary moments, but the disconnection present in the relationships becomes emblematic of the work itself. The fact that the dancers performed parallel movements with only partial synchronisation might have been intentional, asserting the individual as separate from the group, but it also became distracting. The second act which showcased Robert Battle's choreography, "For Four" is full of pop and humour, and we loved the energy and sophistication of that piece. However, Battle's second offering, "Unfold," didn't seem to work as well. While the movement at times beautifully underscored the music of "Depuis Le Jour" from Charpentier's Louise, at other moments it seemed to undermine this naïve paean to the idealised joys of love. Nevertheless, whichever program one chooses to see, the quality and originality of Alvin Ailey's troupe is bound to shine through. There's no doubt that this is a company that will be entertaining and delighting audiences for at least another 65 years!

Rated: ★★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Paul Kolnik

Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: Rosebery Ave, London EC1R 4TN, UK

Most Popular

A Month in the Country ★★★★★ Donmar Warehouse | Aug 22 - Oct 3, 2026

Image
Brian Friel’s version of Turgenev’s A Month in the Country is more sexually and psychologically explicit than the original, with the character of Natalya firmly at its centre. Her boredom, sense of entitlement and neediness become the driving forces of a drama in which desire, jealousy and emotional frustration steadily destabilise a superficially tranquil household. Friel makes the play leaner, livelier and considerably funnier than the original. Turgenev regarded his plays as works to be read rather than performed, and Friel cuts the wordiness while bringing the characters’ suppressed feelings sharply to the surface. However, he retains Turgenev’s rich imagery. The curtain rises on a card game in which the comic tutor Schaaf declares that hearts are trump, neatly prefiguring the romantic entanglements to come. Aleksey’s kite, a symbol of youthful freedom and carefree abandon, vividly suggests why Natalya is increasingly attracted to the young tutor. Indeed, his exuberance stands in ...
Full Details »

Jane Eyre A Musical ★★★ Southwark Playhouse, Elephant | Aug 28 - Oct 24, 2026

Image
Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel is about two flawed individuals whose pride and wayward spirits must be curbed before they can learn to rely on God’s love and on each other. At the story's heart is the need to learn Christian humility and to submit the self to a higher moral purpose. It is a sentiment unlikely to resonate with a contemporary secular audience, which may explain why the novel is more often remembered or presented as a tempestuous love story between two strong-willed characters. This latest musical version does grapple with Brontë’s religious themes, notably through its presentation of Helen Burns as Jane’s role model and the recurring emphasis on forgiveness in her signature song. The reconciliation between Jane and her childhood tormentor, Mrs Reed, similarly brings Brontë’s moral concerns to the fore, as do songs such as “My Maker” and “Children of God”. Yet these elements sit somewhat uneasily alongside the bodice-ripper of a romance that audiences are more likely t...
Full Details »

Kimberly Akimbo ★★★ Hampstead Theatre | Aug 28 - Nov 7, 2026

Image
Kimberly Levaco is a young American girl with a medical condition that causes her to age at four times the normal rate. Although still at high school, she appears to be in her sixties. Added to this, her home life is totally dysfunctional. Her father is an alcoholic, her mother is a narcissist, and her aunt, Debra, is a criminal fleeing after an assault which resulted in a man's death. With her condition, which might be described as the reverse of Benjamin Button’s, Kimberly appears to be the only sensible and morally grounded adult in this household of ne’er-do-wells. However, when Debra turns up on the family’s doorstep once again, she brings with her yet another get-rich-quick fraud scheme and threatens to disrupt the normality Kimberly is desperately trying to create. Aunt Debra presents her living-for-the-moment, everyone-out-for-themselves philosophy in the song “Better”. It is a siren call to take risks, break rules and act on impulse, no matter who gets hurt. Surprisingly, ...
Full Details »

A Slow Fire ★★★ Jermyn Street Theatre | Aug 20 - Sep 26, 2026

Image
In a post-apocalyptic world, Reece and Ashton have taken refuge in an industrial lock-up. They pass the time recalling and re-enacting scenes from their past lives, “moments of hope”, as they describe them. Their situation recalls Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon, except that here Godot actually arrives in the form of Presley, a mysterious figure who threatens to disrupt their isolated existence. At first, he joins in their ritual recollections, but eventually reveals darker intentions.  A Slow Fire is described as “part thriller, part excavation of the soul” and it delivers, to varying degrees, on both counts. Unfortunately, its thriller elements are undermined by a structural flaw. The first act takes too long to establish the premises, allowing the tension to dissipate, while the second act then accelerates abruptly as Presley attempts to seduce Reece into participating in his scheme. The result is not simply uneven pacing but an imbalance in the play’s dramatic architecture, wi...
Full Details »

Annie Wobbler (Revisited) ★★ Finborough Theatre | September 2 - 26, 2026

Image
A caveat that generally applies to fringe theatre is that when a show is written by, directed by and stars the same person, they have probably taken on too much. Arnold Wesker wrote Annie Wobbler for Nichola McAuliffe in 1981, but it is difficult to discern how much of the original remains in this updated version, and there is no credit given to whoever revised the work. The play consists of three vignettes: Anna, Annabelle and Annie. The brief opening section, Anna, concerns a young woman who, despite graduating from university with honours, is insecure about a date she is about to go on. The character is not developed beyond a rather simplistic stereotype before we move on to the longest section of the show. The novelist Annabelle initially appears as a scatty tippler, silly and self-absorbed as she responds to questions from an offstage interviewer. Later, for no apparent reason, she metamorphoses into an assertive, testy, exercise-obsessed woman who goes through her gym routine wh...
Full Details »

Golden Boy ★★★★ Almeida Theatre | Sep 8 - Oct 31, 2026

Image
Written in 1937, Golden Boy is probably Clifford Odets’ most famous work. The story of a young man torn between becoming a violinist or a boxer is a critique of the corrupting influence of the materialism that underpins the American Dream. The theme echoes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby , right down to the famous scene in which Gatsby contemplates his beautiful shirts. Young Joe Bonaparte is similarly seduced by a world that values appearances over substance when the gangster Eddie Fuseli showers him with silk shirts and other trappings of success. In forsaking his calling as a musician for the fame and money of boxing, Joe ultimately sacrifices not only his family ties but also his sense of self. The performances are uniformly strong. Josh O’Connor gives Joe an intense, increasingly volatile presence, convincingly charting his transformation from a gifted young musician into a man consumed by ambition and violence. Hayley Squires is equally compelling as the hard-nosed Lorna ...
Full Details »

Who Killed Marilyn? ★ Emerald Theatre | Aug 15 - Oct 29, 2026

Image
Who Killed Marilyn? by Sharleen Cooper Cohen promises a fresh look at the circumstances surrounding Marilyn Monroe’s death. It also claims to tackle the perhaps more intriguing question: who was Marilyn? Instead, it serves up a standard stew of conspiracy theories, from the Kennedys and the Mafia to the murky machinations of the American establishment, along with some familiar pop psychology. Like many biographical dramas, it falls into the trap of telling rather than showing, awkwardly introducing events and characters in a way that feels forced rather than organic. Here the narrator is the dead Marilyn herself, played by Pixie Lott, who purports to reveal the woman behind the myth. Unfortunately, there is little revelation. Lott captures Monroe’s familiar voice, mannerisms and cinematic gestures, but the performance rarely escapes the caricature. It might have been far more intriguing to have this posthumous Marilyn deliberately distinguish herself from the screen persona she create...
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 »

The Story ★★★ National Theatre | Aug 27 - Oct 24, 2026

Image
When a young white American couple become lost in a black neighbourhood while searching for a restaurant, they are attacked by a stranger. However, what initially appears to be a fairly straightforward crime drama takes on another dimension when the assault is investigated by an ambitious young black female reporter who is increasingly at odds with her colleagues. From questions about black identity and assimilation into white society to the role and responsibilities of a free press, The Story tackles a wide range of issues, all woven into a crime plot with so many twists and turns that it can become difficult to follow. Add to this some complex characters whose backstories could each have provided sufficient material for a play in its own right, and two hours on stage simply does not provide enough time for author Tracey Scott Wilson to develop all the plot strands, themes and characters she wants to explore. Nor does Director Clint Dyer's staging make it any easier for the audie...
Full Details »

Electra/Persona ★★★ National Theatre | Aug 19 - Oct 10, 2026

Image
Benedict Andrews’ new work is a reimagining of Ingmar Bergman’s classic 1966 film. The actress Elisabeth Vogler suddenly stops speaking while in the midst of playing Sophocles’ Electra . While there are various interpretations of Bergman’s film and Vogler’s silence, one of the most compelling is that Electra forces Vogler to confront two truths: the complexity of the divided self, with Electra and Clytemnestra becoming mirror images of each other in their need for vengeance; and the performative nature of all social interactions, including motherhood. Vogler’s withdrawal into silence begins a process which forces her to come to terms with both issues, while her nurse Alma becomes a projection of the parts of herself she has suppressed. As a further reflection of the themes of the divided self and the performative nature of human relationships, Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss alternate roles. On the night we attended, Blanchett played Electra/Vogler while Hoss was Clytemnestra/Alma. Togeth...
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings