“Phillip Pullman” is a name to live up to, and this production does so. Beginning in the Christmas Eve bedroom of three children, as their parents conclude a party downstairs, the narrative takes us further and further into the strange, ethereal world of fairy tales. The children play dress up as they tell each stories…

  Gilded Butterflies is an intimate exercise in confessing everything but one’s sins. The main character, in a superb performance by Francesca McCrohon, is a hyperactive chatterbox confined to a solitary cell on death row, willing to spill out her thoughts to the new resident of the neighbouring cell, or indeed to no-one at all.…

Higher, faster, stronger.  When we look to understand the limits of human physicality, we look to athletes, and sportsfolk. Few, though, could manage the sustained, precise athleticism of the lead performers in this twin show. The Crossroads Inn contains one of the most famous scenes in the genre of Peking Opera. It begins with a…

It can be hard, sometimes, to take the distant past seriously, and the stylised flamboyance of the Peking Opera might seem an odd place to try, but the message here is powerful and well worth listening to. At the climax of The Emperor and the Concubine the main character makes a choice that is, simultaneously,…

This song-cycle shows us the downs and ups of being young and on the look out for love in London, but has little new to say. Drawn from eight albums-worth of songs by Scott Alan, this production delivers strong performances from a superb cast. Unfortunately this is not enough to anchor an otherwise meandering production…

“Small details, carefully recorded” is the instruction a beloved tutor gives to the young Charles Darwin early in this play, and just as Darwin eventually produces something transcendent from this method, so too does The Wider Earth. The play tells the story of Darwin’s five year voyage on the HMS Beagle, the voyage on which…