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Into the Numbers, Finborough Theatre
Elizabeth Chan’s performance as Iris Chang is a convincing portrayal of mental illness but the lack of background to her story doesn’t give the gravitas this production deserves. Iris Chang (Chan) is a journalist, wife and mother whose career becomes dominated by her 1997 book The Rape of Nanking, a study into one of the…
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Everything Between Us, Finborough Theatre
When a playwright has seemingly overnight success with one of their more recent works it seems natural to go back to a previously acclaimed work but when that work feels underdeveloped and lacking in depth it is a risky decision. David Ireland’s Cyprus Avenue was a stunning look at Northern Irish Protestant identity in 21st century as…
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Caste, Finborough Theatre
This 150th-anniversary production of T.W. Robertson’s Caste is unsure whether it wants to be a Victorian farce or a more naturalistic drama. The story still feels relevant today, can two people from different classes make a marriage work despite the judgement and attitude of others just because they love each other but with the odd…
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Incident at Vichy, Finborough Theatre
Arthur Miller’s ‘forgotten’ play is timely revived by Phil Willmott. Set in a detention room in 1942 Miller’s 1964 play is the story of hope, rumour and sheer disbelief that anyone can be a victim because of their race. Willmott’s decision to stage the production in an all white room seems ludricous at first but…
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English premiere of David Ireland’s Everything Between Us at Finborough Theatre
Following his Royal Court/Abbey Theatre production Cyprus Avenue, starring Stephen Rea, David Ireland’s new production Everything Between Us has its English premiere at the Finborough Theatre “I bit into your heart and I chewed on it slowly like a connoisseur. I swallowed it. I remember thinking it was an especially small heart and easy to…
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Veterans Day, Finborough Theatre
Veteran’s Day is appropriately timed revival that shows not much has changed when dealing with members of the armed services post-conflict. About a decade after everyone else, I started playing Rockstar Games’ LA Noire (if you ever wondered what a theatre critic does when she isn’t criticising), which is set in Post WWII LA. Much…
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The Trackers of Oxyrhyncus, Finborough Theatre
The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus, Tony Harrison’s 1998 will either divide or conquer its audience with its intense performances and its rhyming couplets. I failed to really research this production prior to seeing it. I waltzed in with my double G&T expecting an Edwardian drama about two Oxford dons in the Egyptian Desert I was soon…
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Veterans Day at the Finborough Theatre
The first UK production in over 25 years In a production commissioned for the Finborough Theatre, the first UK production in over 25 years of Veterans Day by multi-award-winning American playwright Donald Freed plays for nine Sunday and Monday evenings and Tuesday matinees from Sunday, 8 January 2017 Three American war veterans meet at a…