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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…
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‘You’d need to pay me to drink here’ London’s Theatre bars and pubs
Why are theatre bars such grim places to have a drink? I was inspired to write this blog by my friend Alison, who voiced her contempt for Soho Theatre’s cramped, loud and very expensive bar. In theory Soho is full of other bars you can go to but they suffer from the same problems that…
View from the Cheap Seat 