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Christine Lahti talks London transfer of ‘The Smile of Her’: “I’m hoping people take a lot of inspiration for a more equitable future”
Following its original New York run, the Academy Award-, Emmy-, and Golden Globe winner debuts on the London stage with this intimate biographical show that reflects on her personal journey and her family through the lens of social justice. Guillermo Nazara chats with the actress to learn more about the piece’s development and what makes…
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Review of ‘HOLE!’: “Weak arse-nal turns promising comedy into a bummer”
It’s exactly what you’re thinking about. Why you were thinking about it is between you and your therapist, however. But yes — this is a show about orifices. The kind we all have. The kind we all use. And the kind some of us have learned to use in a different yet pleasurable manner. Not…
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Review of ‘Tender’:”Scarring romance leaves no mark on its audience”
Don’t trust the title — for better and for worse. There’s nothing smooth about two wounded characters falling for each other, only for their story (spoiler alert) to break into pieces at the end. And it’s not like the script makes it too easy to masticate it either. There’s nothing inherently wrong about Eleanor Tindall’s…
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Review of ‘The Smile of Her’: “Scant narrative is off the beam”
This is a true story. It is her story. Our theirs. Maybe everyone’s, too. To be fair, Christine Lahti seems to have trouble deciding who the real protagonist is in her autobiographical play. The term itself should clear the air. But it doesn’t. Perhaps ego may have got in the way of a potentially poignant…
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Review of ‘Hit Machine’: “Josh Radnor and Noah Galvin score in music-themed family drama”
Every story has been told. This one is no exception. And it makes little effort to be.
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Writer James Fritz talks new play ‘Mankind Forever’: “The minds of the young have always been hot property”
With a successful portfolio including several well-known titles such as The Flea and the Olivier Award-nominated Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, the National Youth Theatre alumn returns to his roots this year with a new play featured as part of the company’s renowned StoryFest. Guillermo Nazara chats with the author to learn more about the piece’s…
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Review of ‘Blue Mist’: “Enticing premise ends up going up in smoke”
I keep thinking that the most interesting aspects about this play are the ones that never made it. I’m not getting metaphysical. It’s a plain observation. There’s so much that this piece offers. But there’s even more that could have been brought into it. A lot more. The germ for an absorbing drama remains latent…
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Playwright Eleanor Tindall talks London return of ‘Tender’: “Repressing queerness is only getting worse with the increased hostility towards LGBTQIA+ people”
Following a critically acclaimed inaugural run in 2024, the play transfers to the Bush Theatre’s main house in an upgraded production also featuring new material and cast members. Guillermo Nazara chats with the show’s creator to learn more about her and the piece’s journey over the years, and its depiction of queer relationships in a…
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Review of ‘Relics’: “Family-matters play is rather urkel”
Money brings out the worst in people. And sometimes, the worst in art, too. That is, if anyone is able to find it in Ben Ockrent’s latest attempt at dark comedy, whose thought-provoking premise fails to translate into compelling storytelling, and whose soap-operatic style confuses grip and variety with campiness and an overloaded plot. Four…
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Review of ‘Camdenwalla’: “Good-hearted script makes the wrong calls”
All I can say is that they tried. And that their intentions were obviously good. But life can’t be built only on intentions. And neither can art. Or the attempts at it. There is something quite laudable about CAMDENWALLA, a play that honours the work and legacy of London’s first call centre help group for…
