Why Game of Thrones is bad news for British theatre

Published in The Telegraph on June 2, 2016

Game of Thrones must be a dream for the theatrical casting agent. It’s full of good-looking, young British actors whose involvement in the wildly successful TV show guarantees feverish interest from fans and frothing media coverage, whatever they do next. Even if it’s Elizabethan drama. Continue reading “Why Game of Thrones is bad news for British theatre”

Review: Doctor Faustus, Duke of York’s

Published in What's on Stage on April 27, 2016

Take a classic Elizabethan play about a man who sells his soul to the devil, give it a modern-day twist as a satire on celebrity, and cast a pretty actor who shot to global fame in Game of Thrones. Seems like another smart idea by director Jamie Lloyd, who has form when it comes to hip stagings of classics with canny casting. Continue reading “Review: Doctor Faustus, Duke of York’s”

Nudity on stage: the naked truth

Published in BBC Culture on February 23, 2016

There’s nothing like the promise of naked flesh to shift tickets. So twigged Mrs Laura Henderson, owner of an ailing West End theatre in the 1930s – and she also got around the stage censor by promising that her cast of nude young ladies wouldn’t move a muscle. Continue reading “Nudity on stage: the naked truth”

Review: The End of Longing, Playhouse Theatre

Published in The Independent on February 12, 2016

When you hear that Matthew Perry – Chandler in Friends – is starring in his own playwriting debut in the West End, the words “ego trip” float before the eyes as inevitably as pound signs no doubt floated before the producer’s. Continue reading “Review: The End of Longing, Playhouse Theatre”

Review: The Audience, Apollo Theatre

Published in The Independent on May 5, 2015

We’re on the brink of discovering who our next prime minister will be, a royal princess has just been born… it seems the perfect time to revive Peter Morgan’s hit play, staging the private audiences between Queen Elizabeth II and her various prime ministers. Continue reading “Review: The Audience, Apollo Theatre”