Jodi and I review James Graham's hard-hitting play, Punch, at the Young Vic theatre, Cate Blanchett in The Seagull at the Barbican, and Playhouse Creatures at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond-upon-Thames.

Jodi and I review The Years at the Harold Pinter theatre in London. The show was first seen at the Almeida last Summer, and was chosen as a favourite of 2024 by many, so its transfer is a welcome opportunity for those who missed it to discover what all the fuss was about.

The Years is adapted and directed by Eline Arbo, from the book of the same name by the French Nobel prize winning author, Annie Ernaux. The result is a distinctive piece of theatre, which can be both joyous and funny, as well as disturbing. Forewarning - there is a scene that some have found too much to watch.

But should you go? Listen to what Jodi and I think!

The Years is on until 19th April.

This is a review of the RSC’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Barbican in London.

Jodi and I review the National Theatre's production of Oscar Wilde's classic, The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Max Webster, and starring Ncuti Gatwa, Hugh Skinner and Sharon D Clarke.

The show runs until the 25th of January 2025.

And don't miss my full length conversation with Max Webster about the play in episode 90 of The Play Podcast

I review some of the highlights of the shows that I've seen in London this Autumn.

Brief reviews include: Death of England, The Real Thing, Abigail's Party, A Raisin in the Sun, Corialanus, Juno and the Paycock, Oedipus, Fear of 13, The Forsyte Saga and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Jodi and I review Bluets at the Royal Court theatre in London.

 Bluets is a dramatisation of American writer Maggie Nelson's poetic memoir, adapted by playwright Margaret Perry, and directed by Katie Mitchell. The production boasts a starry cast including Ben Whishaw, Emma D’Arcy and Kayla Meikle.

Maggie Nelson’s book is a collection of 240 brief paragraphs, sometimes as short as a single sentence, which chronicle her obsession with the colour blue. Her choice of the colour blue chimes with the psychological exploration that she also undertakes in writing the book, because she records and assesses her response to her heartbreaking breakup with an unnamed lover. The fragments that make up the book include wide-ranging and fascinating references to the expression of the colour blue in art, music, and nature. It is a moving personal, philosophical and poetic monologue.

It is certainly a challenging piece to turn into stage drama. The result is a distinctive theatrical event.

Jodi and I review The Hills of California by Jez Butterworth, currently playing at the Harold Pinter theatre in London’s West End, directed by Sam Mendes.

Do not be misled by the title; we are not in sunny California, but in the back streets of Blackpool, where four daughters come together to say goodbye to their dying mother. The play is a portrait of lost dreams, of deeply ingrained patterns of love and hurt within a family, and of suppressed and mutable memories.

A new Jez Butterworth play is a theatrical event. Does it live up to our high expectations?

Jodi and I review An Enemy of the People, which is currently playing at the Duke of York’s theatre in London's West End. Matt Smith, who of course many will know from Dr Who, stars in Ibsen's fable of truth and lies, political compromise and the environmental costs of capitalism.

This production is very much a contemporary adaptation of Ibsen's original play. It was conceived by the German director Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubuhne theatre in Berlin, where Ostermeier is the Artistic Director, and has now been redrafted in English by the British playwright, Duncan Macmillan. While the central plot of the play remains as Ibsen wrote it, this version brings the setting bang up to date, with references to many of the concerns of our time here in the UK.

The show also contains a very dramatic theatrical event, which has sparked debate among crtitics and audiences alike! So does this bold interpretation of Ibsen's classic work for our time?

Jodi and I review Lynn Nottage’s play Clyde’s which is currently on stage at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London. The show is directed by Lynette Linton, who directed Nottage’s last play at the Donmar, Sweat back in 2018, which I thought was a fabulous show. Clyde’s premiered on Broadway in November 2021, and was nominated for four Tony awards in 2022.

According to American Theatre magazine it was the most-produced play in non-profit theatres in America in 2022–2023, so there’s something about this play that touches a nerve. Lynn Nottage is very well known in America, having  won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for her play Ruined, and in 2017 for Sweat.

Clyde’s is set in the same town of Reading, Pennsylvania, in what is known as America's rust belt.  The title is the name of the truck-stop diner on the outskirts of town that belongs to Clyde. Clyde is a former prisoner in the local penitentiary, as are all of her staff and the four other characters in the play. The stories and characters of this play, and of Sweat,are based on extensive research Nottage carried out in Reading in the 2010s, and the plays certainly have the stamp of lived reality.

Jodi and I were lucky enough to be invited to see Elephant at the Bush Theatre last week. Elephant is a one-woman show, written and performed by Anoushka Lucas. Anoushka is a very talented singer, songwriter, actor and writer. As an actor she has appeared in Oklahoma! at the Young Vic,  Henry V at the Donmar, After Life at the National, and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Open Air theatre in Regent’s Park.

She has written musical scores for other shows, and released an album of her own music, Dark Soul. Elephant is her first play, which was first seen at the Bush last year, and now returns in a new expanded version. It is running at the Bush until 4th November.