Reviews

Ticking the boxes: Andrew Woodall and Joanne Froggatt

The Knowledge, Bush Theatre, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

As the controversy over educational standards, free schools and tuition fees seethes on, the Bush Theatre marches straight to the top of the class for commissioning a mini-season on the subject of education. Next week sees the unveiling of Steve Waters' Little Platoons, about a group of West London parents who are driven to try and set up their own "free school". But the season kicks off now with The Knowledge, a punchy, appallingly funny play by former teacher John Donnelly which pitches us headlong into the kind of educational establishment that Waters' parents are frantic to avoid.

Inside Reviews

Twelfth Night, National Theatre: Cottesloe, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Thursday, 20 January 2011

It's amusingly typical of this workaholic giant of the British theatre that Sir Peter Hall's idea of an 80th-birthday treat is being given the chance to direct his fourth production of Twelfth Night. He mounted what was, by all accounts, a landmark interpretation in Stratford in 1958, some 24 years before his daughter Rebecca emerged from life's wings. Now she stars as Viola in this latest version.

First Night: Twelfth Night, The Cottesloe Theatre, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Gift of a role: Rebecca Hall stars in her father's play to mark his 80th birthday

The Painter, Arcola Theatre, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

The Arcola has moved half a mile down the road in Dalston to wonderfully atmospheric new premises – a converted old paint factory once owned by Reeves, the company that manufactured the colour blocks made famous by artists such as Turner and Constable. With its lofty ceiling and brick walls, it's a brilliantly adaptable space that feels both monumental and intimate, and it provides the perfect conditions for the premiere of Rebecca Lenkiewicz's new play about Turner, which is largely set in the great artist's cluttered studio.

Black Chiffon, White Bear Theatre, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Monday, 17 January 2011

Lesley Storm – the rather racy pseudonym of the Scots-born writer Mabel Margaret Clark (1903 – 1975) - has long since dropped off the theatrical radar.

Julius Caesar, Roundhouse, London
The Potting Shed, Finborough, London
The Painter, Arcola, London

Sunday, 16 January 2011

A smooth, politically savvy Brutus falls in with a bloody assassination plot in a triumphant RSC production

Giselle, Royal Opera House, London

Sunday, 16 January 2011

Acosta is superb, but there's a new star snapping at his heels

Giselle, Royal Opera House, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 14 January 2011

Ballet's 19th-century classics tend to be dominated by their ballerinas. Later producers have tended to beef up the princely roles, but in Giselle there's no need – the hero Albrecht is already a substantial role, in dance and in drama. The latest Royal Ballet revival opened with big name Carlos Acosta partnering Tamara Rojo. Roberta Marquez danced Giselle on the second night, but the news was rising star Sergei Polunin's debut.

Julius Caesar, Roundhouse, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Friends, Romans, and thugs

A Doll’s House, Picton Place, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

A "new, feminist" take on A Doll's House? It sounds, on the face of it, redundant. For what could be more pioneeringly feminist than Ibsen's great 1879 drama in which a woman slams the door on a marriage that reduces her to a pampered plaything and a husband who is revealed as more concerned about his public image than about her?