MARIA DUARTE, JAMES WALSH and ANDY HEDGECOCK review The Invite, My Father’s Island, Nirvanna: the Band, the Show, the Movie, and Oh My Goodness!
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Reinvigorated Tartuffe is a hit
JOHN GREEN enjoys an adaptation that is fresh and entertaining
PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
A Wolf In Snakeskin Shoes
Tricycle Theatre
London NW6
4/5
This world premiere of award-winning Californian playwright Marcus Gardley’s new play is a fitting return for him to the Tricycle. This fresh take on Moliere’s Tartuffe, set in the US deep south, in a world where fast-food tycoons flourish alongside mega-churches and charismatic preachers gives the Moliere play a new lease of life.
The original was a daring satire on religious hypocrisy and the gullibility of the petit-bourgeoisie in 17th-century France. It is a play that would hardly work in a largely secular Britain today, but set in the US it is very apposite. The country’s culture of evangelistic charlatans, fundamentalist Christianity and an atavistic belief in God and redemption is an ideal setting.
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Although this production was in rehearsal before the playwright’s death, it allows us to pay homage to his life, suggests MARY CONWAY
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship
MAYER WAKEFIELD is gripped by a production dives rapidly from champagne-quaffing slick to fraying motormouth
MARY CONWAY applauds the success of Beth Steel’s bitter-sweet state-of-the-nation play