SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
The horrible Hubbards
MARY CONWAY applauds a worthy revival of the US 1939 classic drama that studies the dehumanising consequences of affluence
PAUL FOLEY recommends an extraordinary double bill that packs a punch and leaves you reeling
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a play about AI that results in a deadening disconnect for its audience
SIMON PARSONS applauds an insightful state-of-the-nation play that explores the growing class divide in South Africa
MATTHEW HAWKINS pays tribute to the performance artist and costumier, Leigh Bowery
SIMON DUFF reviews a new composition by German composer and pianist Florian Weber that blurs the line between where improvisation ends and composition begins
New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
The Little Foxes
Young Vic, London
LILLIAN HELLMAN’s classic The Little Foxes, currently showing at the Young Vic, has the potency of one long, tightly funnelled, exhaled breath. And it reeks of the 20th century when it was written, and of an America still carving out its identity against a backdrop of dreams.
The play almost serves as an allegory, exhibiting the obsessions and fundamental rot at the country’s heart. And it’s a moral tale, charting the terrible consequences of money obsession and the kind of dynasty-building that courts and protects affluence.
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MARY CONWAY recommends a beautifully judged performance that shines a light on the experience of all female war babies and boomers
A nervous year, showing that the theatre, like the world, stands on a precipice and seems uncertain where to jump
MARY CONWAY relishes the revival of two classics for the naked expression of truthful thoughts and class anger
MARY CONWAY evaluates a polemical play whose actors, rather than the writer, introduce the humanity and the light and shade
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SIMON PARSONS is swept away on the running tide of a dynamic new version of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale
PETER MASON appreciates the songs and spectacle but misses attention-grabbing intrigue in Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of the US movie
MARY CONWAY is spellbound by an outstanding and relentless rendition of the universal family drama
SIMON PARSONS is spellbound by abrupt changes from tragedy to farce in Mayenburg’s dark comedy about the long shadow of German history