The London Theatre Review

This week, Nick, Nick and Nancy head to the Marylebone Theatre for Speculations, Torben Betts’s conspiracy thriller directed by Trevor Nunn. Janie Dee plays journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, whose investigations into the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald vanished after her own sudden death. There’s a good story in there somewhere. The gang would like to know where it went.

Then it’s off to the Bush Theatre for The Bridge, Palestinian comedian Alaa Shehada’s solo show about trying to get a tin of his family’s olive oil from the West Bank to his aunt in Jordan. It’s a short bridge and a very long journey, and Nancy and Nick Curtis find plenty of warmth and wit amid the everyday indignities of crossing it.

Plus, Nick Curtis talks to Stephen Mangan about playing Lopakhin opposite Kristin Scott Thomas in The Cherry Orchard at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Hear our review in episode four of this season.

And McFly drummer Harry Judd answers our five questions as he plays Coach Bolton in High School Musical at the Troubadour in Wembley. He explains how he managed to fall off a stage when his main job is to sit down...

Our next Marquee TV watch party is An American in Paris. Get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR at checkout, then watch the musical and send your thoughts to thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or via Instagram for our special review episode on Wednesday 25 November.

Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview.
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Welcome to a special edition of the London Theatre Review in association with Marquee TV, the expert curated streaming platform for arts and culture. We're back for another watch party, plucking a production from Marquee TV's huge catalogue, watching it, and discussing along with your thoughts.

This time it's the 2020 production of Vanya, adapted by Conor McPherson and directed by Ian Rickson, which was cut short by the Covid pandemic. The production stars Aimee Lou Wood, Toby Jones, Rosalind Eleazar, Richard Armitage and Roger Allam - an incredible cast for an incredible play.

Don't forget you can get a month's free access to Marquee TV at marquee.tv/ltr, or just use the code LTR at the checkout.
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It's power fo art under oppressive regimes week! First up is The Lives of Others at the Adelphi, Robert Icke’s adaptation of the film about a Stasi officer listening in on a playwright and his actress girlfriend in eighties East Berlin. Keira Knightley and Luke Thompson are the couple under surveillance, but it’s Stephen Dillane’s extraordinary performance behind the headphones that really gets the gang talking.

Then Nancy and Nick head to the Park Theatre for The Pianist, a new adaptation of Władysław Szpilman’s memoir of survival in wartime Warsaw. His own songs provide the score, but how well do they serve the story?

Plus, Nancy talks to Anne-Marie Duff, whose performance in Some Woman at the National Theatre left her awed.

And writer Scott Gilmour answers our five questions as Ceilidh, the musical he created with Claire McKenzie, gets audiences dancing at Shoreditch Town Hall.

Our second Marquee TV watch party takes on Uncle Vanya starring Toby Jones, with a special review episode coming this Wednesday, 4 November. Watch it and send your thoughts to thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or via Instagram. Get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR at checkout.

Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview.
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This week, Martin Guerre comes to the Old Vic in a stripped-back, 90-minute version of the 1996 musical from the writers behind Les Misérables. Director Matthew Warchus has radically reinvented the show along with writers Claude Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil, swapping sweeping spectacle for folk horror. Nick Clark has had the songs on repeat ever since. Nancy would quite happily never hear them again. Can Nick Curtis broker a peace?

Then Nancy and Nick Curtis head to the Donmar Warehouse for Ilford Boy, Danny Lee Wynter’s play about a mixed-race teenager growing up in nineties East London.

Nancy talks to one of the pod's favourite people, the brilliant Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́, about Blood of My Blood at the Royal Court. And Bridgerton’s Isabella Wei answers our five questions as she stars in the horror comedy The Hungry Ghost at the Bush Theatre.

Our next Marquee TV watch party is Uncle Vanya starring Toby Jones. Watch it and send your thoughts to thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or via Instagram for our special review episode on 4 November. Get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR at checkout.

Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview.
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This week, Nick, Nick and Nancy head to the Harold Pinter Theatre for The Cherry Orchard, starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Stephen Mangan. Conor McPherson and Ian Rickson give Chekhov’s crumbling aristocrats a good shake, while Nick Clark makes a confession: he’s somehow never seen a Chekhov play before. Will this one get him hooked?

Then Nancy and Nick Curtis review Some Woman at the National Theatre’s Dorfman. Anne-Marie Duff stars in Helen Edmundson’s play about a woman whose confrontation with a boy on a railway platform spirals horribly out of control. It leaves Nancy thoroughly shaken, and Nick feeling rather bad about his gender.

Plus, Nick Curtis talks to Doctor Who and The Diplomat star Pearl Mackie about returning to her Brixton birthplace for Baby at Brixton House. Clean Break’s solo show follows a woman fighting to be reunited with her daughter after prison, and Mackie explains how making it has reignited her love of theatre.

Nancy talks to Theatre Peckham’s artistic director Suzann McLean about its 40th anniversary, championing young Black voices and why access to the arts matters far beyond the stage.

And musical theatre royalty Maria Friedman answers our five questions as Kimberly Akimbo extends its run at Hampstead Theatre. Expect Sondheim, Angela Lansbury and an unfortunate encounter with a horse’s bottom...

Our Marquee TV watch party continues with Uncle Vanya starring Toby Jones. Watch it, then send your thoughts to thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or via Instagram for our special review episode on 4 November. Get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR at checkout. And catch up with our first watch party episode on Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo.

Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.