Plays

Everyman: an Immorality Play at the Riverside Studios, London
Stefanovski turns tradition upside down by confronting a doubting Death with six self-assured, self-absorbed and hedonistic mortals. Death is having an identity crisis due to a lost love and professional difficulties caused by current secular obsessions with youth, eternal life and plastic surgery.
Annette Mees

Black and Blue at BAC, London
It is its examination of human nature that is perhaps the most shocking thing about the production - the audience is made to question our own nature as well as those of the characters.
Amy Matthews

Conflicts of Interest at the Rosemary Branch Theatre, London
'Who can you trust?' Each play cloaks this question in a different outfit; with political backstabbing, existential questioning and, of course, infidelity rearing its head a number of times.
Ruth Sheldon

Love's a Luxury at the Orange Tree, London
I don't know if it is fair to say that the usual stereotypes are here; the put-upon husband, the jealous wife, the pretty parlour maid et al. Perhaps this was the height of originality in 1942.
Mark Tyson

M.A.D. at the Bush Theatre, London
'There's more meaning in my mum smoking than there is in a thousand banners,' John says rather obtusely, but we know what he means.
Dolan Cummings

Hamlet at the Old Vic, London
Hamlet deals with so many themes (death, madness, loss of parental bonds, fear of maturity) that have dominated alternative teen culture over the past decade that it screams out for reinterpretation.
David Bowden

The Man Who at the Pleasance Theatre, London
The production is most engaging when it invites the audience to challenge the 'health' of their own perspective; an ambition suggested by the wastepaper basket that hangs from the wall of an otherwise minimalist set.
Ruth Sheldon

Queer Counsel at the Warehouse Theatre, Croydon
Nick Bamford's intense drama of sexual identity, religious dogmatism, death and redemption sidefoots lazy criticism with passion, depth and a good deal of humour.
David Bowden

Babba Ghanoush and Bagels at the Oval House Theatre, London
Political theatre is often obvious, dull and preaches to the choir. It is amazing to see a physical comedy production which only succeeds when it is political and falters when it abandons its political context.
Annette Mees

The Final Days of Simon Bacon at the Palace Theatre, Southend
Watching the play is an authentic Essex experience, more so even than donning a baseball cap and doing endless laps in a Vauxhall Nova around the seedy amusement arcades on Southend seafront.
Patrick Hayes

The Flats at the Chelsea Theatre, London
Karen is from a more privileged background and offers Nat a serious vision of his future, in a college her 'Daddy' can help him get into. And then there is her sheer sexual allure.
Brendan Rimmer

Badnuff at the Soho Theatre, London
'You're here because you're not normal,' Maggie tells the kids, and she is right. It isn't normal to 'borrow' babies, to flash one's genitals or to beat people up on a whim.
Dolan Cummings

The Sweetest Swing in Baseball at the Royal Court, London
Rebecca Gilman and Gillian Anderson, living up to her star billing, manage to make a sympathetic figure of the egotistical Dana, but they win our sympathy for her as a human being rather than as an artist.
Mark Tyson

The Wooden Frock at BAC, London
Combining fairytale frothiness and physical humour with dark, uneasy undertones, The Wooden Frock turns the Cinderella theme inside out.
Ruth Sheldon

Audience/Protest at the Etcetera Theatre, London
It is pleasing to be reminded that enjoyable theatre and socially-conscious polemic are not mutually exclusive.
David Bowden

Continental Divide at the Barbican, London
It is likely that David Edgar's play will be more studied than performed. It is worth sitting through it, though, not in order to either empathise or sympathise with the characters, but rather to see this effective group portrait of the compromised, alienated, stagnant, frustrated lives of the 'baby boomer' dreamers and to recognise how they fail to understand the world today and lie to themselves in order to cover up this sense of defeat.
Patrick Hayes

Majnoun at the Riverside Studios, London
Language is the clearest barrier to understanding and that is explored here in detail. Many of the jokes are in Arabic, meaning only certain parts of the audience laugh.
Tom Ogg

Dona Rosita, the Spinster at the Orange Tree, Richmond
The play is of its time; even if we are undecided as to whether being single is something to celebrate or something to be angst-ridden about, there no social stigma about being single and the term 'spinster' has become an anachronism.
Mark Tyson

Calico at the Duke of York's Theatre, London
In a world dominated by the attempt to patch up estrangement through therapy, we need more Calicos, more works that show us the social and intellectual mechanisms that force some to act in a manner that has to be described as mad.
Patrick Hayes

Brave New World Solent People's Theatre, Portsmouth
Though Brendon Burns' feverish pace leaves little room for character development, he nonetheless crams the book into an entertaining hour and ten minutes.
David Clements

How I Got That Story at Finborough Theatre, London
Why didn't it make me laugh? It's like watching anything from the past that you may have found funny at the time. That moment has passed and it no longer grips you.
Stephen Nash

Edge at the King's Head Theatre, London
There is a tendency to despise the cult of Sylvia Plath. To show curiosity about her suicide is deemed pornographic and unscholarly. It is an interest only suitable for angsty teenagers clutching copies of The Bell Jar.
Natasha Hulugalle

Waiting for Godot at the Cockpit Theatre, London
The example of Beckett, perhaps more than anyone, rubbishes the notion that to be creative we need to 'free ourselves' from the constraints of the normal, that to be creative we need to be the kind of person who will cut off an ear or be driven to suicide or madness by our passion.
Stuart Simpson

And All the Children Cried at BAC, London
When it was written, And All the Children Cried was an intervention into a national debate about Hindley and whether or not she should be released from prison. The balance of the play can not help but be affected by Hindley's death.
Mark Tyson

The Adding Machine at the Courtyard Theatre, London
Rice's assumption is that once we gain an awareness of our alienated situation we will act to change it. The sad truth is that many today who are aware, having abandoned the project to change things, would envy Zero's memory loss and strive towards his innocence as an ideal.
Patrick Hayes

A Streetcar Named Desire at the Gatehouse Theatre, London
The lack of dramatic commitment by the cast can perhaps be put down to the lack of any definite vision from the director Julie Dark. It just does not seem as though there was any particular reason or dramatic vision behind the staging.
Brendan Rimmer

The Oddest Couple at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
Given the actors' talent and writer's experience The Oddest Couple punches below the weight of those behind it, mainly because the format limited the play to something more akin to an end of year review.
Luke Robins-Grace

A Doll's House at the Rosemary Branch Theatre, London
To its credit, the Dale Theater Kompani does not try to show A Doll's House in a contemporary setting, and interestingly we are left with a nineteenth century take on a very modern issue.
Stuart Simpson

Age-sex-location at Riverside Studios, London
Marcus Markou certainly makes a strong case for having brought something new and innovative to the theatre with this production. The strangeness and yet all too human phenomenon of the internet chat room is brought to the stage with some interesting results.
Stephen Nash

Strange Orchestra at the Orange Tree Theatre, London
Ackland is interested in ideas but he does not use his characters as mouthpieces, this preserves the dramatic integrity of the characters but the level of the debate tends to reflect their naivety and youthful idealism.
Mark Tyson

La Pucelle at the Oval House Theatre, London
At the end of La Pucelle I was slaughtered along with the rest of the audience by the cast, and in this review I am tempted to return the favour. But that would be to fail to learn from what happened.
Dolan Cummings

Family Matters at the Bridewell Theatre, London
To talk of the accessiblity or elitism of Family Matters would be to do an injustice to the spirit behind the production. It simply transcends any preconceived definitions of contemporary opera.
Amy Matthews

Allport's Revenge at the Finborough Theatre, London
If one chooses to see Allport's Revenge as a philosophical play, it fails badly. It succeeds, however, if one looks at it instead as an examination of how a family responds to an extreme situation that requires unpleasant action.
Patrick Hayes

Semblance of Madness at the Etcetera Theatre, London
The double whammy here is that the nurse's investigation takes place in a drama therapy session taken by a patient who was once an acclaimed actress. These theatrical types! Crazy, eh?
Shirley Dent

Crave at BAC, London
In this case, the 'concept' that the company gave itself served to do little more than force the text into a straightjacket from which it could not break free.
Chris Wilkinson

King Lear at the Greenwich Playhouse, London
For the most part, the cast handles the language well, although at times things seem a bit forced, like when people suddenly seem angry - a sign that the language is in control and not the actor.
Stephen Doran

Trip's Cinch / Three More Sleepless Nights at the Lion and Unicorn, London
After two hours, and two very different takes on the way men and women behave towards each other, it becomes clear that the two plays share one thing, and it isn't that they both examine the same theme, but that both plays portray the most basic of human relationships as deeply problematic.
Stuart Simpson

Singin' in the Rain at the Richmond Theatre, London
Although Bryan Cardus acquits himself fairly well with the singin', his dancin' inevitably appears arthritic compared to the athleticism of Gene Kelly.
Graham Lee

Sweeney Todd at the Royal Opera House, London
This whole process, the publicity and hype preceding the opening, smacked of a smug, self-satisfied suggestion that, in some abstract way, the musical work (and perhaps Sondheim himself) ought to be grateful for this marvellous opportunity.
Amy Matthews

Pugilist Specialist at Soho Theatre, London
With one 'Big Stache' newly in custody and another 'Bearded Lady' still at large, Pugilist Specialist is as timely now as it was last summer, and the war on terror shows no signs of letting up this side of Armageddon.
Dolan Cummings

UP4AMEET at the Oval House Theatre, London
Underneath all the comic misunderstandings and the gratuitous nudity of the evening's entertainment, there is a hard-hitting comment about the blasé use of the internet.
Stephen Doran

Film Club at the Riverside Studios, London
Film Club combines words, video, music and dance. It is visually stimulating and enjoyable as a piece of escapism, but I think it is aiming higher than that.
Mark Tyson

The Alchemist at the Courtyard, London
This Alchemist attacks the job in hand with gusto, bringing an almost pantomime quality to the proceedings. Subtle it is not.
Shirley Dent

Five Gold Rings at the Almeida, London
Yes, Laurens' use of language is interesting. But does that mean all other aspects of the theatrical are somehow jettisoned?
Ursula Strauss

Jason and the Argonauts at BAC, London
The name of the game is imagination, and the use of minimal set, props and costume is brilliantly intuitive.
Sophie Carmichael

The Man Who Would Be Sting at BAC, London
If Ben Elton is the stadium rocker of the new musical theatre scene, Niall Ashdown is the soulful indie band.
Mark Tyson

Young Emma at the Finborough Theatre, London
The play manages to create a workable blend of innocence and humour within an otherwise unsettling environment, reflecting the life of WH Davies himself and so many of our iconic figures.
Stephen Doran

Kismet at the Arcola Theatre, London
This is no ground-breaking piece of musical theatre, but what is done is done well.
Amy Matthews

All Fall Away at the Latchmere Theatre, London
'Tis the season to be jolly...unless you're a single mother about to be thrown out on your ear by an evil landlord.
Stuart Simpson

I Just Broke Up! at the White Bear Theatre, London
Billed as a modern farce, there is very little original humour in this production to offer anything other than a cheap thrill.
Stephen Doran

The Slab Boys at the Traverse, Edinburgh
The audience of a certain age seems to be content to be amused for a couple of hours, and this I am afraid to say, is all that The Slab Boys has to offer.
Sean Cannon

An Evening with the Critics: Play in a Day at the Soho Theatre, London
Do theatre critics know what they're talking about? Are they just failed playwrights? It is childish to insist that 'you shouldn't criticise unless you could do better', but you don't have to think like that to be intrigued by a project like this.
Dolan Cummings

Sleeping Around / Separate Tables at the Gateway Theatre, Edinburgh
How often can you say that on two consecutive visits to a theatre you enjoyed two excellent shows at very reasonable prices in a wonderfully presented environment?
Sean Cannon

The Master and Margarita at the Menier Theatre, London
What in the name of Jehovah did Cherub think they were doing turning the lynch-pin character of the book - Satan or Woland - into some terrible pastiche of a Moulin Rouge rapper?
Shirley Dent

Gilt at the Traverse, Edinburgh
It is a play full of the darker side of humanity, but a play that forces you to look at yourself and be aware of your humanity and the need to monitor constantly your own actions, as far too often we act without thought in the desperate need to satisfy ourselves.
Sean Cannon

Camarilla at the Old Red Lion, London
For the bemused leftie trying to get a grip on post 9/11 imperialism, terrorism and spin-cycle democracy, Van Badham's latest play is Nu-Politics 101.
Luke Robins-Grace

Squint at Chelsea Theatre, London
I was hoping for an exciting, original, innovative play, but this felt more like something a sixth former would have thought up, given the theme 'addiction and its true nature'.
Sophie Carmichael

The People Next Door at Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
Who are the people in your neighbourhood? In a post 9/11 world with terrorists supposedly hidden in our midst, a new type of 'stranger danger' has captured the Western imagination. The People Next Door explores our current paranoia about those we do not know and, with great humour, shows us why we should not assume the worst of the strangers around us.
Munira Mirza

The Illustrious Corpse at Soho Theatre, London
Ali the intellectual would, one hopes, never be so crass as to explain the end of Old Labour and the rise of New Labour as no more that the loss of youthful idealism...
Stuart Simpson

Animal at Soho Theatre, London
The writer's (Kay Adshead) key strength is characterisation and human interaction. While the political and thematic side of things is good, it is not quite good enough.
Tom Ogg

Nine Parts of Desire at Bush Theatre, London
Written and performed by Raffo, a self proclaimed Halfsy (the daughter of an American mother and Iraqi father) Nine Parts of Desire is truthful in its portrayal of individual women, both Iraqi and America. You can see this and hear this.
Shirley Dent

Musicals

Is Musical Theatre Alive and Well and Living in London? Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Landor Theatre,
and Passion at the Bridewell Theatre
Lack of innovation in musical theatre leads to the real danger of lack of variety in the performance and production of this genre as a whole, and that includes opera as well.
Amy Matthews

The Wizard of Pop at the Jack Kane Centre, Craigmillar, Edinburgh
Lucy then finds herself on a Musical Road that leads to Craigmillar Castle. There lurks Simon Cowell, the Wizard of Pop himself. To return home Lucy has to reach the castle and become Britney Spears for the day.
Shaun Hadnett

Films

Monsieur N Antoine de Caunes
Despite the comic potential of this tale of hubris and noble descent, de Caunes plays it alarmingly straight, weaving a detective mystery around the central drama.
David Haviland

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Michel Gondry
It sounds confusing, and it is at first, but the chronology is quite clear once you grasp the film's logic. The screenplay is another triumph from Charlie Kaufman, displaying all the craft and ingenuity of his previous work, but with a new level of emotional depth.
David Haviland

Wondrous Oblivion Paul Morrison
The script feels at times like a checklist of racial stereotypes, but the film is so liberal, so obviously without malice, that these quibbles are easily overlooked.
David Haviland

Wonderland James Cox
Director James Cox employs a range of tricks to turn in an undeniably stylish feature, but the fractured narrative and grainy desaturation feel like genre staples, and as a result the film is directionless.
David Haviland

Capturing the Friedmans Andrew Jarecki
The film succeeds in making us doubt the veracity of the specific allegations, but presents the Friedmans nonetheless as a damaged, dysfunctional family.
David Haviland

Monster Patty Jenkins
In this account, poverty, unhappy childhood, dysfunctional family, and dubious sexual status all add up to a disturbed, easily swayed individual who, when shown a bit of affection, is prepared to murder in order for that affection to last.
Nathalie Rothschild

The Passion of the Christ Mel Gibson
For some, it seems, Gibson's audio-visual approach has succeeded where the mere Word of God fails.
Dolan Cummings

Gothika Mathieu Kassovitz
Gothika will at least help us to re-evaluate the suspenseful What Lies Beneath - as it's not good for much else.
David Haviland

The Girl Next Door Luke Greenfield
It's a fair point; porn is a deeply unpleasant industry, but it seems hypocritical and self-defeating to preach this way in a film that's pretty close to soft porn itself.
David Haviland

Mambo Italiano Émile Gaudreault
The film is shot in bright primary colours and pastels, to give a wonderfully bright, tacky feel, and the story moves with fluidity and pace.
David Haviland

Woyzeck (DVD) Werner Herzog
Kinski gives an electrifying performance, and the cinematography and soundtrack are beautifully simple, with the timeless quality of fairy tale.
David Haviland

Le Souffle (DVD) Damien Odoul
Le Souffle is a film that some will praise, but few will see twice.
David Haviland

Dawn of the Dead Zack Snyder
Feature debutant Snyder's crew inherit a mall that seems to have been constructed more for zombie resistance than retail, as if written into the building regulations.
Graham Barnfield