Simon Ward reviews The Sociable Plover at the Old Red Lion Theatre The first thing to strike you is the set (designed by Jack Valentine) . The entire room has been transformed into a bird watchers&…

Simon Ward reviews Pavement Sharks at the Canal Cafe Theatre For anyone unfamiliar with the venue, it nestles above a rather good pub called the Bridge House in Little Venice, a very pleasant strol…

Simon Ward reviews And If The Surface Tension Breaks at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre. The title of this piece is a beautiful evocation of the fragility of life that it explores. Written and directe…

Simon Ward reviews It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure at Soho Theatre Photo credit – Alex Brenner Following a brief run as part of The Vaults Festival in February, this show comes to th…

Simon Ward reviews The Tragedy of Macbeth at Southwark Playhouse. Flabbergast Theatre have spent years working and re-working this noisy, exuberant, muscular and unnerving version of Shakespeare…

Simon Ward reviews Average Bear at the Soho Theatre Michelle Brasier’s Average Bear is billed as comedy, and it is frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it is also thought-provoking a…

Simon Ward reviews How To Break Out Of A Detention Centre at the Riverside Studios This is the world premiere of a piece whose themes and message arguably transcend the world of theatre and render …

Simon Ward reviews Breathless at the Soho Theatre From the moment that Sophie (Madeleine MacMahon) bursts onto the stage accompanied by an exhalation of breath we are gripped. She is indeed breathl…

Simon Ward reviews Chekhov’s Dildo at The Hope Theatre If you had never heard Chekhov’s famous dictum regarding the duty owed to the audience by a playwright, ie that it you introduce a…

Simon Ward reviews How Not To Drown at Theatre Royal Stratford East This is a powerful and important piece of theatre. It provides a counterblast to the prevailing anti-immigrant rhetoric from the …

Simon Ward reviews Handel’s Messiah: The Live Experience at Theatre Royal Drury Lane For one night only, as a festive treat, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane gives the cast of Frozen a night off …

Simon Ward reviews Wickies: The Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor at The Park Theatre One chilling aspect of Paul Morrissey’s suspenseful new thriller is that it is based on a true story. On 26th D…

Simon Ward reviews The Wedding Speech at The Hope Theatre The Wedding Speech is a one-woman play written by Cheryl May Coward-Walker and performed with passionate intensity by Princess Donnough as …

Simon Ward reviews IKARIA at the Old Red Lion Theatre This is a compelling, if harrowing, portrait of a young man in torment. But he has become an expert in hiding his torment from everyone around …

Simon Ward reviews Persephone at The Courtyard Theatre The premise of this new musical retelling of the Persephone story (written by Emma Hawkins with music by Carrie Penn) is to take the various v…

Simon Ward reviews The Hamlet Voyage at The Bridewell Theatre Image credit – Dan Fearon Designs The inspiration for this play is utterly intriguing. In 1607, sailors on the first En…

Simon Ward reviews Let’s Pause There at The King’s Head Theatre This debut play by comedy writers Russell Obeney and Andre Guindisson crams a lot, perhaps a little too much, into its ru…

Simon Ward reviews Tomorrow May Be My Last at The Old Red Lion Theatre I first reviewed a version of this show – described as a ‘music-driven play’ – when it was playing at …