A brisk well-cast Shakespeare play for the price of a movie!

Reg E. Cathey as Don Armado in Love's Labor's Lost

Love's Labor's Lost- Karin Coonrod has chosen n a mode that embraces both the past and the present which works as well as any pseudo-historical time in the Public's wonderfully affordable LAB production. .

3 new reviews for London theatergoers

Death of a Maiden- BAFTA award winning actress Thandie Newton makes her stage debut inthe newly named Harold Pinter Theatre's revival of Ariel Dorfman's play. . .

The Last of the Duches- Nicholas Wright's excellent play set in 1980 about the last years of the Duchess of Windsor in Paris. . .

Britannicus- This accessible modern dress Natural Perspective production of Racine starts slowly but builds up a compelling momentum.. . .

Actor Jesse Eisenberg turns playwrght

Asuncion- The chance for Jesse Eisenberg groupies to see him up close and personal in his first playwriting effort is likely to flll every seat at the Cherry Lane Theater

Groundbreaking musical at Godspeed Opera House

Burke Moses (top) and D.B. Bonds in City of Angels

City of Angels- The Tony-Award winning musical beautfully revved at Godspeed Opera House

Curtainup's news from London

Ths week's reviews from our London critic-- along with her take on the Evening Standard Drama Awards. . .

Evening Standard Drama Awards 2011 — Lizzie Loveridge comments on the long list. . .

Inadmissible Evidence- Douglas Hodge is quite simply superb in this revival of John Osborne's very personal play . . .

Jumpy- Tamsin Greig lends star power to this light social comedy. . .

66 Books- A monumental multi-author enterprise at the Bush. . .

Bang Bang Bang -Stella Feehily’s play is based on meticulous research with the workers of various NGOs and charities who are employed in Africa to monitor the situation and to provide economic or medical aid.. . .

An old-fashioned laugh fest by 3 comic writers

Danny Hoch makes a welcome return in Relatively Speaking's curtain raiser

 
Relatively Speaking: Talking Cure by Ethan Coen; George is Dead by Elaine May, Honeymoon Motel by Woody Allen- The bookend pieces are strictly for laughs, the middle piece is as sad as it is funny. Taken together, the three pieces are a bit like having three desserts instead of a really substantial meal

A not to be missed new play from a fresh new voice

Sons of the Prophet- This comedy about grief and pain will l indeed have you laughing often but it's also deeply touching and filled to the brim with serious issues.. . .

Mike Daisey's cautionary tale for Apple acolytes

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs- Mike Daisey takes off his rose-colored glasses to tell his version of the Jobs story . .

Could this NJ premiere be Broadway bound?

Jim Shankman, Kathleen Goldpaugh, Carol Todd 

 

It Shoulda Been You- Brian Hargrove & Barbara Anselmi have put a Jewish mother with all her lovable flaws in the center of a delightfully ebullient, often hilarious, new musical comedy . . .

London Stages: Something old & something new

On London Stages:  Edward Bond's  once again timely  Saved, a nother  class for the Pitman Painters  and   a new play by Conor McPherson
 
Saved - Lyric Hammersmith director Sean Holmes and his actors give us a fresh production of Edward Bond's groundbreaking play. . .

The Veil- Conor McPherson's gothic story receives a big production directed by the playwright himself. . . .

The Pitmen Painters- Lee Hall's unusual painting class resumes at the Duchess Theatre . . .

The Mountaintop- Samuel L. Jackson makes an impressive Broadway debut Katori Hall's faction about Martin Luther King's last night on earth.

What do Linda Lavin and Times columnis Gail Collins have in Common?

The Lyons- You wouldn't want a monster wife at your bedside, but you won't want to miss Linda Lavin's irresistibly funny and moving portrayal of her . . .

Actress Zoe Kazan dons playwritiing hat

Amy Irving and Jeremy Shamos  in We Live Here

We Live Here- Actress Zoe Kazan's first major Off-Broadway play is an imperfect pleasure. . .

Rattigan play: fine actor, not to fine play

Man and Boy- A timely but flawed Rattigan play, given the grand manner treatment by Frank Langella

Motherhood: A topic as universal as it can get

The  actors who bring  motherhood  in all  its permutation  to entertaining  life  at Primary stages . . .
Motherhood Out Loud- 4 actors, and a baker's dozen of playwrights contemplate motherhood in our "brave new world" .

Grunge specialist Rapp does a fancy dinner party. ..

Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling- Review of Adam Rapp's Albee haunted dinner party, plus a wrapup of Rapp's trajectory from downtown cult favorite to high profile by-line . . .

London does Synge classic & rock musical

an early 20th play excitingly revived and  a late in the century Broadway musical crosses the pond

The Playboy of the Western World- John Crowley’s exciting production of JM Synge’s 1907 classic has a modern feel. . . .

Rock of Ages- This American jukebox musical featuring the glam metal rock bands of the late 1980s comes to London recast with an English cast. . .