All stories by Aleks Sierz on BroadwayStars

Saturday, January 25, 2020

'A gob-smacking vitality & originality': SCENES WITH GIRLS " Royal Court Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Scenes with Girls at the Royal Court is like an exciting blast of fresh air blowing through the often stale world of contemporary new writing.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, January 24, 2020

'Never really catches fire': YOU STUPID DARKNESS! " Southwark Playhouse by Aleks Sierz

A new play about optimism, You Stupid Darkness! is compassionate in conception, but repetitive and frustrating in performance.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 23, 2020

"Snowflake" at The Kiln Theatre by Aleks Sierz

The prolific Mike Bartlett " from whose pen have leaped television series such as Doctor Foster and Press, as well as stage hits such as King Charles III " has two things to celebrate …

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 10:09PM[SHARE]

"Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis" at The Park Theatre by Aleks Sierz

The 1990s were a great decade for new writing, but although the story of those years is often told as the rise and rise of in-yer-face playwrights " such as Philip Ridley, Anthony Neilson, S…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 01:12AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Sam Steiner's "You Stupid Darkness!" at the Southwark Playhouse: Unconvincing Post-Apocalyptic Office Fantasy by Aleks Sierz

Turn on the news. Go on. No? Okay, switch on the radio. Why not? Oh, I see, because the news is always bad. Yeah, I know what you mean. All those stories about how we're doomed because of gl…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 01:39AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Text of the Day: The Tyler Sisters by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Saturday, January 18, 2020

'There is little point in denying its political punch': LES MISÉRABLES " Sondheim Theatre by Aleks Sierz

New blood courses through the veins of the West End's longest-running musical Les Misérables.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 16, 2020

Alexandra Wood's "The Tyler Sisters" at the Hampstead Theatre: The Future Is Female In Epic Family Saga by Aleks Sierz

What has Saint Augustine of Hippo got to do with new writing? At first sight, not very much. That is, until you read Alan Burdick's elegant program note to Alexandra Wood's latest play, The …

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 01:40AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, January 15, 2020

'A slender but quite powerful piece': THE GIRL WITH GLITTER IN HER EYE " Bunker Theatre by Aleks Sierz

The pleasures of The Girl with Glitter in Her Eye " its acting, music and shadow images especially " do make up for some of the banality of the writing.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, January 14, 2020

"Cyrano De Bergerac" at The Playhouse Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Actor James McAvoy is much in demand: in the BBC's His Dark Materials he is busy saving a parallel world, while in the poetic universe of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac he i…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 01:46AM[SHARE]
Saturday, January 11, 2020

"Touching the Void" at The Duke of York's Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Theatre can touch thousands of lives. But can it compete with the success of a bestselling book? First published in 1988, mountaineer Joe Simpson's Touching the Void has apparently sold more…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 11:43PM[SHARE]

"A Kind of People" at The Royal Court by Aleks Sierz

The trouble with prejudice is that you can't control how other people see you. At the start of her career, playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's work was set in her own Sikh community. But, like…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 12:27AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 9, 2020

"Trojan Horse" at the Battersea Arts Centre by Aleks Sierz

Media hysteria needs good branding. So when in March 2014 an email letter was leaked to the press, claiming to be by Islamist extremists and detailing how to take control of several Birmingh…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 09:47PM[SHARE]

Text of the Day: Cyrano de Bergerac by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, January 7, 2020

"The Arrival" at The Bush Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Family dramas are a staple of British new writing, but as well as talking about our nearest and dearest, can they also say something about the wider society? The Arrival, by the director, tu…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 12:56AM[SHARE]
Monday, January 6, 2020

Text of the Day: Snowflake by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, January 5, 2020

Text of the Day: Ravens: Spassky Vs Fischer by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Saturday, January 4, 2020

'A lovely revival': MARTHA, JOSIE & THE CHINESE ELVIS " Park Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis at the Park Theatre is a lively revival of Charlotte Jones' quirky and hugely enjoyable 1999 play about parenting and life on immoral earnings.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 2, 2020

Text of the Day: A Kind of People by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, December 30, 2019

'Might end up unfreezing your heart': SNOWFLAKE " Kiln Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Mike Bartlett's Christmas cracker Snowflake goes out with a bang, but it really takes a long and clumsy time to do it.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Saturday, December 21, 2019

"Midnight Movie" at The Royal Court by Aleks Sierz

Eve Leigh is an experimental playwright who has tackled difficult issues for more than a decade. Yet most members of the public will know her, and her actor husband Tom Penn, as the neighbor…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 11:34PM[SHARE]

Text of the Day: Midnight Movie by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 15, 2019

'You are left aching for more': A KIND OF PEOPLE " Royal Court Theatre by Aleks Sierz

The family tragedy at the heart of A Kind Of People is emotionally powerful but also oddly incomplete and unsatisfying.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 12, 2019

Text of the Day: Philip Pullman on lying by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 11, 2019

'A dazzling triumph': CYRANO DE BERGERAC " West End by Aleks Sierz

James McAvoy triumphs in Martin Crimp's magnificent makeover of the French classic Cyrano de Bergerac: a jaw-dropping success.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 10, 2019

'The two central performances are compelling': RAVENS: SPASSKY VS FISCHER " Hampstead Theatre by Aleks Sierz

Ravens: Spassky Vs Fischer, an intriguing documentary drama about the chess match of the century, gets bogged down in its final half hour.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 8, 2019

Tom Morton-Smith's "Ravens: Spassky Vs Fischer" at the Hampstead Theatre: Real-Life Cold War Chess Match by Aleks Sierz

Today, we call it soft power. During the Cold War it was more like success at any cost"and by any means necessary. In the 1970s, both the United States and the Soviet Union used sport, as we…

SOURCE: thetheatretimes.com at 02:57AM[SHARE]
Friday, December 6, 2019

Text of the Day: Ian Kershaw on The Greatest Play in the History of the World by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 5, 2019

'Oddly unengaging': MIDNIGHT MOVIE " Royal Court Theatre by Aleks Sierz

I wanted to love this Midnight Movie, but " like almost any screen experience " I couldn't quite connect with it. Despite some disturbing passages, it feels like less than the sum of its par…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 3, 2019

'You leave the theatre enriched by the experience': THE GREATEST PLAY IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD " Trafalgar Studios by Aleks Sierz

Originally produced in association with Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre, director Raz Shaw's production of The Greatest Play in the History of the World is one of the most charming and d…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, December 2, 2019

Text of the Day: Touching the Void by Aleks Sierz

Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM[SHARE]

All that Chat