A knockout staging of an odd, incomplete final Sondheim - I entirely get why they went for a reverential approach, but he often wrote to & supported younger musical theatre writers - would have been so interesting to invite other voices to finish it off... www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta....

Jessie Buckley was just wonderful in An Oak Tree - I love the way she balanced the vulnerability that comes with being pregnant on stage with cheekiness + clowning, throwing herself to her knees for a virtuoso air piano sesh [paywall - but currently only £1!] www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

Spent yesterday morning perched on a wall watching the Hastings Jack in the Green parade going by and already it feels like a dream - take me back!

SO many unhinged choices in this Great Gatsby musical, the way it tramples over the novel would be kind of exciting if there was any particular artistic intention there beyond creating a fun + aggressively sexy 1920s romp [paywall] www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

SO many unhinged choices in this Great Gatsby musical, the way it tramples over the novel would be kind of exciting if there was any particular artistic intention there beyond creating a fun + aggressively sexy 1920s romp [paywall] www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

I can't summarise my thoughts on this examination of male violence in a pithy way, sorry, you're just going to have to read the review www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta....

Imagine how proud the creator of my local topiary peacock feels every April, when its tail and crest burst beautifully into bloom. You'd just never get over it. Carry pictures in your wallet.

I miss getting to write about new writing/live art on small stages but the outlets for this are few - thinking of starting a substack with a weekly write-up if there'd be interest in that?

Spotted some beautiful botanical b-sides and rarities at Museum of the Home: daffodils that exploded like fireworks or honked like ducks bills, snakes head fritilleries and glowing golden ferns

Wow the NYT review of Operation Mincemeat is absurd and humourless. Its main criticisms: 1) the show jokes about too many different things 2) the people it's about would NOT have been so larky and silly in real life (otherwise how would they have won the war 😤)

The second I finished this list I thought of at least three London theatres that should be on it... what can I say, my brain has been permanently addled by exposure to dizzying amounts of gilt and velvet www.timeout.com/london/theat...

Returning to freelancing after mat leave feels a bit like being the baker of Pudding Lane returning to the ashes of his ruined kitchen BUT we shall rebuild! And if you need an arts writer or editor, I'm at alice.n.saville[at]gmail.com

This is defo on the better end of the current never-ending supply of teen movie remakes - first act is uncanny valley central, its young cast lab-grown imitations of the OG, then it gradually gets a mind and heart of its own. www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

I knew I'd love Thomas Ostermeier's The Seagull when it opened with a Billy Bragg song and it only got better from there, with its adolescent skulking and self-obsession and big rants about theatre and art (no paywall) www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

I fell in love with Richard II as a student ("I wasted time, now time doth waste me" felt v relatable as finals loomed) - so I was captivated by this production, and Jonathan Bailey's whimsical performance, lightly edged with cruelty and madness www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

I know I shouldn't but I love the chaotic slapstick ballet that unfolds when rollerbladers get into London Bridge and station staff try and catch em, solid team lanyard against liquid limbs

Did all the theatre companies form a little huddle sometime in 2022 in order to dub this The Long Grim Winter of Greek Drama, for reasons unknown? OR is this a horrible accident, where theatrical soothsayers misread the entrails of birds & told each director their production would stand alone?

This is v fair. I'm kind of fed up with the West End box office equation of weird play + massive star, because avant garde theatre fans who might appreciate the production (however flawed) can't get seats, while celebrity chasers who go all out for tickets are feeling tricked

You can tell a lot about the mental state of the world from the middle isle of Lidl... & right now apparently everyone just wants to curl up on the floor like sad old dogs

A great read! And a reminder that arts criticism is necessarily a subjective, human, awkward thing - feeling out the space between artists' imaginings and audience experience

Words cannot express how much I love Dave Malloy's experiments in dragging musical theatre somewhere new and strange (but I did nonetheless try quite a few different ones in this review) www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

Such an intriguing play (and thanks to its probably-Communist author, one with a harsher perspective on white Southern women's culpability than Tennessee Williams' misty-eyed visions) www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

Local hardware store have turned their famous mascot into Santa - maybe he'll fix our dodgy plumbing for Christmas

Oh I loved this outpouring of Wicked nerdery - it's high time you signed up to Exeunt's Substack, for theatre chat in your inbox twice a week

What a lovely thing the NT's Ballet Shoes is - fun and magical, while also quietly celebrating difference and the power of chosen family www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

Gosh it's so long since I disliked something this much - looks like the tyranny of endless West End jukebox musicals has been overthrown by a still worse enemy, unimaginative adaptations of millennial nostalgic films www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

Loved this nostalgic but enjoyably sassy eulogy for Theatre Twitter from @mrlukowski.bsky.social - it's been a scary time to relaunch Exeunt because, like so many indie critics, we were horribly reliant on Twitter for visibility and traffic www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/andr...

Fearsome Freya (the Viking fairy) has gone up a little early this year, as have her associates the Pudding Pusses - it's too grey outside to deny ourselves a bit of festive nonsense

I loved writing this, about the struggles and joys of seeing shows with my new favourite plus one

I loved the way the NT's Earnest is gilded over with queer injokes - from Dalston Superstore to the pair of pink satin pants a butler removes from the sofa with tongs. Gay Christmas has come early! [Paywall] www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

It's so great to be back doing a good old theatre nerdy dialogue on Exeunt - thinking about cameras on stage, and whether they're a tired trope or the way of the future open.substack.com/pub/exeuntma...