Finally, a piece exploring youth dance in London, which I thought would become pessimistic (because funding, infrastructure) but the enthusiasm and smarts of the youngers are infectious www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Also kind of loved this batshit crazy show last week www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Anyway here's my latest tabloid dance gubbins - on Aakash Odedra's throbbingly vivid Songs of the Bulbul www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

"I love your dance reviews," said someone at the theatre last night. "They’re so tabloid!" Which is... thank you?

‘I would go-go dance in a shower then work on sonnets!’ Ncuti Gatwa’s sexy new Shakespearean drama Cheeky Gatwa talks to David Jays in @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

Elliot Levey is a terrific actor - and such a lovely writer. This is so good on sharing the stage with Michael Gambon's Falstaff: "It got to the point where I was permanently wet, we all were. Michael would throw a water bomb at me as I walked on stage." www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

So this was fun: spoke to Ncuti Gatwa & Edward Bluemel about queering the classics, the best level of fame and Ncuti's student gig as a go-go dancer. (And a bit of Doctor Who obvs) www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

Everything Sam Knight writes is golden. He's gleefully good on Jack Draper: "In person, he is large-limbed but contained. He is a jock who might have got a little fucked up last night but is now being polite to someone’s parents. (He might also be about to eat the contents of their fridge.)"

Wonderful review from @mrdavidjays.bsky.social of Intimate Apparel at the Donmar - who tells me he would have liked to have been able to mention the magnificent costumes by Alex Berry, as well as praise for the entire cast, but word count forbad. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

This Bitter Earth review: every scene ends in a strop or a snog & Billy Porter's production presses down hard on the pedals www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

LOVED Intimate Apparel. Lynette Linton is a wonderful director of actors - performances in her shows are always warm and ample. A company of talents surpass themselves, in a show rich with care. Loved it. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

We saw Elton from afar, not to mention Dame Penelope Wilton: a good night for star spotting at Quadrophenia, but the real dazzle was on stage www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Dream Ballets at the Open Air was a lovely idea: pairing serious dance talent to lush Rodgers & Hammerstein. But still can't work out how/why all 3 choreographers staged versions of the same limiting scenario www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Loved revisiting Theatr Clwyd to see the redeveloped theatre (had a hard hat tour, a day out doesn’t get better than this). And Tick, tick... boom! is a punchy opening show - a statement of intent about the urgent necessity of making art www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

In Matthew Bourne's The Midnight Bell, everyone drinks so much you may feel slightly squiffy yourself. It's furtive glances, dire couplings and blotto all the way to bedtime www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Bush theatre in blue hour rain #blueskymonday

We used to see a load of Robert Lepage shows in London. This Macbeth doesn't sound great, but still makes me want to see more of his boggling sense of stage design

Also! I met lord of the theatre poster Bob King. Enjoyed hearing about strong graphic design, and even more about the dog which got sent home in a taxi when his owner went on to the theatre www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/m...

Reviewed flamenco diva Sara Baras at Sadler's Wells. Phenomenal footwork and a beast of a curtain call that is quite possibly still going on www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Excited to see The Frogs - you should get a badge every time you add an unseen Sondheim to your list. It's not great, but it's Sondheim www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/m...

Review catch up - Northern Ballet's Jane Eyre, choreographed by Cathy Marston, is slightly overstuffed - but reminded me of happy days bunking off to read the novel (adult David would never etc) www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Had a delightful chat with Crystal Pite - still giggling at the genius choreographer insisting she really REALLY doesn't like choreographing www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

One of the most emotional interviews I've done in a while - with the brilliant choreographer & movement director Coral Messam, on Stranger Things, Steve McQueen & the stroke that changed everything www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/m...

Review! Fun was had at the opening night of Breakin'Convention - especially the entranced young ones next to me, starting solemn then bobbing & whooping with the best www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Three-headed creativity, angry sweat-drenched dance, plus the easiest pitch of my career - I meet (La)Horde as they collab with Rambert www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

The (not-so) secret lives of #RutgersLaw lawyers👏

It was a delight to chat ballet with Christina for Why Dance Matters - and especially her reflections on dance class as a sanctuary in turbulent times and on ballet as a model for civil society. Love it when non-dance pros bring unexpected perspectives and experiences to the podcast.

REVIEW It’s only Torvill & Dean! Art and cheese skate arm in arm here, but they keep it classy www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/a...

REVIEW I had the best time at The Forsythe Programme (ENB @sadlerswells.bsky.social) - exhilarating experiment and wall-to-wall panache. I could watch Playlist every day and never lose this goofy grin www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

REVIEW Holly Blakey's new double bill. Raw and febrile, and the moves come at you with dizzying speed. www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Theatre pals, the 3rd ep of @cockneyyiddish.bsky.social is an ace dive into London's Yiddish theatre (with exuberant @davidschneider.bsky.social). Loved the rambunctious energy & hearing Shylock in Yiddish (my mum remembered a Yiddish Merchant of Venice; her best friend recalled Yiddish Strindberg!)

Big podcast recommend for the fascinating @cockneyyiddish.bsky.social. Shifting language, radical protest, saucy new lives, songs and stories (read wonderfully by Miriam Margolyes & Nick Cassenbaum): and that's just the first 2 episodes. What's not to love?

REVIEW! Balanchine and the joy of dance making at the Royal Ballet (pro tip: don't marry Balanchine) www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

REVIEW Lots to enjoy in new double bill by Ballet Black, in My Sister, The Serial Killer. Too few ballets open with the heroine getting rid of a corpse... www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew @bushtheatre.bsky.social - a perfect play for spring. Coral Wylie is a talent: impressively empathetic writing, even about the frets of middle age. Enjoyed Debbie Hannan & Max Johns' traverse staging, showing the other half of the audience also mopping their eyes...

Review! Dance Reflections festival is back in London. Mixed opening night - couldn't love an ice-meltingly slow solo, but adored Trisha Brown company’s double bill and superb dancers - making miracles from everyday moves www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Still thinking about the costumes by Lambdog1066 - not so much clothes as gorgeously unlikely poems (delicious photos by Manuel Harlan)

Felt a pang at my final visit to the old @theyardtheatre.bsky.social, though The Glass Menagerie is a beautiful way to say goodbye. The long fragile scene between Laura and her gentleman caller is breathtaking - sensationally delicate stage debuts by Eva Morgan & Jad Sayegh

Today I will mostly be watching peregrine falcons on the London Met livecam. Falcon currently enjoying a light breakfast hml.londonmet.ac.uk/Live/34

Review! Every detail tells a story in the Royal Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet - opening strongly with a soft boi Romeo and wised up Juliet www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

"It strikes me that while our conversation rests upon Brown’s death, its sights are set on life. That seems right: in the dance field Brown made waves when she was alive, but each life must itself finally break – & when it does, its water ripples outwards & returns that life to the world." Beautiful

First wild garlic of the year. Spring, despite everything, is springing.

A heartrending listen: about a life falling through the the cracks, and about tenacious attempts to honour that life.

Acosta Danza review: fantastic dancers, patchy choreography www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Roses are red Lemons are tarter On Valentine's I took my love To see tanztheater www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Had a tour of brand spanking new Sadler's Wells East. I always thought the rule about not letting new buildings loom behind St Paul's Cathedral was an urban myth - but it's real, so @sadlerswells.bsky.social had to redesign their original plan www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Had a tour of brand spanking new Sadler's Wells East. I always thought the rule about not letting new buildings loom behind St Paul's Cathedral was an urban myth - but it's real, so @sadlerswells.bsky.social had to redesign their original plan www.standard.co.uk/culture/danc...

Catching up on my recent bits - here's a review of Belarus Free Theatre's KS6 at the Barbican www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/f...

Doubt and the known unknowns... review of starchy Maxine Peake in the Ustinov's revival in Bath www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/f...

Oedipus review! Spectacular dance creates the world and its terrors here. Rami Malek will get some stick, but it's an interesting physical performance - and I'd blame text/direction rather than celebrity casting for any lack of conviction www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/f...