Theatre Reviews

Our theatre reviews aim to bring you the latest and best performances of plays, dance and music. Ink Pellet celebrates the country’s vibrant regional theatres – from performances of the classics and set texts, to new plays that will inspire and support you.

Once again, we have a merry band of discerning teachers who visit plays in their town (sometimes earning themselves a free programme and interval drink)to review for the magazine.

We’ll also review something you might like – just for sheer pleasure! If you would like to join our panel of reviewers, please join in or email the editor john@inkpellet.co.uk.

  1. Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett – Menier Chocolate Factory

    Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett – Menier Chocolate Factory  

    A surreal play, dating from 1974, Habeas Corpus is farce without the clutter. Director Patrick Marber and his team know how to make vintage Bennett sing. The piece makes no attempt at realism. The set consists of a coffin, identities are continually mistaken, characters burst into song and often deliver soliloquies in rhyming couplets. Twice we […]

  2. Measure for Measure – Sam Wannamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe

    Measure for Measure – Sam Wannamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe  

    Usually listed rather uneasily as a comedy, Measure for Measure is actually a pretty serious play although it descends close to farce in Acts 4 and 5, which is why it’s often dubbed a “problem play”. Blanche McIntyre’s 1970s-set version plays it for laughs. Her cast of eight (there’s some very accomplished doubling) squeeze every […]

  3. THEATRE REVIEW: Animal Farm – National Youth Theatre Rep Company

    THEATRE REVIEW: Animal Farm – National Youth Theatre Rep Company  

    Very clearly reimagined as muscular, vibrant, ensemble-based physical theatre, supported by John Elliott‘s relentless, menacing soundtrack, this riveting take on Animal Farm opens with a mock Pathé News item. It’s immaculately voiced by Will Stewart, who also does a simpering, comfort-loving pragmatic Mollie, and introduces each character. Then we’re into the timeless story about the […]

  4. THEATRE REVIEW: Anton Chekhov – Jermyn Street Theatre

    THEATRE REVIEW: Anton Chekhov – Jermyn Street Theatre  

    Michael Pennington is, as always, a joy to watch and listen to. One of at least three fine one-man shows he has written, toured and revived many times, Anton Chekhov dates from 1984. It’s a glorious monologue in which he depicts the aging Chekhov, reflecting on his life.  Of course it’s autobiographical. We learn that […]

  5. THEATRE REVIEW: Comedy of Errors – Maltings Theatre, Roman Theatre Open Air Festival

    THEATRE REVIEW: Comedy of Errors – Maltings Theatre, Roman Theatre Open Air Festival  

    Imagine one of Shakespeare’s crazier comedic romps set in a Greek karaoke bar and you have a good vehicle for a funny play with songs. The show includes Sinatra, Queen, Abba, I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside and more. The incongruity is part of the joke. We start with the deeply distressed Egeon […]

  6. Theatre Review: Artemisia – National Gallery – Reopening 3 Dec until 24 January 2021

    Theatre Review: Artemisia  – National Gallery – Reopening 3 Dec until 24 January 2021  

    Artemisia Gentileschi, thought to have died around 1654 in her early sixties, was extraordinary. She was the first woman to be admitted to the artists’ academy in Florence and her work was much admired in her lifetime – only to be largely ignored for three centuries before “rediscovery” in the 20th century. This is one […]

  7. Theatre Review: Des – ITV 3 part miniseries

    Theatre Review: Des – ITV 3 part miniseries  

    Dennis Nilsen was a Scottish serial killer in North London who died in 2018. Known as “Des”, he murdered at least 15 young men between 1978 and 1983, although he was convicted of only six. His motivation was necrophilia. This is not a story for the faint-hearted. David Tennant captures the dour, Scots impassivity beautifully. […]

  8. Alice/A Virtual Theme Park – Creation Theatre – Zoom

    Alice/A Virtual Theme Park – Creation Theatre – Zoom  

    The surreal and episodic nature of the Alice stories mean they adapt quite well to a single actor format. And adaptor/director Zoe Seaton has come up with some imaginative ideas such as having Tweedledum and Tweedledee played by one actor (Tom Richardson) with a mirror and Dharmesh Patel as the Mad Hatter wearing a puppet theatre head-dress and operating stick puppets within it.

  9. Noughts and Crosses – BBC iPlayer

    Noughts and Crosses – BBC iPlayer  

    Imagine a world in which Britain (Albion) has been colonised by Africa seven hundred years ago. By 2020 we have some very angry Noughts, oppressed and poor and some very privileged, but often troubled, black rulers or Crosses...

  10. Talking Heads – BBC iPlayer

    Talking Heads – BBC iPlayer  

    Talking Heads – BBC iPlayer Review by Susan ElkinIt was an inspiration to recreate during lockdown the series of twelve monologues which Alan Bennett wrote for TV in 1998. The original series – and the printed text – will be very familiar to many secondary English and Drama teachers as a way of teaching what monologues...