950 stories by "Laura Kressly"
Shakespeare 400 has understandably inspired a glut of Shakespeare productions this month. Whilst it's brilliant to see people celebrating the Bard at all performance levels and abilities, th…
Fringe Shakespeare can be terrible, brilliant and everything in between those two ends of the spectrum. The better productions are vivacious and effortlessly handle Shakespeare's language wh…
Five performers gleefully throw themselves around the stage inside Southbank's upside down purple cow. Displays of tumbling, trapeze and acrobatics abound, but what makes Australian company …
Laura is a single mum who just wants a shag. Jake is also a fan of no strings attached sex. When the two match on Tinder and he cabs it over to her east Glasgow neighbourhood, things start o…
Jay Gatsby's distinctive yellow car is an iconic image in The Great Gatsby. Power, wealth and charisma emanate from its shimmering, custom paint job as it rolls between Long Island and Manha…
Alistair McDowall's Pomona was one of the best things I saw last year, after it transferred to the National. Like many others I eagerly awaited his latest work, X, at the Royal Court. Set on…
Kate Lock's Russian Dolls tells the fraught story of an unlikely dependency that is doomed to end badly for both women. Lock's characters are fantastic, and their scenes together are tense a…
It's purely anecdotal, but it feels like one-person shows have become vastly more popular over the past few years. It makes sense: they're cheaper to produce, easy to tour, give theatre make…
It's a touching story about the human condition and need to connect with others, no matter how damaged we might be, and the character-driven plot in a well-suited venue make this a good prod…
Phil Willmott's musical could easily be at home in a large, commercial venue but rather than wait for a big money backer, he puts it on the fringe. Though it lacks progressiveness in form, P…
People, Places and Things is really about reaching rock bottom and not knowing who the fuck you are anymore and barely keeping it together from moment to moment. The depiction of that emotio…
Kids have it tough, especially if they're poor. Decreasing social mobility, higher costs of education and living, and decreasing welfare are trapping our future generations in inescapable cy…
When I received an invitation to Camden People's Theatre festival Sprint 2016 closing show, Will Dickie's latest work Rave Space, I jumped at the opportunity to experience more of his work.
In 1968, Elvis Presley was an ageing, faded icon, largely disregarded by the free love/anti-war youth of the 60s. Towards the end of a particularly rough year, he filmed the '68 Comeback Spe…
Shakespeare productions in churches are similar to those at the Globe: the ornateness of the environment is a set in itself that gives the show grandeur and importance. Scena Mundi's Twelfth…
Fabrice Dominici is a solitary librarian who takes great pleasure from the books he tenderly looks after. Gently stroking them, he flips to his favourite passages before giving them a sniff …
I hate balloons. Well, not balloons themselves, but the noise they make when they burst. After more than three years as a children's entertainer that does balloon modelling, you'd think I'd …
The heaps of white pillows that cover most of the stage make How To Survive a Swarm of Bees look like a slumber party or a kids' fort, something with a lot of fun and giggles. But Anna Crace…
Sunday evening was a night of new discoveries. The Canvas Café, just off Brick Lane, serves homemade cakes and prosecco by the glass. It also has walls you can write on and a cosy downstair…
This year sees the launch of a new playwriting competition, RED Women’s Theatre Awards. Co- produced by Edinburgh-based academic and playwright Effie Samara, Greenwich Theatre and Fema…
Musical theatre is growing rapidly on the fringe, thanks to venues that focus on small-scale shows and producers staging lesser-known works. New British musicals are seen less often, with on…
It's 2011. Ben and Jibreel are typical teenaged boys " obsessed with video games, worried about girls, school, friends and family. They regularly meet on X-box Live for lengthy gaming sessio…
I had never heard of Mary Seacole until I began working in UK schools, several years after my arrival to the UK. What a woman!
Cross-gender and gender blind casting goes a long way to fight the pervasive gender inequality in theatre. With male characters dominating Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, these casting app…
Say your only close friends are people you work with. Can you trust them to help you out if you're struggling with your health? Martin's mental health is deteriorating, so Daniel, Louis and …
