King’s Head theatre, London An office toilet once used by the wartime PM sparks a culture war in this frenzied show about politics and patriarchyWhen Rachel Reeves became chancellor in 2024, she said it felt like “smashing one of the last glass ceiling…
Continue ReadingThe Crescent, YorkThe comedian addresses a relationship breakup via The Waste Land, Aldi and a dimwit estate agentHow has it come to this? That’s what new show Tilting at Windmills finds John Kearns asking, and – after a fashion – it’s what TS Eliot as…
Continue ReadingGrayson the Musical will explore ‘identity, creativity and self-acceptance … with life coaching from a six-foot teddy bear named Alan’Grayson Perry’s life story is to be told in an “outrageous” new stage musical co-created with the composer of Jerry Sp…
Continue ReadingUS comedian has a remarkable ability to transform amusing, if somewhat banal, anecdotes into meticulously crafted joy and preposterousnessIn terms of both quality and quantity, Josh Johnson is producing standup at a more prolific rate than any other co…
Continue ReadingBush theatre, LondonMarried aspiring standups confront on stage what they’re concealing in real life, in Piers Black’s compelling two-handerStandup is performance in extremis, self-projection in the raw – and has long appealed to dramatists interested …
Continue ReadingLyric Hammersmith, London The dissolute aristocrats from 1895 remain sharply funny, and bitingly relevant, in this flamboyant new spinOscar Wilde’s comedy was billed as a “play of modern life” when it premiered at the Haymarket theatre in London in 189…
Continue ReadingWhen she broke through the glass ceiling and became chancellor, Reeves found her office had its own latrine. Rosie Holt reveals why she turned the story into a play called Churchill’s UrinalBritain is a conservative country, we are repeatedly told. So …
Continue ReadingDudley Town HallWith bits about Prince, Tiswas, his Jamaican family and his long career, the standup treads familiar ground and the home-town crowd love itIn this new standup show – his first tour since 2010 – Lenny Henry says he generally turns down r…
Continue ReadingShe has suddenly become one of the world’s most successful comedians, with a hit Netflix special, an Emmy-nominated role in Hacks and another opposite Steve Carell. But many of her jokes raise hackles. Is she a genius – or an edgelord?‘Once in a while,…
Continue ReadingThe Victoria Wood theatre, Bowness-on-WindermereMarking 10 years since the late comic’s death, this affectionate show blends her songs with a time-slip tale of friendship, regret and middle ageThis Lake District venue was called the Old Laundry theatre…
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