I’ve been a fan of Tamsin Greig ever since the first episode of the criminally underrated Episodes, so I’d have been quite happy just watching her sit on stage—like Sigourney Weaver in that recent disaster of The Tempest. Luckily for all of us, Greig didn’t just sit. She took on some heavy material in The Deep Blue Sea and delivered it without theatrics or showy breakdowns—just pure pain and flashes of quiet fury.
Mrs Warren’s Profession: Selling sin, buying freedom
George Bernard Shaw’s 1893 play Mrs Warren’s Profession is a bit of a mouthful. For the current production at the Garrick Theatre, the creative team trimmed the text, but it still feels a touch too long. That said, its core themes—sex work, limited opportunities for women, institutional hypocrisy—remain relevant in 2025. And when the cast is this good, you almost don’t mind the extra speeches.
My Master Builder: Grand design, poor execution
I’m all for reuse and recycling, but modern reimaginings of classic plays rarely work. More often than not, they feel like conceptual show homes: stylish on the surface, structurally unsound underneath.
Fiddler on the Roof: Tradition and change
Watching Fiddler on the Roof at the Barbican, in Jordan Fein’s production, was an unexpectedly personal experience. Hearing songs I once rehearsed myself, a quarter of a century ago, felt almost like opening an old diary. Yet this version was worlds apart from our school theatrical experiments.
Political cartoon of the day: Trump-Putin phone call
East is South: Artificial intelligence, natural confusion
As a science writer covering AI, I couldn’t miss East Is South, a play about artificial intelligence penned by Beau Willimon, the mind behind House of Cards. I expected intricate dialogues on power, ethics, and responsibility. Indeed, the audience at Hampstead Theatre got exactly that—and then some. A lot more, in fact.
Whisky, war crimes, and the law: Howard Morrison on justice and power
Had the pleasure of hearing Judge Howard Morrison speak at the University of Greenwich. He’s sharp, direct, and very funny. A man who has stepped between armed factions, drafted laws with a stroke of the pen (literally), and taught Radovan Karadžić how to cross-examine witnesses. He describes himself as a “fully qualified grumpy old man.” Hard to argue.
How a revolt against taxes ended up in Deptford
For a trained eye, the history of London reads like a journal of riots and rebellions, with the occasional outburst of civil unrest. From the Peasants’ Revolt to the Old Price Riots (sparked, believe it or not, by higher theatre ticket prices), Londoners and their neighbours have never shied away from a good uprising—though, more often than not, such ventures resulted in participants being hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Ballet Shoes
British children’s books have a long tradition of subjecting their young characters to varying degrees of neglect, abuse, or outright peril. From Harry Potter crammed under the stairs to the nightmarish lessons handed out in Willy Wonka’s factory, no child is safe when a British author picks up a pen.
Vikings, bones and an archbishop: The tale of St Alfege Church in Greenwich
The year 1011 was supposed to be a triumph for Ælfheah, or Alphege as we know him now—because honestly, who can be bothered to decipher that weird ‘Æ’? Anyway, this Archbishop of Canterbury had been doing quite well for himself. He’d restored churches, worked to spread Christianity in the countryside, and generally managed to keep affairs in order during a turbulent time. A man on the up, one might say.