Reviews by Simon Jenner Reviews Neal Hampton, Jeffrey Haddow “Sense & Sensibility” Arcola, Grimeborn Opera, Hackney BBC Prom 35 Gubaidulina, Ravel, Shostakovich Symphony No. 13, Royal Albert Hall Bubil & Schonberg “Les Misérables” Theatre Royal Brighton Trio Cavatina, St Nicholas Church, Brighton John Joubert “Jane Eyre” Arcola, Grimeborn Opera, Hackney Matt Jelf Song Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Matthew Bourne “The Midnight Bell”, Theatre Royal Brighton Paul Gregory Guitar Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Short Plays 2025 New Venture Theatre, Brighton “UnTethered ” Yellow Book Theatre “Extraordinary Women” Jermyn Street Theatre “Top Hat”, Chichester Festival Theatre Mercedes Gancedo and Quimey Urquiaga Soprano and Piano Recital Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Robert Bolt “A Man For All Seasons “, Theatre Royal Brighton Handel “Saul”, Glyndebourne Chiara Atik “Poor Clare “, Orange Tree, Richmond “The Merry Wives of Windsor” Shakespeare’s Globe Shaan Sahota “The Estate ” National Theatre, Dorfman Ivan Hovorun Piano Recital Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton James Inverne “That Bastard, Puccini” Park Theatre 200 Fever Concert, Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” by Candelight, Brighton Pavilion Music Room Lynn Nottage, “Intimate Apparel” at Donmar Warehouse Sean Daniels “The White Chip” Southwark Playhouse, Borough Tim Price “Nye” National Theatre, Olivier Emily Jennings and Cassandra Mathews Song and Guitar Recital Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Conor McPherson “Girl from the North Country” The Old Vic “Ghost Stories”, Theatre Royal Brighton Kwanita Lau and Charles Tam Violin/Piano Recital Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Claire Dowie “H to He (I’m Turning into a man)” Finborough Sarah Kane “4.48 Psychosis” Royal Court Theatre Upstairs O’Neill “A Moon for the Misbegotten” Almeida, Islington Claire Dowie “See Primark and Die” Finborough Sheridan “The Rivals” at Brighton Open Air Theatre Regent Wind Quintet Recital Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Jordan Ross, Lindsay Rosin, Roger Kumble “Cruel Intentions”, Theatre Royal Brighton Wagner “Parsifal”, Glyndebourne Sarah Ruhl “Eurydice” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Euripides “Medea” Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill Frantisek Brikcius Cello Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton James Graham “Boys From the Blackstuff”, Theatre Royal Brighton Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal, Brighton Tolstoy, adapted Phillip Breen “Anna Karenina ”, Chichester Festival Theatre Joan Littlewood “Oh What a Lovely War” Brighton Little Theatre at BOAT Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti “Marriage Material” Lyric Hammersmith Claire Dowie “Why is John Lennon Wearing a Skirt?” Finborough Claire Dowie “Adult Child/Dead Child” Finborough Mario Banushi “Taverna Miresia” Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill Rachel Wagstaff “The Girl On The Train”, Theatre Royal Brighton Charlie Josephine “I, Joan” Brighton Little Theatre at BOAT The Blue Cafe Duo Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Rattigan “In Praise of Love”, Orange Tree, Richmond Aristophanes, Sondheim, Lane “The Frogs” Southwark Playhouse Borough Beth Levin Recital MOOT Concert Unitarian, Brighton Stockhausen and Feldman MOOT Concert Unitarian, Brighton Miaoyan Li Piano Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Sophocles “Electra” BN1 Arts Studio Theatre, Brighton Suse Crosby “Duty” The Lantern Theatre, Brighton Ibsen “Ghosts” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Billy Barrett, Ellice Stevens “After The Act” Royal Court Theatre Downstairs Saskia Wesnigk-Wood “Darwin’s Cleaner” Unitarian, Brighton Harriet Madeley “Outpatient” Park Theatre 90, Finsbury Park Miller “The Crucible” Shakespeare’s Globe Yoko Ono Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Timberlake Wertenbaker “Little Brother ” Jermyn Street Theatre Isaac Freeman “Medium ” The Lantern Theatre, Brighton G. K .Chesterton “The Man Who Was Thursday”, Rotunda Bubble, Brighton Fringe Athena Stevens “Diagnosis ” Finborough “North by Northwest” Wise Children, Theatre Royal Brighton Cellist Siriol Hugh-Jones and Pianist Stephen Carroll-Turner Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Ava Pickett “1536” Almeida, Islington Stephen Sondheim, David Ives “Here We Are” National Theatre Lyttelton Shakespeare “Hamlet” Teatro La Plaza (Peru), Theatre Royal Brighton Stoppard “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, Friends Meeting House, Brighton Jonathan McLean “Touching it Makes Baby Jesus Cry: The Musical”. Caxton Arms, Brighton Deborah Clair “Dangerous to Know ” The Lantern Theatre, Brighton Jon Fosse “Einkvan” Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill Jez Butterworth “Parlour Song”, Greenwich Theatre John Collins Organ Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky “The Gang of Three” King’s Head Theatre, Islington Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet” Shakespeare’s Globe R L Stevenson/Neil Bartlett “Jekyll and Hyde” Brighton Little Theatre Corrina O’Beirne “With Ruby & I” The Lantern Theatre, Brighton Tim Coakley “In Search of the Dance” The Lantern Theatre, Brighton Heather Alexander “Becoming Maverick” The Actors, Brighton Melanie Bell, Hannah Doyle “Joan”, The Actors, Brighton Joel Tan “Scenes from a Repatriation” Royal Court Theatre Upstairs St Nicholas Kenny Fu Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Samuel Rees and Gabriele Uboldi “Lessons on Revolution” Jermyn Street Theatre Helen Edmundson “The Heresy of Love” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Mark Ravenhill “Ben and Imo”, Orange Tree, Richmond Conor McPherson “The Brightening Air” The Old Vic St Nicholas Eugenia and Quentin Russell Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Christie “Murder on the Orient Express” Theatre Royal Brighton Simon Stephens “Heisenberg” Arcola, Hackney Grace Joy Howarth “The Inseparables” Finborough El Blackwood “Tending” Riverside Studios Hammersmith Richard O’Brien “Rocky Horror Show” Theatre Royal Brighton Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal, Brighton Robert Icke “Manhunt” Royal Court Theatre Downstairs Martin McDonagh “The Beauty Queen of Leenane”, Southwick Players, The Barn Southwick Naomi Denny “All the Happy Things” Soho Theatre Louis-Viktor Bak Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Jonathan Maitland “WILKO: Love and Death and Rock ‘n’ Roll” Southwark Playhouse Borough Ian Shaw, Joseph Nixon “The Shark is Broken” Theatre Royal, Brighton Lula Mebrahtu “I Am – OommoO” The Old Market, Brighton Micheál Mac Liammóir “The Importance of Being Oscar” Jermyn Street Theatre Ionesco “Rhinoceros” Almeida, Islington Anna Brikciusova Solo Cello Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Sammy Fain/Paul Francis Webster/Philip J Lang “Calamity Jane” Theatre Royal Brighton Elizabeth Newman “The Secret Garden”/Mark Evans “Bleak Expectations” Brighton Little Theatre Armando Iannucci, Sean Foley, Stanley Kubrick “Dr Strangelove” NT Live Mark O’Rowe “The Approach” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Pam Cragg and Maggie Grimsdell Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Harvey Fierstein/Cyndi Lauper “Kinky Boots” The Musical, Theatre Royal Brighton Nick Hyde “Double Act” Southwark Playhouse, Borough James Graham “Dear England” National Theatre Olivier April de Angelis “Playhouse Creatures”, Orange Tree, Richmond Franz Xaver Kroetz “Men’s Business” Finborough Theatre John Bruzon Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Steve Barrey “Flutter-Bye” Ironworks Studios, Brighton O’Donnell/Meehan/Waters “Cry-Baby” Arcola, Hackney Jane Upton “(the) Woman” Connaught, Worthing C. S. Lewis/Sally Cookson “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” Theatre Royal Brighton Topher Payne “Perfect Arrangement” Brighton Little Theatre Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal, Brighton Shakespeare “Macbeth” Lyric Hammersmith Michael Abbensetts/Trish Cooke “Alterations” National Theatre, Lyttelton Peter James “Picture You Dead” Theatre Royal Brighton Nick Payne “One Day When We Were Young” Park Theatre 90, Finsbury Park Teatro dei Gordi “Pandora” Coronet, Notting Hill Anna Morris “Son of a Bitch” Southwark Playhouse, Borough Oliver Cotton “The Score” Theatre Royal, Haymarket Khawla Ibraheem “A Knock on the Roof” Royal Court Theatre Downstairs Ronojit Bhuyan Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Chekhov “Three Sisters” Shakespeare’s Globe Sam Wanamaker Chris Bush “Otherland” Almeida, Islington Raold Dahl David Greig, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Theatre Royal Brighton Olivia Hurst/David Byrne “The Incident Room” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Vaughan Williams, J.M. Synge “Riders to the Sea” OperaUpClose, Arts Depot David Greig “Outlying Islands”, Jermyn Street Theatre Nadya Menuhin/Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz “The Passenger” Finborough Theatre Lauren Mooney, James Yeatman “More Life” Royal Court Upstairs Paul Hendy “The Last Laugh” Theatre Royal Brighton Howard Brenton “Churchill in Moscow” Orange Tree, Richmond George Orwell/Adapted Ian Wooldridge “Animal Farm” Rose Theatre Kingston Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal, Brighton Sebastian Faulks/Rachel Wagstaff “Birdsong” Theatre Royal Brighton John Bruzon Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Mark Jagasia “The Double Act” Arcola, Hackney Diane Samuels “As Long As We Are Breathing” Arcola, Hackney Emily Jenkins “Bobby & Amy” Brighton Little Theatre Dan O’Brien, The “Voyage of the Carcass”, Emily Jenkins “Bobby & Amy” Brighton Little Theatre Luca Luciano Clarinet Solo Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Dave Florez “The Gift” Park Theatre 200 Mark Tournoff “A Word With the Bird” SweetVenues, Brighton Shakespeare “Macbeth” Theatre Royal Brighton Shakespeare “Cymbeline” Shakespeare’s Globe, Sam Wanamaker James Pusey and Marc Clayton Sitar/Tabla Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Shakespeare “Macbeth” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Faradena Afifi, Steve Beresford & Paul Khimasia Morgan “Bee Reiki” Amy Jephta “A Good House” Royal Court Theatre Downstairs Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson “Kyoto” RSC Soho Place Yohei Nakajima/Miho Sanou Viola/Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Shaw/Mark Giesser “The Devil May Care” Southwark Playhouse, Borough Philip Ridley “Tarantula” Arcola, Hackney Genet “The Maids”, Jermyn Street Theatre Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal, Brighton Saana Sze “Belly of the Beast”, Finborough Theatre Hannah Khalil/R. L. Stevenson “Treasure Island” Orange Tree, Richmond Tennessee Williams “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof” Almeida Theatre Zinnie Harris/Douglas Hodge/Johnny McKnight “101 Dalmatians: The Musical” Theatre Royal, Brighton Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal, Brighton Helen Edmundson (adaptor) Tolstoy “Anna Karenina”, The Barn, Southwick Slava Polunin “Slava’s Snow Show” Theatre Royal, Brighton Kendall Feaver “Ballet Shoes” National Theatre, Olivier Beckett “Happy Days” Arcola, Hackney Sutura Gayle “The Legends of Them”, The Royal Court Euripides/Sara Farrington “A Trojan Woman” King’s Head Theatre, Islington Piers Torday/John Masefield “The Box of Delights” Brighton Little Theatre Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard, Lee Hall “Shakespeare in Love” Lewes Little Theatre Sam Holcroft “Rules for Living” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Various “Cutting the Tightrope: The Divorce of Politics from Art” Arcola, Hackney Wilde “The Importance of Being Earnest” NT Lyttelton Brecht, Eisler “Stranger Than the Moon” Coronet, Notting Hill Pippa Evans “Now That’s What I Call a Musical” Theatre Royal Brighton Shakespeare “Twelfth Night” Orange Tree, Richmond Ruari Conaghan “Lies Where It Falls” Finborough Theatre Emteaz Hussain “Expendable” Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs John Savournin, David Eaton “Napoleon: Un Petit Pantomime” Jermyn Street Theatre Jeff Bowen/Hunter Bell “{Title of Show}” Southwark Playhouse Borough, Large John Collins Organ Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton Shakespeare “All’s Well That Ends Well” Shakespeare’s Globe, Sam Wanamaker Berniya Hamie Piano Recital, St Nicholas Church, Brighton “John Macfarlane Theatre Design and Studio” Simeon Walker Piano Recital, St Nicholas Church, Brighton Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal, Brighton Mary Melwood “Mixie” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Tim Price “Nye” National Theatre at Home (NT Olivier) Gabriele Sutkuté Piano Recital, St Nicholas Church, Brighton Simple8 “Land of the Free” Southwark Playhouse (Borough) Ece Temelkuran adapted by Leyla Nazli “Women Who Blow on Knots” Arcola, Hackney Ché Walker “Burnt-Up Love” Finborough Alexander Zeldin “The Other Place” NT Lyttelton Hideki Noda “Love in Action” Sadler’s Wells Rajiv Joseph “Guards at the Taj” Orange Tree Orwell adapted by Ryan Craig “1984” Theatre Royal Brighton Lucy Kirkwood “The Welkin” at the Wagner Hall Brighton Joanna Carrick “The Ungodly” at Southwark Playhouse (Borough) Ali Smith Adapted by Harry McDonald “Autumn”, at the Park Theatre Ibsen “The Wild Duck” at The Coronet Theatre Ayckbourn “Confusions” Brighton Little Theatre Oli Forsyth “Brace Brace” Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Josh Azouz “Gigi & Dar” at Arcola, Hackney Steven Levenson/Benj Pasek/Justin Paul Dear “Evan Hansen” Theatre Royal Brighton John Patrick Shanley “Savage in Limbo” at the Lantern Theatre, Brighton Kara Wilson “Beryl Cook: A Private View” Finborough Sussex Musicians SMC Chapel Royal, Brighton Wilde “Salomé” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Sarah Ruhl “Eurydice” Jermyn Street Theatre Andrew Kay “John & Thomas” Latest at Horatio’s Bar Palace Pier Charlotte Jones “Redlands” Chichester Festival Tanika Gupta “A Tupperware of Ashes” National Theatre Dorfman Evelyn Harrison and Zhanna Kemp-Dashkovskya Recital, St Nicholas, Brighton Wesker “Roots”, Osborne “Look Back in Anger” Almeida Theatre O’Donnell/Meehan/Shaiman/Wittman “Hairspray” Theatre Royal, Brighton Mark Rosenblatt “Giant” Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs Ellie Blackshaw Recital, St Nicholas, Brighton “Janie Dee’s Beautiful World Cabaret” Jermyn Street Theatre David Edgar “Here in America” Orange Tree Stoppard “The Real Inspector Hound”; Mike Bartlett “Contractions” BLT Gareth Strachan “Project M.E.” The Rock Inn Pub Anne Odeke “Princess Essex” Shakespeare’s Globe Sussex Musicians SMC Chapel Royal September 14th 2024 Carey Crim “23.5 Hours” Park Theatre Shakespeare “The Comedy of Errors” Shakespeare’s Globe Sidney Howard “The Silver Cord” Finborough Stoppard “The Real Thing”, The Old Vic Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre, Tricia Paoluccio, Jonathan Harvey “Dolly Parton Here You Come Again” Theatre Royal Brighton Tife Kusoro “G” Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs David Eldridge/John Le Carré “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” Chichester Festival Paul Du Toit “The Unlikely Secret Agent” Marylebone Theatre Jane Austen and Adapted by Abigail Pickard Pride and Prejudice Jermyn Street Theatre Edoardo Erba “Utoya” Arcola, Hackney The John Lake Quartet Recital, St Nicholas, Brighton BBC Prom 24 Purcell “The Fairy Queen”, Les Arts Florissants /Agnew at the Royal Albert Hall BBC Prom 23 Rachmaninov, Symphonic Dances and Busoni, Piano Concerto Annie Ernaux, Adapted Eline Arbo “The Years” Almeida Theatre John Steinbeck Adaptor Frank Galati “The Grapes of Wrath” National Theatre Lyttelton Sussex Flutes, All Saints Hove Paul Unwin “The Promise” Chichester Festival, Minverva Theatre John Fowles adapted Mark Healy “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” Brighton Little Theatre Siofra Dromgole “After Sex” Arcola, Hackney Katori Hall “The Hot Wing King” NT Dorfman BBC Prom 5 Schoenberg and Zemlinsky July 22nd 2024 ACT Graduate Showcase ACT Lantern, Brighton Handel “Gulio Cesare” Glyndebourne Lucas Hnath “Red Speedo” Orange Tree Nassim Soleimanpour “ECHO” Royal Court Downstairs Hammig String Quartet, St Nicholas, Brighton Vivienne Franzmann “The IT” Lantern, Brighton Joy Wilkinson “The Sweet Science of Bruising” New Venture Theatre, Brighton Inna Gonchorova “The Trumpeter” Finborough Martha Loader “Bindweed” Arcola, Hackney Kendall Feaver “Alma Mater” Almeida John Van Druten “The Voice of the Turtle” Jermyn Street Theatre Simon McBurney “Mnemonic” NT Olivier Joe Penhall “The Constituent” The Old Vic Shakespeare “The Taming of the Shrew” Shakespare’s Globe Sophie Swithinbank “Surrender” Arcola, Hackney Vicki McKellar/Guy Masterson “The Marilyn Conspiracy” Park Theatre Laura Waldren “Some Demon” Arcola, Hackney Beckett “The Beckett Trilogy”, The Coronet Theatre Nick Payne “Constellations”, New Venture Theatre Stewart Pringle “The Bounds” Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Pinter “The Caretaker”, Chichester Festival Minerva Jack Klaff “Kafka” Finborough Theatre Churchill “Heart’s Desire/ L’Amore Del Cuore” Coronet Theatre Jez Butterworth “The Hills of California” Harold Pinter Theatre The Bible in Early Modern Drama: Robert Owen “The History of Purgatory”, Globe Wanamaker Matthew Spangler, Kaled Hosseini “The Kite Runner” Theatre Royal Brighton Alice Childress “Wedding Band” Lyric Hammersmith Coward “Suite in Three Keys” Orange Tree Angus Cerini “The Bleeding Tree” Southwark Playhouse Little Helen Edmundson adapt. Jamila Gavin “Coram Boy” Chichester Festival Margaret Perry (adaptor) Maggie Nelson “Bluets” Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs James Graham, Alan Bleasdale “Boys From the Blackstuff” NT Olivier Ciara Elizabeth Smyth “Lie Low” Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Jerry Herman “Jerry’s Girls”, The Menier Chocolate Factory Chekhov “The Cherry Orchard” The Donmar Warehouse Lorca/Steven Dykes “Homestead” Brighton Open Air Theatre Philippa Lawford “Cold Water” Park Theatre Gabriel Fogarty-Graveson/Felix Grainger “Sniff” Park Theatre Matthew Zajac “The Tailor of Inverness” Finborough Wendy Beckett “Sappho” Southwark Playhouse Elephant Read Not Dead Richard Brome “The English Moor” Globe Wanamaker Stopgap “Lived Fiction” Brighton Dome Corn Exchange Alistair McDowall “Captain Amazing” Southwark Playhouse Little Studio Laura Lomas “The House Party” Chichester Festival Tim Price “Nye” NT Live NT Olivier “Much Ado About Nothing”, Shakespeare’s Globe
