Reviews
Barbican: The Buddha of Suburbia
Hanif Kureishi’s seminal coming-of-age and state-of-the-nation novel gets its first staging in this extravagant adaptation by Emma Rice.
Tower Theatre: Princess and the Hustler
Bristol’s bus boycotts and beauty pageants are the unlikely backdrop to Chinonyerem Odimba’s precious story of innocence infected by racism.
National Theatre: A Tupperware of Ashes
Alzheimer’s disease tears at the fraying edges of a family whose fearsome but loving matriarch struggles with the realisation the disease is stealing her memories in this compassionate portrait from Tanika Gupta.
Soho Place: Death of England – Closing Time
The concluding part of Dyer’s and Williams’ ground-breaking trilogy shines a fervent light on the reality of race and the obstacles and fallacies of cultural assimilation, in this forensic examination of identity.
The Duke Of York’s Theatre: Shifters
A romantic drama with light comedic notes, Shifters tenderly explores the seemingly myriad ways two people’s lives can intersect in this well-deserved West End transfer.
Soho Place: Death of England – Delroy
The second part of Roy Williams' epic triptych presents a simultaneously grim and hopeful depiction of life for the black working class in this triumphant state-of-the-nation series.
Soho Place: Death of England – Michael
This working class cry of rage triumphs in communicating the fury of the forgotten in this updated version of the first part of duo Roy Williams' and Clint Dyer's state-of-the-nation trilogy.
National Theatre: The Hot Wing King
A hot wing making team are forced to confront personal demons, chilli and spice in this delicious UK debut from Katori Hall
Noël Coward Theatre: Slave Play
A provocative exploration of power, sex and race in this polarising and messy examination in Jeremy O. Harris’ triptych-pastiche UK debut of the antebellum South.
Donmar Warehouse: Skeleton Crew
The final part of Dominique Morisseau’s three-play cycle, Skeleton Crew feels like a bare-bones portrait of Detroit’s spirit and survival.