ROBIN EDWARDS
London

Austentatious

Another Edinburgh show that I didn’t get the chance to watch in Edinburgh. It’s been a sell out every year at the fringe for five years running. So got to see in London. It’s an entirely improvised play done in the style of a Jane Austen novel. The whole cast is in full regency costume and there’s a live musical accompaniment. The title of the play is set by the audience that night, so no play is ever exactly the same. I love a bit of improv and this is probably one of the most professional and well done versions there is. Some well known comedians among the cast as well, including Rachel Parris and Cariad Lloyd. The show was very funny, really enjoyed it.

 

 

London

The Inheritance

Every so often a play comes along that gets almost universal glowing five star reviews. The Inheritance was one of these plays. Written by Matthew Lopez and directed by Stephen Daldry, it’s a contemporary take on the classic EM Forster novel Howard’s End. It examines love between gay men in New York a generation after the AIDS epidemic and asks what the current generation owes to its past. I had multiple friends describe it as one of the best play or possibly even the best play they’d ever seen, quite the reviews. It also won many awards and honours, including Best Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. It initially started at the Young Vic before transferred to the West End at the Noel Coward Theatre. Tickets were pretty pricey at well over a £100 each, but we managed to get a deal and ended up paying just £50 each through TodayTix. This is a super long play, staged in two parts over different days, each part some three hours long. I was worried it might be a bit long and pretty heavy going, but it really wasn’t. I was utterly gripped the whole way through. It was a complete rollercoaster of emotions, i laughed, i cried, i actually felt drained afterwards almost barely able to speak. Truly an exceptional piece of theatre. I really can’t recommend this play enough, if you go to just one play this year, go to this. Amazing.

London

Quiz

Quiz is a play written by James Graham based of the true story of Major Charles Ingram and the coughing scandal that surrounded his attempt to win £1,000,000 on the gameshow ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’. I remember this scandal happening and all the press coverage at the time so was interested to check out the play. It was really good, very cleverly staged and also interactive with the audience. The actor who played Chris Tarrant was particularly amusing. It really went into the story I felt and explored the story, threw up a lot of information I didn’t know. At the end the audience votes as to whether or not you think he did it or not. Apparently the results it varies between performance. The night we went by a slim majority we and the audience actually voted him innocent. A great play, I’ve recommended it to several people now and they’ve also been and really enjoyed it.