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1 week ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
Georgie Henley is best known to many as Lucy Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia, but she’s long since stepped out of the wardrobe and into a wide-ranging career that spans screen, stage, writing, and activism. Now, she returns to the London stage in The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, a joyous and provocative queer ensemble comedy by Iman Qureshi.
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1 week ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
I first met James Cooper backstage at the Royal Festival Hall, after the final night of My Dad Wrote A Porno Live in October 2017. My wife and I had waited outside the stage door, only to learn the cast weren’t coming out – so we found our way into the backstage party instead (not the recommended behaviour of 1883 Magazine or its affiliates, obvs).
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2 weeks ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
It’s the distant future. Underground, in a ‘bunker’ hidden far from the prying eyes of ‘the government’ (below Tottenham Court Road), there is a community of misfits and survivors. People who don’t fit into the perceived ‘perfection’ of the fascist world above. A world where the only parts of our society to survive are reality TV, and the complete works of Oscar Wilde.
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2 weeks ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
Although I’d often heard of it, I’d never been to Giffords Circus before. After attending their 25th anniversary show, Laguna Bay, I finally get what all the fuss is about! From the moment Tweedy the Clown tumbles in dressed as a pink-suited American bellboy – apologising for his own American accent – you know you’re in for something brilliantly ridiculous.
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2 weeks ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
If you’ve been anywhere near the theatre scene in the last year, chances are you’ve heard the buzz around Stereophonic. Fresh off its Tony-winning Broadway run, David Adjmi’s quietly electrifying play has just landed in the West End – and among the original cast members making the leap across the Atlantic is Eli Gelb. Known for his work on stage and screen, Gelb earned a Tony nomination for his performance as Grover, the band’s quietly pivotal sound engineer.
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2 weeks ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
Fiddler on the Roof is back – and it’s glorious. This acclaimed production, which originated at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, has now settled into the Barbican with all the beauty, heartbreak, and humour that earned it thirteen Olivier nominations. Whether you’ve seen it before or are coming in cold, this revival is an absolute must. I went with my mum, who twice saw Topol perform the role on stage, decades ago, and was fully expecting to compare him to the new Tevye.
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3 weeks ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
Growing up means learning the world isn’t fair – but Permission, the debut play by playwright Hunia Chawla (check out my recent interview with Hunia) asks what happens when unfairness isn’t just outside you, it’s inside too. What happens when the thing holding you back is the voice you’ve internalised – your father’s, your culture’s, your own? It’s playing at Tara Theatre, a lovely little venue in Earlsfield, South West London.
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3 weeks ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
Hunia Chawla’s Permission opens at Tara Theatre this week, and it’s not pulling its punches. Flipping the tired trope of the ‘oppressed Muslim woman’ on its head, the play spans rooftops in Karachi and immigration queues at Heathrow, following two best friends whose lives are shaped by state control, protest, and the elusive promise of freedom.
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4 weeks ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
Mark Twain (possibly) once said “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” That’s advice the writer Dylan MarcAurele and director Joe McNeice have taken gleefully to heart. Originally an American musical, it’s been brilliantly brought to life in London with a British cast and creatives. Despite being born decades apart in real life, POM imagines Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci as teenage besties in Renaissance Italy.
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1 month ago | 
1883magazine.com | Nick Barr
On Wednesday last week, I had two major firsts in the life of a young (career-wise) theatre journalist: my first ever trip to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and my first ever production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Sitting down in this iconic theatre and looking out over the stage, I was moved by how authentically it has recreated the Shakespearian experience. The people standing in the courtyard in front of the stage, the beautiful thatched roof that goes all the way around.
