29 October 2008
Daven Wu
Daven Wu reviews some of London's best (not just West End) shows.
One of London’s greatest pleasures has always been its incredible range of plays. This autumn, the city has turned out a programme for every mood and tastes. Headlining the play-fest is the astonishingly agile comedy Spyski (Lyric Hammersmith) where cast members switch espionage roles, costumes and hysterical accents with feverish energy. The ancient Greek playwright Sophocles gets a modern reworking as Ralph Fiennes turns in an incendiary performance as Oedipus (National Theatre, The Olivier). Medical drama (think Gray’s Anatomy meets Days of Our Lives) is at the heart of Informed Consent (Jermyn Street Theatre). And already securing thundering ovations is the new production of Blowing Whistles (Leicester Square Theatre), a gentle comedy about online gay love; while rom-com addicts should secure tickets to Fat Pig (Comedy Theatre), a witty but heartfelt commentary about dating above your waist-size. Meanwhile, there is plenty of murder afoot. Hitchcock fans will thrill to The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre) and in Cliche (Etcetera Theatre), domestic violence grabs hold right from the opening scene of a dead woman lying on her living room floor. But with Halloween just around the corner, it’s really hard to beat Susan Hill’s chilling, scary adaptation of Woman in Black (Fortune Theatre).