ON McQUILLAN’S HILL

A long overdue revival of a pithy Northern Ireland play is receiving positive attention from London critics and audiences.

MAIDEN VOYAGE DANCE – DOUBLE BILL

B-words abound in Maiden Voyage Dance’s newly commissioned Double Bill – boundaries, borders, belonging, brinkmanship and, of course, Brexit.

KISS ME, KATE

Northern Ireland Opera and Lyric Theatre’s new co-production of Cole Porter’s evergreen adaptation of Shakespeare’s troublesome play The Taming of the Shrew does not paper over the misogyny but is a glossy, pleasingly rounded piece of work.

LEAR

This daring reworking of Shakespeare’s magisterial tragedy focuses on a family of women dealing with the mental and moral disintegration of the head of the household.

MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN

This long, slow burn of a film plunges viewers deep into 1950s New York, while addressing the state of the American nation in 2019.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

It looks amazing and the music is great but the moral tale of inner beauty is overwhelmed by unscripted
comic distractions.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

The familiar transformative tale of A Christmas Carol is cleverly reworked as a homage to the poorly funded performing arts.

PETER PAN – THE MUSICAL

It looks as good as it sounds and the story is as bewitching as ever in Paul Boyd’s new musical adaptation of JM Barrie’s classic tale of troubled childhood.

LES MISERABLES

Ladj Ly’s debut feature, set in a tough Paris suburb, holds up to scrutiny the state’s refusal to tackle the social problems of these troubled communities.

DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Far removed from fairies, tinsel and pantomime villains, this is a creepy, surreal comedy from the Grimes & McKee duo.