Lloyd Evans

Reform’s new AI ad is dispiriting and strange

9 October 2024 7:56 pm

Digital modernity has reached the world of political campaigning. Reform’s new video is the first party political broadcast to use…

Inside the Welsh village where English speakers aren’t welcome

5 October 2024 9:00 am

On a Saturday morning, no life stirs. The village café is closed and the ancient church of St Beuno’s is…

Faultless visuals – shame about the play: the National’s Coriolanus reviewed

5 October 2024 9:00 am

Weird play, Coriolanus. It’s like a playground fight that spills out into the street and has to be resolved by…

The show belongs to Jonathan Slinger and Ben Whishaw: Waiting for Godot reviewed

28 September 2024 9:00 am

Waiting for Godot is a church service for suicidal unbelievers. Those who attend the rite on a regular basis find…

A massive, joyous, sensational hit: Why Am I So Single? reviewed

21 September 2024 9:00 am

Why Am I So Single? opens with two actors on stage impersonating the play’s writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss.…

The rise of soapy, dead-safe drama: The Band Back Together reviewed

14 September 2024 9:00 am

The Band Back Together is a newish play, written and directed by Barney Norris, which succeeds wildly on its own…

Has Keir Starmer forgotten that he’s prime minister?

12 September 2024 2:03 am

Shortly before noon, Sir Keir Starmer and his closest chums peeped out from behind the Speaker’s chair to see if…

Dazzling: Stoppard’s The Real Thing, at the Old Vic, reviewed

7 September 2024 9:00 am

The Real Thing at the Old Vic is a puzzling beast. And well worth seeing. Director Max Webster sets the…

Nothing gives Keir Starmer joy like banning things

5 September 2024 2:44 am

Power hasn’t altered Sir Keir Starmer. His frosty and unamused demeanour remains. No hint of warmth or joy has penetrated…

Artistically embarrassing but a hit: Shifters, at Duke of York’s Theatre, reviewed

31 August 2024 9:00 am

Shifters has transferred to the West End from the Bush Theatre. It opens at a granny’s funeral attended by the…

How I lost my faith

31 August 2024 9:00 am

God used to exist. He doesn’t any more, but back in the early 1970s he was a major presence in…

The cast mistake screaming for comedy: Cockfosters, at Turbine Theatre, reviewed

24 August 2024 9:00 am

The Turbine Theatre is a newish venue beneath the railway arches of Grosvenor Bridge in Battersea. The comfy auditorium is…

This Edinburgh Fringe comedian is headed for stardom

17 August 2024 9:00 am

Dr Phil Hammond is a hilarious and wildly successful comedian whose career is built on the ruins of the NHS.…

Being mugged changes you forever

10 August 2024 9:00 am

Being mugged changes you forever. My encounter with highwaymen occurred three decades ago in a south London street, in the…

Edinburgh has turned into a therapy session

10 August 2024 9:00 am

Therapy seems to be the defining theme of this year’s Edinburgh festival. Many performers are saddled with personal demons or…

What Liz Truss must learn from Humza Yousaf

9 August 2024 5:18 pm

Hats off to Humza Yousaf. He knows how give a straight answer. At the Edinburgh fringe, he was quizzed by…

Does Wes Streeting know what he’s doing?

6 August 2024 7:57 pm

Wes Streeting bounds onto the stage for a conversation with Matthew Stadlen (deputising for Iain Dale) at the Edinburgh festival.…

Reinforces the caricatures it sets out to diminish: Slave Play, at the Noël Coward Theatre, reviewed

3 August 2024 9:00 am

Slave Play is a series of hoaxes. The producers announced that ‘Black Out’ performances would be reserved for ‘black-identifying’ playgoers…

Shapeless and facile: The Hot Wing King, at the Dorfman Theatre, reviewed

27 July 2024 9:00 am

Our subsidised theatres often import shows from the US without asking whether our theatrical tastes align with America’s. The latest…

Keir Starmer will never have it so good at PMQs

25 July 2024 1:56 am

Are we going to war? The first PMQs since the election was like a military briefing between the Tory chief…

Vapid and pretentious: Visit From An Unknown Woman, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed

20 July 2024 9:00 am

Visit From An Unknown Woman, adapted by Christopher Hampton from a short story by Stefan Zweig, opens like an episode…

Next time, I’m swimming to Calais

13 July 2024 9:00 am

Friends in Calais invited me to their baby’s birthday party. He’s a year old. They suggested an overnight stay and…

Unmissable – for professors of gender studies: Alma Mater, at the Almeida Theatre, reviewed

13 July 2024 9:00 am

Alma Mater is a topical melodrama set on a university campus. The new principal, Jo, (amusingly played by Justine Mitchell)…

Morally repugnant: Boys From the Blackstuff, at the Garrick Theatre, reviewed

6 July 2024 9:00 am

Yosser Hughes is regarded as a national treasure. He first appeared in 1982 in Alan Bleasdale’s TV drama, Boys from…

‘Punishingly dull – but the crowd loved it’: Next to Normal, at Wyndham’s Theatre, reviewed

29 June 2024 9:00 am

The Constituent is a larky show about violence against female politicians. A strange subject for a comedy. Anna Maxwell Martin…