Long Day's Journey Into Night

TNT

A hard-drinking actor father, a drug-addicted mother and a dissolute brother – Eugene O’Neill didn’t have to look far to find the characters in his Pulitzer prizewinning drama of the dysfunctional, self-destructive Tyrone family.

In the course of a single August day, this lacerating, highly autobiographical play (set in 1912, written in 1941, and first performed, posthumously, in 1956) lays bare their domestic tragedy as Laura Metcalf’s vulnerable, ever more ghostly Mary is forced to acknowledge that her younger son Edmund’s illness isn’t just a heavy summer cold. Taking refuge, yet again, in a morphine haze, she withdraws further and further into a past filled with recriminations which batter at the long-lasting affection between her and husband James, who, in David Suchet’s finely judged portrayal, is both wary and protective, angry and disappointed– and, thanks to his penny-pinching ways, at least partially to blame for her addiction.

And Kyle Soller gives a remarkably naturalistic performance as their younger son Edmond (diagnosed, like O’Neill himself, with TB), as damaged and as fond of the bottle as his cynical older brother (Trevor White) in Anthony Page’s assured production which leaves you stirred, though not, perhaps, completely shaken.

Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7EZ Tube: Piccadilly Circus Until 18th August (£21.00 - £53.50)longdaysjourney.co.uk

Neighbourhood Watch

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For over half a century, Alan Ayckbourn has been turning out successful plays – primarily for the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough where, until recently he was also the longstanding artistic director. Neighbourhood Watch (his 75th produced play to date) also originated there, but the single living room location of this darkening comedy sits comfortably in the comparative intimacy of the Tricycle.

In a rather overlong introductory eulogy, Hilda sings the praises of her younger brother Martin, a mild, middle-aged man who came a fatal cropper in the course of doing what he perceived to be his duty as a responsible member of society. In flashback, we witness the events that led from an awkward housewarming party for their new neighbours to this final dedication of a memorial park in his name.

It turns out that the new suburban home they’re so proud of backs onto an estate, full - or so they are led to believe by their middleclass guests- of yobs and hooligans, not to mention drugs, violence and incest. Determined to keep the undesirables out, their plans to protect their properties escalate from the sensible to the ridiculous, including ID cards, medieval stocks to replace the flowers on the roundabout, and enlisting the help of potentially violent vigilantes.

But the real problems already lurk within the confines of their newly fenced-in community where Frances Grey’s provocative Amy is serially unfaithful to her whimpering spouse, Terence Booth’s retired security guard Rod is ready to wield a baseball bat, and wife battering goes on behind closed doors.

Matthew Cottle is particularly impressive as Martin, a gentle, emotionally immature Christian who (much to the disquiet of Eileen Battye’s slightly sinister Hilda) finds himself rising to unexpected heights of passion. And although this doesn’t rank among Ayckbourn’s best, it neatly and entertainingly highlights the pitfalls of taking matters into one’s own hands in the quest for law and order.

Tricycle, Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR Tube: Kilburn Until May 5 (£14 - £26) tricycle.co.uk

Chalet Lines

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For his first production as Artistic Director of the Bush, Madani Younis has chosen a raucous comedy written by a man but with an all-female cast. Nothing wrong with that in theory, but although Lee Mattinson’s account of four generations of women celebrating five decades of weddings and birthdays in the same Butlins chalet in Skegness sometimes hits the mark, it tries far too hard to be funny, with diminishing returns.

The initial onslaught of jokes (some of them pretty old and tired) is relentless as the preparations for Barbara’s 70th fall apart. One granddaughter (mousy, ill at ease Abigail) would obviously rather be elsewhere, and the other, Jolene, is busy falling in love (for the umpteenth time) with a Redcoat she’s only just met. But it’s their loud-mouthed mother, Loretta, who’s really screwed things up – not just this evening by arriving too late for their reservation, but in her relationships with her daughters and her own estranged sister, Paula, who may or may not turn up for the proceedings.

Mattinson then takes us back - first to Paula’s hen night in 1996 when Loretta arrives uninvited, then way back to 1961 and Barbara’s own wedding when it becomes clear that the talent for inflicting emotional damage has been passed down the generations from Barbara’s rigid Catholic mother, Edith.

Monica Dolan doubles effectively as boozy Loretta and her domineering forebear, Edith, whilst Laura Elphinstone is touching as a reluctant Abigail who has inherited nothing of her mother’s brashness. But the family rows are heavy-handed and the characters underdeveloped in what proves to be not the most auspicious of starts to a new regime.

Bush Theatre, Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ Tube: Shepherds BushUntil May 5 (£18-£24) bushtheatre.co.uk

Gross und Klein (Big and Small)

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Botho Strauss may be one of the most frequently performed playwrights in his native Germany, but without the lure of an actress of Cate Blanchett’s stature, the ten loosely linked, absurdist scenes of his study of post-war alienation (which premiered in 1978) would be unlikely to attract a substantial audience over here.

Using a nifty adaptation by Martin Crimp, Benedict Andrews’ well-acted production for Sydney Theatre Company employs an elegant design with surreal touches (by Johannes Schütz) to emphasise the loneliness of the increasingly desperate Lotte in her Alice in Wonderlandish quest to find her place in society. From a suspiciously perky monologue delivered on holiday in Morocco, to further humiliation by her estranged husband back in Germany, rejection by an old school friend who won’t let her into her apartment, and the irritation of a new boyfriend she tries too enthusiastically to help at work, graphic designer Lotte searches for a touch of warmth and tenderness.

There are moments of humour, but the play itself is hard to engage with. So all praise to Blanchett for a knockout performance – whether dancing with playful abandon, openly vulnerable, or over eager in her desire to connect, she succeeds against the odds in making you feel for Lotte’s predicament, alone and adrift in a materialistic society that doesn’t want to know.

Barbican, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS Tube: Barbican Until April 29 (£16-£65) barbican.org.uk

Anastasia

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Grand Duchess Anastasia, the 17 year old youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, was brutally murdered by Bolshevik secret police, along with her immediate family, in 1918 – or was she?

Over the years, several women have emerged claiming to be the royal Russian and Marcelle Maurette’s 1950’s play (here adapted and directed by Kate Sellers) is the fictional account of one such attempt to convince that the duchess had indeed survived – and to profit from her reappearance. From the start, it’s made clear that the woman is an imposter, a sickly specimen dragged from the gutter by a syndicate of Russian émigrés in late 1920’s Berlin with a plan to lay their hands on £30M deposited for her in a London bank.

Under the tutelage of their self-appointed leader, Bounin, she’s transformed, Pygmalion fashion, from tubercular wretch to poised, enigmatic young woman, and presented for inspection to those who knew the real Anastasia. Yet as she confronts them, elements of doubt creep in – even her grandmother (a fine, poignant performance from Eileen Nicholas) finds her incredulity challenged by the intimate knowledge she displays.

The acting is rather varied (and, latterly, DNA has provided evidence of Anastasia’s true fate) but Pushkin House makes an appropriate setting for this intriguing story which cleverly contrives to keep you guessing right to the end.

Pushkin House, Bloomsbury Square, WC1A 2TA Tube: Holborn Until April 21 (£18) pushkinhouse.org

The Duchess of Malfi

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The Italian Renaissance court looks gorgeous – a soaring golden network of candlelit arches and stairways designed by Soutra Gilmour to house John Webster’s Jacobean tragedy. But underneath the gilt lurks a dark hive of corruption and, as the widowed young Duchess falls foul of her evil brothers (the Cardinal and the unstable, incestuously inclined Duke Ferdinand) by secretly marrying her steward, the set turns ominously gloomy and murder lurks in its shadows.

In the eyes of her siblings, hers is a double sin – not only has she married against their explicit command but she has chosen to wed beneath her.

Apart from Eve Best’s warm and increasingly dignified central performance, though, the set is where the subtlety ends. Elsewhere, Webster’s vivid language is delivered in a declamatory style which wearies as the tragic tale unfolds and the gruesome body count rises. Mark Bonnar’s malcontent Bosola holds forth loudly in a heavy Scottish accent which, whilst emphasising his position as an outsider, also renders him an unlikely spy in the Duchess’s household.

Still, the leather sling, worn of necessity by Finbar Lynch’s scheming, red-robed Cardinal after a real-life accident, renders even more chilling his one-armed determination to exterminate whoever gets in his way, and Jamie Lloyd’s production is consistently clear if not always involving.

Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 8NB Tube: Waterloo Until June 9 (£10.00- £55.00) oldvictheatre.com

The King's Speech

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Whether or not you caught the award-winning film starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, Adrian Noble’s production of David Seidler’s script (which was initially written as a stage play) is a treat.

Witty and humane, simply staged against an outsize rotating frame and with projected period footage, it makes clear the political background which brought King George VI (Bertie to his family) to the throne as his bullying elder brother, Edward VIII, fell increasingly under the influence of both Fascism and the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. But the main focus is on the sometimes testy relationship between the future monarch and his unconventional Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue, who came to England to further his career as an actor (he never hacked it) but earned a living using the skills he’d honed with stuttering, shell-shocked war veterans back in Perth.

It’s impossible not to feel for Charles Edwards’ excellent Bertie as he battles with the agonising stammer which made addressing the nation an embarrassing ordeal not only for him but also for those waiting to hear what he was struggling to say. As Logue, Jonathan Hyde’s relaxed firmness makes a stark contrast with the ingrained formality of his patient, as does the warmth of his homesick wife (Charlotte Randle) with the haughtiness of Emma Fielding’s Elizabeth – supportive, dutiful, and determined to help her royal husband in a role he never thought would be his.

Wyndhams, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DATube: Leicester SquareCurrently booking to July 21£17.50- £52.50 Delfontmackintosh.co.uk

The American Clock

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Based partly on information collected by historian and broadcaster Studs Terkel, partly on his own experiences, Arthur Miller’s kaleidoscopic depiction of the 1929 Wall Street crash and the Great Depression that followed threads the decline of the fictional Baum family through documentary style snippets from the mouths of a host of other characters.

Intermittently narrated by one of the lucky bankers who had the foresight to sell out in time, it offers glimpses of how the economic collapse affected everyone from the richest to the poorest, from hobo to manufacturer, from student to financier. But by taking such a wide view, Miller sacrifices involvement with the once wealthy, now bankrupt Baums as Rose Baum (Issy Van Randwyck) pawns first her jewellery and then her even more precious piano in a vain attempt to keep the bailiffs from the door.

Director Phil Wilmott emphasises the plays topicality by framing it within the walls of a private view of period photographs, and although it lacks the power and focus of his best work, Miller’s heartfelt account of a country in financial free-fall (substantially reworked after its 1980 Broadway premiere) still resonates.

Finborough, Finborough Road, SW10 9EDTube: Earl’s Court Until April 21 £11-£15 finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Toxic Bankers!

TNT

Crammed into the pocket sized space of the Leicester Square theatre, the money-motivated staff of SMS Ethical Investments are beavering away at their computer screens in Andrew Taylor and Desmond O’Connor enjoyable new musical comedy. Even at this self-proclaimed “hedge fund with heart and soul”, there’s no time for friends or family, and it’s really getting to super bright, unlucky in love Fiona (Hazel Gardner) a junior portfolio analyst who has the brains but not the backbone to climb the greasy pole and has already made a rather half-hearted attempt at slitting her wrists.

Now she thinks she’s unearthed some shady dealings, and the pressure is really on despite the ever increasing assistance of top flight concierge service, Personal Liberty, engaged by her high-handed boss (Jonathan Dryden Taylor) to free up his staff so they can devote more time to the really important business of increasing profits.

A well-researched if over-stretched plot, lively performances and the nifty lyrics of the pleasingly intertwined songs (unobtrusively accompanied by a four-piece band tucked away in the corner) combine to make this an unexpectedly pleasant way to spend an evening, worth spending a few quid on even if you’re not a well-heeled financial whiz.

Leicester Square Theatre6 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BXTube: Piccadilly Circus Until April 14£15 - £17.50 leicestersquaretheatre.com

Sweeney Todd

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The usually affable Michael Ball is unrecognisable as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, back incognito, after 15 years away, to wreak revenge on the Judge who unjustly had him deported.

Even better is Imelda Staunton’s superb and ever-practical Mrs Lovett, self-confessed purveyor of the worst pies in London – until the duo conspires to boost business by filling the pastry with tasty human flesh.

Jonathan Kent’s unmissable production moves the action several decades forward out of the 19th century to an impoverished, corrupt London of metal stairways, the gloom pierced by ominous shafts of light which beam the focus on Ball’s brooding Sweeney as he slits jugulars with increasing abandon. Stephen Sondheim’s wonderfully witty lyrics are a constant – and often comic – joy. And his music (straddling the boundaries of musical theatre and opera) is sometimes achingly beautiful, sometimes tragic and sometimes pure unadulterated fun as Mrs Lovett imagines the joys of a seaside idyll.

Gory and glorious in equal measure, this is an occasion to relish long after the curtain comes down and John Bowe’s self-flagellating Judge Turpin has been justly despatched with the brutally efficient slash of a gleaming cutthroat razor.

Adelphi Theatre, Strand, WC2E 7NA. Until Sept 22. £20+ Nearest Tube: Charing Cross www.sweeneytoddwestend.com

The Most Incredible Thing

TNT

There’s so much going on in this vivid collaboration between choreographer Javier De Frutos and Pet Shop Boys that, even if ballet isn’t normally your thing, it’s impossible to be bored. An award winning success last year, this multimedia fable gives a modern twist to an old-fashioned Hans Christian Andersen plot.

The dancers sometimes vie for attention with rapid, angular video projections, but for the most part De Frutos’s reworked production gets the balance right, leaving space to focus on the impressive twirling leaps of former Royal Ballet star Ivan Putrov’s Karl, a real bad boy in black who bullies his henchmen and forces himself on Clemmie Sveaas’ feisty, pretty-in-pink Princess as she tries in vain to repel him. Aaron Sillis (who, like his fellow principals, appeared in the original production) completes the triangle as Leo, the rather nerdy dreamer who captures the Princess’s heart and, by inventing a wondrous tiny clock, wins – almost – the competition for her hand.

Pet Shop Boys’ music is, by turns, thumpingly insistent as the well-drilled, drudge-like citizens of this Soviet style kingdom carry out their robotic tasks, then swooningly romantic as Leo and the Princess duet. Like the choreography, it emphasises the conflict between mindless destruction and creative achievement, love and lechery. And, as in all the best fairy-tales, they ensure that good triumphs over evil and everything ends happily with a celebratory royal wedding.

Sadler’s Wells, Rosebery Avenue EC1R 4TN Tube: Angel Until April 7 (£10 - £40) sadlerswells.com

After Miss Julie

TNT

Adapted from Strindberg’s 1888 “Miss Julie,” Patrick Marber’s version of his Upstairs Downstairs three-hander changes the location from the estate of a Swedish count to an English country house as the Labour party storms to victory in the 1945 election. The transition works perfectly in Natalie Abrahami’s naturalistic revival, played out, like the original, in the kitchen where the daughter of the house descends to the servant’s quarters to flirt with her father’s chauffeur, John, in front of his fiancée Christine (the cook) whilst the other employees celebrate offstage to the sound of forties music.

What begins as a flirtation soon escalates into a competition across the classes, not only between the two women but also between John and Julie as each vies for the upper hand in a relationship doomed from the start.

Kieran Bew’s hunky John oozes virility, yet is slapped down when Natalie Dormer’s dangerously self-destructive Julie reminds him of his place in the social hierarchy. And, within the restraints imposed on her by her position, Polly Frame’s controlled Christine makes it clear that she’s not prepared to give up without a fight in this provocative and powerful production in which ultimate power still resides with Julie’s unseen father.

Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ Tube: Southwark / Waterloo Until April 14 (£17.50) youngvic.org