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The greatest show and other bromances: Adam Riches and John Kearns ARE Ball and Boe @sohotheatre

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Alfie Boe and Michael Ball seem to be a bit of a joke act anyway. Their endless interpretations of popular songs (also known as covers) and their double-act bromance make them quintessential crossover artists where popular music meets opera and Broadway. And a perilous choice for the discerning listener. It’s not that they aren’t talented musicians and performers in their own right. Still, their musical choices are always safe, predictable and less than their potential. But every country deserves to have a pair of self-described national treasures that can tour the local arenas and give people a good time for the bargain price of £175 a seat.  And so the concept of Adam Riches and John Kearns - two world-famous from the Edinburgh Fringe comedians taking on this bromance seems like a curious choice for a Christmas musical fare. One can only hope that over the fourteen nights, it is playing at the Soho Theatre that the show evolves into something more substantial than a series of po...

Love is all you need: The Island @cervantesthtr


A drama set on the seventh floor of a non-descript hospital waiting room may not be everyone's idea of a great night at the theatre. But love and all other forms of the human condition are dissected in Juan Carlos Rubio's The Island. Translated by Tim Gutteridge, it feels like everything is up for grabs. What is love? Is it a bond between two women with a fifteen-year age gap? Is it the love between a mother and her son with a severe unknown disability? A wonderful life full of health and happiness is not always an option on the menu, and the choices may become a bit less palatable.

Throughout a series of sometimes banal conversations, what comes out is a story of two women with lives that are separate and together. And while the piece becomes darker on one level as it progresses, it never ceases to fascinate and draw further insights into the couples. It's currently playing at the Cervantes Theatre. 


A couple waits in a hospital waiting room for the outcome of an accident with their son. But over the discussions about lousy coffee and age gaps, it becomes clear that there is something more than the potential loss of their son at stake here. There is the fragile nature of a relationship between two people. There is the resilience and resourcefulness of two people wanting to maintain the status quo. And there are also some pretty frank depictions about what being a mother can be. 

The cast is like two islands, as described in the play. Coexisting and cohabitating. But not necessarily together. It's fascinating to watch as both evolve throughout the piece. The mother, Rebecca Crankshaw, is harrowing as she recounts the events leading up to the accident as if it were just another ordinary thing. Rebecca Banatvala, the younger woman in the relationship, provides a strong and stable character at first, but then you watch her crumble as events take a surprising turn. 

It is a small-scale drama that feels epic in scope by the end of it as it delves into darker feelings about human nature. But one that is a revelation all the same. 

Directed by Jessica Lazar, The Island is at The Cervantes Theatre until 21 October. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️




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