Theatre review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I may have to consciously try to keep this review short, because I suspect it's either that or sit up all night writing a dissertation and flailing. In 2019, Jethro Compton (book and lyrics) and Darren Clark (music and lyrics) presented their musical adaptation of the endlessly reinvented F. Scott Fitzgerald short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in Southwark Playhouse's Little Theatre. It was a short run but I ended my review at the time hoping it would have bigger and better things in its future. It was a widely-held opinion and I'm not claiming any special foresight, but we know by now how theatrical gems can disappear without trace. But its return to the theatre four years later in the new main Elephant stage not only steps up the scale but also comes with a list of big-name producers plus West End and Broadway names in the leads, so it's fair to say its potential has been spotted.

Theatre review: Lady Windermere's Fan

Dominic Dromgoole passes the directing reins over to Kathy Burke for the second major production in his Oscar Wilde season at the Vaudeville: Lady Windermere’s Fan slightly predates A Woman of No Importance but, for my money, feels the more rounded and accomplished play; and while it also has a strong cast, it doesn’t depend on them as strongly to do a salvage job as the first in the season depended on Eve Best. Lady Margaret Windermere (Grace Molony) has been married for two years, and has failed to pick up on the hints everyone’s dropping that her marriage is the subject of much gossip. It’s only when the Duchess of Berwick (Jennifer Saunders) outright tells her that she learns her husband Arthur (Joshua James) has in recent months started to pay regular visits to a mysterious woman; a look through his bank book reveals he’s also been paying her large sums of money.