Theatre review: The Habits

PREVIEW DISCLAIMER: Hampstead invites the official critics in next week.

I imagine Stranger Things has caused something of a Dungeons & Dragons resurgence in recent years; apparently lockdown saw games spring up as well, which is where Jack Bradfield got the idea for The Habits, set in a failing board game-themed café in Bromley. Owner Dennis (Paul Thornley) had been hoping to mostly host the role-playing games he fondly remembers from his teen years, but has ended up surrounded by Monopoly players if anyone turns up at all; so he's excited to see a young group set up a weekly D&D game. But there's a sad reason behind these meetings: 16-year-old Jess' (Ruby Stokes) brother died a few months ago, and his best friend Milo (Jamie Bisping) and ex-girlfriend Maryn (Sara Hazemi) have agreed to meet her every week, to help her move on by playing the game her brother loved.

Re-review: Radiant Vermin

A quick word about a show that, of course, I had to return to - I saw Philip Ridley's Radiant Vermin twice last year and ended up choosing it as my show of the year, making Ridley the first playwright to get pole position twice (although there's one, possibly two new Tom Wells plays in store this year so he could well have company soon.) You can read my original review of Radiant Vermin here,spoilers and all, and it's about to play off-Broadway so David Mercatali's production has taken the opportunity to warm up back at Soho Theatre - in the smaller Upstairs space this time. Sean Michael Verey returns to the role of Oliver, but Gemma Whelan, who'd originally been due to rejoin him, had to drop out. So Scarlett Alice Johnson now replaces her as Jill, while Debra Baker takes the dual role - or is it? - of Miss Dee and Kay.

Theatre review: Saxon Court

If December's on the horizon then it's a good bet there'll be a play about an office Christmas party. It's a very specific Christmas in Daniel Andersen's debut Saxon Court, that of 2011, and the office is near St Paul's Cathedral. So as well as the ongoing effects of the financial crisis, the recruiters at Saxon Court also have to deal with the Occupy protesters on their doorstep. Donna Saxon's (Debra Baker) company recruits for the financial sector, and though they have plenty of clients on their books it's been a while since they found a job for any of them, and Donna's facing the probability that her company may go under. She knows she needs to fire someone if they're to stand any chance of staying in business, but with the staff from the Dartford branch due to arrive for the party later in the day, she tries to bury this harsh reality, and demands her staff have an aggressively good time.