Theatre review: Fanny

Felix Mendelssohn is the 19th century German composer best-known for the Wedding March, but he's just the most famous talent in his family, not the only one. Calum Finlay's Fanny sets out to correct that, putting his older sister centre stage. Fanny Mendelssohn (Charlie Russell) is at the very least an equally talented composer, perhaps the secret behind her brother's success as they often consult each other when stuck on a composition. But his erasure of her contribution may go beyond not acknowledging their collaborations, as he's also published some of her work under his own name, including a piece Queen Victoria famously pronounced her favourite. For now, though, the family's concerns are more domestic, as an old flame of Fanny's has returned to Berlin.

Theatre review: Brilliant Jerks

Capping a really strong week at the theatre for me, Joseph Charlton's Brilliant Jerks at Southwark Playhouse Borough follows three people who work at very different levels for a ride-hailing app, from the founder to a long-standing driver. The hook may be a look behind the scenes of NOT UBER but Charlton's play is more concerned with a toxic tech-bro culture that affects everyone from the top down and could apply to any number of huge corporations or ambitious start-ups. Tyler (Shubham Saraf) co-founded the company with his friend when they ended up stranded in Paris after a tech conference, unable to find a cab. He looks back at how this grew into an app that expanded to hundreds of cities worldwide, in parallel with the story of his relationship with the woman he thought was the love of his life. But with the company's success, the senior developers start behaving increasingly out of control, culminating in a seedy night in a Seoul karaoke bar/brothel.