Theatre review: Night City

Max Wilkinson's Night City, which premieres at Southwark Playhouse Borough's Little Theatre, follows three London workers in the gig economy, and opens by warning us that one of them will wind up dead by the end of the story: Jack (Jack Ambrose) works for a fictional rideshare company, and despite finding out he has a congenital heart condition is, at the start of the play at least, the one out of the trio who most embraces the stressful, intense conditions of working on a zero-hours contract. One of his passengers is Tia (Bex Smith,) an aspiring writer who's only recently arrived in the city, and who's making ends meet at a café chain. The two start a casual relationship that grows into something more serious. Less directly connected to them is Tamara (Helena Pipe,) a carer whose employer has recently been bought out by a firm looking to maximise profits.

Theatre review: Meetings

Trinidadian couple Jean and Hugh are living the 1980s dream: Chain-smoking Jean (Martina Laird) has never wanted to be a domestic goddess, instead becoming a successful businesswoman who's just taken on a contract marketing a new American cigarette brand to the island's poor villagers. Hugh (Kevin N Golding) has a plumbing supplies company, and has struck a deal to sell pipes at inflated prices to a government crony. Yes, there might have been the odd topical connection that helped put Mustapha Matura's Meetings on the list of potential revivals for this year's JMK Award. But while Jean doesn't seem to want anything to change, Hugh is on the verge of a midlife crisis prompted by food: With no time or inclination to cook or eat together, the couple have largely depended on restaurants and takeaways.