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.

Theatre review: English

Marking both one of the last shows from Indhu Rubasingham at the Kiln, and one of the first from the Harvey/Evans regime at the RSC, this co-production of Sanaz Toossi's English is a great reflection on both companies. A play about language and identity, this was the 2023 Pulitzer winner for drama, and marks another year to buck the trend of underwhelming winners of that prize. Some while ago Marjan (Nadia Albina) spent nine years living in Manchester, before returning to her native Iran. She's married and settled now, but is constantly trying to reconnect with how she felt then, which she does by teaching English classes. Over a five-week course she helps four adults prepare for their TOEFL exam in a classroom she optimistically announces will be a Farsi-free zone (the fact that the play uses the conceit of the actors speaking English in Iranian accents, with "Farsi" represented by English in their own accents, tells you how successful they are at sticking to this.)