overnight reviews

The Hack, ITV review - plodding anatomy of twin UK scandals

★★ THE HACK, ITV Jack Thorne's skill can't disguise the bagginess of his double-headed material

Jack Thorne's skill can't disguise the bagginess of his double-headed material

The latest instalment of the ITV drama department’s attempts at trial by television is another anatomy of a scandal, but with little of the emotive power of Mr Bates vs The Post Office. 

Punch, Apollo Theatre review - powerful play about the strength of redemption

★★★ PUNCH, APOLLO THEATRE Powerful play about the strength of redemption 

James Graham's play transfixes the audience at every stage

For the first part of Punch it feels as if you’re riding a roller coaster, watching the world speed and loop past as you see it from the perspective of a young man high on hormones and cocaine. He’s 19 years old and in perpetual motion as he zips in and out of the pubs of Nottingham in search of the next girl, the next dance beat, the next drugs hit.

Cinderella/La Cenerentola, English National Opera review - the truth behind the tinsel

★★★ CINDERELLA / LA CENERENTOLA, ENO The truth behind the tinsel 

Appealing performances cut through hyperactive stagecraft

When you go to the prince’s ball, would you prefer a night of sobriety or excess? Julia Burbach’s new production of Rossini’s Cinderella (La Cenerentola) for English National Opera frankly errs on the side of theatrical over-indulgence. The stage-business treats arrive thick and fast like trays of richly seasoned canapés, from the scurrying kids in mouse costumes who act as the mastermind Alidoro’s hi-tech little helpers to the all-male chorus togged out in an assortment of scarlet-to-pink period outfits as Prince Ramiro’s ancestral ghosts. 

Goldscheider, Brother Tree Sound, Kings Place review - music of hope from a young composer

★★★★ GOLDSCHEIDER, BROTHER TREE SOUND, KINGS PLACE Music of hope 

Unusual combination of horn, strings and electronics makes for some intriguing listening

Last night’s concert at Kings Place was a programme of contemporary pieces – including several premieres – by horn superstar Ben Goldscheider and string quartet Brother Tree Sound, “curated”, as the current lingo has it, by young composer Ben Nobuto, whose high-spirited and invigorating music finished things on a high.

The Billionaire Inside Your Head, Hampstead Theatre review - a map of a man with OCD

★★★ THE BILLIONAIRE INSIDE YOUR HEAD, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE A map of a man with OCD

Will Lord's promising debut burdens a fine cast with too much dialogue

What would it be like to be driven by OCD urges into idolising Elon Musk and aspiring to be one of his tribe of tech bros? In his debut play, Will Lord, who has been diagnosed with OCD himself, has attempted to spell this out, with mixed results.

Lacrima, Barbican review - riveting, lucid examination of the forces of globalisation through a dress

★★★★★ LACRIMA, BARBICAN Riveting examination of the forces of globalisation through a dress

A visually virtuoso work with the feel of a gripping French TV drama

So often the focus – in the coverage of a royal wedding – is the story of the woman wearing the bridal dress. While every fashion choice she makes will be scrutinised for the rest of her life, it is, nonetheless, she herself who will be mercilessly interrogated as the representative both of a nation’s ideals and its discontents.

Joanna Pocock: Greyhound review - on the road again

★★★★ JOANNA POCOCK: GREYHOUND A writer retraces her steps to furrow a deeper path through modern America

A writer retraces her steps to furrow a deeper path through modern America

Joanna Pocock’s second full-length book, Greyhound, tells the story of a single journey made and remade. In 2006, after the death of her sister and several miscarriages, Pocock travelled 2,300 miles from Detroit to Los Angeles by bus. She replicates the trip seventeen years later, curious to see how the States have changed and hoping to catch sight of her former self: “A ragged person running away from loss.”

Entertaining Mr Sloane, Young Vic review - funny, flawed but welcome nonetheless

★★★ ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE, YOUNG VIC Lively star-led revival of Joe Orton’s 1964 debut raises uncomfortable questions

Lively star-led revival of Joe Orton’s 1964 debut raises uncomfortable questions

Playwright Joe Orton was a merry prankster. His main work – such as Loot (1965) and What the Butler Saw (1969) – was provocative, taboo-tickling and often wildly hilarious. Now the Young Vic is staging a revival of his debut, Entertaining Mr Sloane, directed by this venue’s new supremo Nadia Fall, and starring celebrity polymath Jordan Stephens. But does 1960s provocation still resonate today?