Citysong, Soho Theatre review - big writing, big heart

★★★★ CITYSONG, SOHO THEATRE Big writing, big heart

A poetic journey through time and space in Dublin is beautifully written

Irish playwright Dylan Coburn Gray's new play won the Verity Bargate Award in 2017, and his reward is a fine production of this beautifully written account of one Dublin family over several decades. It is a light-touch epic which is partly a humorous account of ordinary people's daily lives, partly a meditation on time and partly a social history of changing attitudes to family, and to sex, over the years in Ireland.

Angry Alan, Soho Theatre review - superb monologue about the rise of 'meninism'

★★★★ ANGRY ALAN, SOHO THEATRE Superb monologue about the rise of 'meninism'

Penelope Skinner probes the men's rights movement

Penelope Skinner's monologue was a critical and audience hit at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, when its talking point found its moment. Here is Roger, a divorced father who lives in Walnut Creek and has lost his senior management job at AT&T, drifting along in middle age, when he discovers Angry Alan, his online saviour. 

Sheeps, Soho Theatre review - sketch comedy with a touch of the surreal

★★★★ SHEEPS, SOHO THEATRE Sketch comedy with a touch of the surreal

Friendship, fake gurus and fun

Sheeps, the sketch comedy threesome, had never really gone away but when they performed Live and Loud Selfie Sex Harry Potter at the Edinburgh Fringe last year after a four-year absence, it was called a comeback. More a welcome reunion, as its members – Liam Williams, Daran Johnson and Alastair Roberts – had been busy doing solo projects.

The show, which they have brought to the Soho Theatre for a short run, is in the same vein as their previous work – original and intelligent sketch comedy with a touch of edginess and the surreal.

Natalie Palamides, Soho Theatre - challenging show about consent

★★★★ NATALIE PALAMIDES, SOHO THEATRE Deft and witty examination of a difficult subject

Deft and witty examination of a difficult subject

The #MeToo movement is barely a year old, but it is already prompting some clever and insightful comedy – from standalone jokes or set-pieces in several comics’ shows, or, here, a very funny but frequently discomfiting hour that delves deep into the subjects of gender, relationships and toxic masculinity.

Ayesha Hazarika, Soho Theatre review - feminism examined

★★★ AYESHA HAZARIKA, SOHO THEATRE Fascinating and often funny take on feminism

Fascinating and often funny take on the subject

As a former adviser to Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband – and a woman who has put her name forward to be a Labour Party candidate at a Westminster election – Ayesha Hazarika certainly knows her politics from the inside. So a show with the title Girl on Girl: The Fight For Feminism promises to be avowedly political.

Ivo Graham, Soho Theatre review - the perils of growing up

Going deep into personal material unearths lots of laughs

Considering where Motion Sickness ends up, Ivo Graham's new show begins a million miles away, as he talks about his love of trains and his favourite train company, Chiltern – or “The Chilt”. But don't be fooled by this quotidian fare; what begins as a seemingly aimless wander down a path of nothing very much packs an emotional punch by the end of the hour.

Underground Railroad Game, Soho Theatre review - scratching the American wound

★★★★ UNDERGROUND RAILROAD GAME, SOHO THEATRE Scratching the American wound

A furious, darkly comic riff on race, this frenetic two-hander dazzles

Underground Railroad Game is scabrous theatre – in every sense. To start with, Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R Sheppard’s two-hander is as down and dirty as anything you’ll find on the London stage at the moment, with one sex scene that’s belly laugh-out-loud funny, another which creates a silence of unease that chills the house.

Flo and Joan, Soho Theatre review - sisters in satirical harmony

★★★★ FLO AND JOAN, SOHO THEATRE Musical comedy with complex rhymes

Musical comedy with complex rhymes

Flo and Joan are sisters (Nicola and Rosie Dempsey: they have borrowed their stage names from their nan and her sister) and you may have recently seen them on television doing advertisements for Nationwide. Others may know them from social media, and their runaway hit “The 2016 Song” about music fans' annus horribilis with the deaths of David Bowie and Prince. If you like either iteration, you will love this hour-long show, called The Kindness of Stranglers.

Simon Evans, Soho Theatre review - intellect examined

★★★★ SIMON EVANS, SOHO THEATRE Modern politics laid bare

Modern politics laid bare

Simon Evans, at 52, is far too young to be a grumpy old man, but he’s doing his best to prepare for the role, with this amusingly dyspeptic standup show at Soho Theatre about the ageing process, and how the evolutionary model appears to be moving backwards. According to his show Genius, things really aren’t getting better, at least in terms of human intellect and those who lead us.

Fern Brady, Soho Theatre review - opinions with raw edge

★★★ FERN BRADY, SOHO THEATRE Young Scottish stand-up with desert-dry delivery

Young Scot with desert-dry delivery

Fern Brady is a young Scot with plenty of provocative opinions – on politics, society and relationships – with a delivery that can only be described as dry as a desert. It means that some pieces of information – as well as a few gags – take some time to pass through the “Is she joking?” filter.