{"id":63132,"date":"2026-03-31T15:32:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=63132"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:34:12","slug":"london-theatre-in-april-demons-and-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/london-theatre-in-april-demons-and-lovers\/","title":{"rendered":"London Theatre in April: Demons and Lovers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Grace Pervades<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Theatre Royal Haymarket
<\/strong>Haymarket, London SW1Y 4HT<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Grace Pervades. Theatre Royal Haymarket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is a new play by David Hare about the great Victorian theatre legends Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. It opens at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 24 April. Director Jeremy Herrin premiered the production last summer at Theatre Royal Bath, with Ralph Fiennes as Irving and Miranda Raison as Terry. This star pairing transfers to the West End, making it one of the major runs of the London season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one ever knew for certain whether Irving and Terry were romantically involved. One thing, however, is undeniable: their relationship changed theatre forever. Grace Pervades belongs to one of the most beloved English genres \u2014 theatre about theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After its Bath premiere, critics were lavish in their praise of Fiennes and Raison. The play itself, however, raised questions: too many historical strands, too many themes. Their relationship, the history of Victorian theatre, feminism, ageing, fame \u2014 everything at once. Some felt there was enough material here for five plays, and that Hare perhaps overreached, making it demanding to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It almost feels like a student\u2019s lament before exams: how are we supposed to know all this? \u2014 even though, in theory, every educated person should. Running alongside is the story of young Edward Gordon Craig \u2014 future actor, designer, writer, and pioneer of theatrical symbolism \u2014 whose life alone could fill several plays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet the writing is brilliant (would one expect anything less from Hare?), and both Fiennes and Raison rise to it magnificently. Grace Pervades is a tender, elegant love letter to theatre \u2014 and absolutely a must-see. It is also very, very beautiful: the design and costumes are precise and gloriously, unapologetically theatrical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please Please Me<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Kiln Theatre
<\/strong>269 Kilburn High Rd, London NW6 7JR<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Mark Senior. Please Please Me. Kiln Theatre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kiln Theatre is known for its socially engaged work, often exploring themes of migration and identity. Playwright Tom Wright \u2014 who wrote Undetectable (2022), a two-hander about HIV, fear and love \u2014 now brings a new play about Brian Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cultural context is clear: London in the early 1960s, The Beatles and their meteoric rise. Please Please Me, of course, is the Beatles\u2019 debut album; Epstein was their manager \u2014 the \u201cfifth Beatle\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a generation trying to break free from post-war gloom, discovering new music and new ways of living. Director Amit Sharma has long worked in inclusive theatre, and here Epstein\u2019s story becomes, above all, the story of being \u201cother\u201d in the 1960s \u2014 of someone who struggles to belong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epstein is played by Calam Lynch (known to many as Theo in Bridgerton \u2014 remember the printer\u2019s assistant? Romantic, idealistic, brave \u2014 that\u2019s him).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a Beatles biopic \u2014 although we do meet John and Cynthia. The band\u2019s success serves as a backdrop for a deeply personal story about Epstein: his loneliness, and what queer identity meant in the 1960s. In short, a drama about power, sex and identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One lingering question: how will Kiln handle the Beatles\u2019 music? The rights are notoriously difficult and expensive \u2014 so it\u2019s entirely possible there won\u2019t be any songs at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romeo & Juliet<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Harold Pinter Theatre
<\/strong>Panton St, London SW1Y 4DN<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Romeo & Julie. Harold Pinter Theatre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Director Robert Icke first staged Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy in 2012, and now returns to it fourteen years later \u2014 older, and perhaps with a different perspective on life (not least as a parent). Yet the two productions echo each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Icke, this is not fate set in stone, but a chain of accidents leading to tragedy. Destiny is not carved in tablets \u2014 it is a series of small decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new production bears all the hallmarks of Icke\u2019s style: balancing on the edge of comedy and drama, only to collapse into tragedy through a cascade of chance events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juliet is played by Sadie Sink (Max in Stranger Things): fiery, sparkling, alive \u2014 truly making the classic feel contemporary. She\u2019s a remarkable actress \u2014 just think of her Ellie in The Whale. Or the short film All Too Well, directed by Taylor Swift \u2014 Sink is magnetic even in the briefest scenes. A flame-haired Juliet \u2014 though her Romeo there was perhaps less convincing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, Romeo is played by Noah Jupe \u2014 youthful, intense, open-hearted. The kind of sincerity that feels almost impossible in our post-post-meta world \u2014 and yet Jupe seems entirely unbothered by such concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, Sink and Jupe create a chemistry that erupts like a sudden volcano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a word for Mercutio: Kasper Hilton-Hille, a graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and winner of Best Newcomer at the Off West End Awards (2024) for That Face at the Orange Tree Theatre. He was also recently in Dealer\u2019s Choice at the Donmar Warehouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dracula<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

No\u00ebl Coward Theatre
<\/strong>85\u201388 St Martin’s Ln, London WC2N 4AU<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Daniel Buda. Dracula. No\u00ebl Coward Theatre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With this production, director Kip Williams completes his \u201cgothic trilogy\u201d. It began with Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in Sydney (2022), followed by The Picture of Dorian Gray with Sarah Snook, and now concludes with Dracula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three productions use his signature technology: live cameras on stage, close-ups projected onto screens, the fusion of theatre and cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the No\u00ebl Coward Theatre, Dracula is played by Cynthia Erivo \u2014 yes, that Cynthia Erivo (also known as Elphaba in Wicked). A year ago she was singing at the Hollywood Bowl; now she performs every role in Dracula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes \u2014 it\u2019s a one-woman show. And Erivo is both queen and demon. The result is hypnotic, demanding, and utterly mesmerising. And yes \u2014 frightening. The cameras heighten the intimacy, and her rapid transformations \u2014 voice, body, energy \u2014 are visible almost under a microscope. This is intellectual horror, and a very intense theatrical experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Old Vic
<\/strong>103 The Cut, London SE1 8NB<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest. The Old Vic<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00abThis is how society deals with those who are different\u00bb, \u2014 wrote Ken Kesey in his great novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Kesey conceived the book while working as a night orderly in a psychiatric ward. He believed the problem was not the patients, but the society that rejected them \u2014 punishing \u00abdifference\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published in 1962, the novel became an instant success. Thirteen years later, Milos Forman adapted it into a legendary film starring Jack Nicholson as McMurphy. You remember, don\u2019t you? His defiance disrupts the system and awakens something long suppressed in the patients \u2014 stripped of dignity, voice and self-expression under the iron rule of Nurse Ratched, left with nothing but fear. McMurphy\u2019s rebellion reminds them what it means to speak \u2014 and to be free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted for the stage by Dale Wasserman, this new production by Clint Dyer reframes the story as a powerful exploration of colonialism. How do systems designed to silence dissent actually work? Uncomfortable? Good. You\u2019re supposed to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McMurphy is played by Aaron Pierre, with Michelle Gomez as Nurse Ratched \u2014 cold, sarcastic, and genuinely threatening. Life, play, music, dance \u2014 set against control and violence. Pierre is a strikingly unexpected McMurphy: model-handsome, composed, intelligent, with a mesmerising voice (he voiced Mufasa in Mufasa: The Lion King). This is clearly not a traditional Cuckoo\u2019s Nest, but a more political, contemporary interpretation \u2014 with very precise casting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hooray, April! The Easter holidays, the first real warmth (typically arriving just after the break!), and of course \u2014 premieres. Everything looks so good \u2014 what would you choose?..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":63138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[185],"class_list":["post-63132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","column-letters-from-the-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63139,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63132\/revisions\/63139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63132"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=63132"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=63132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}