The Bush Theatre in West London has long championed new theatrical voices, said Dzifa Benson in The Telegraph – and under the leadership of artistic director Lynette Linton, it is "punching well above its weight in 2024".
It recently transferred "Red Pitch", about three young black footballers on a gentrifying estate, to the West End; now, the Congolese-British playwright Benedict Lombe's "superb" romantic comedy "Shifters" is moving to the Duke of York's Theatre with "much glitzy fanfare", thanks to its starry line-up of new backers (which includes Idris Elba). Funny and "unabashedly romantic", yet covering "epic existential themes", the play is a triumph that has had audiences getting to their feet and "whooping".
This "beautiful" two-hander is about two thirtysomethings, Des and Dre, who first met at school as teenagers, and who meet again, years later, at his grandmother's funeral, said Sarah Hemming in the FT. Brilliantly staged by Linton, it "plays like a piece of jazz, looping back and forth between past and present". And though it owes a debt to Nick Payne's time-twisting drama "Constellations", Lombe "has a warm, seductive style of her own, slipping from sharp comedy to meditative soulfulness in an instant".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This is "inventive, emotionally astute writing", said Alice Saville in The Independent – and the "will-they-won't-they" story gets a "fevered reaction" from the audience, who "hang on tight through every twist and turn".
It helps that the play's two stars have "thermonuclear charisma", said Rachel Halliburton in The Times. Tosin Cole, as Dre, has a "rooted, laid-back charm that's a winning antidote to Heather Agyepong's sharp-as-a-scalpel perfectionism".
The pair pull you effortlessly into the play's "bittersweet tenderness", agreed Tom Wicker in The Stage. Cole "brings easy charm to Dre and a faltering smile that speaks volumes", while Agyepong's Des "bristles with self-protection, but also a compassionate curiosity that cracks her own defences". The pair make "every line sing: they're hugely funny, but teetering on the edge of heartbreak".
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Gaza ceasefire teeters as Netanyahu orders strikesSpeed Read Israel accused Hamas of firing on Israeli troops
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Beth Macy’s 6 favorite books about living in a divided nationFeature The journalist recommends works by Nicholas Buccola, Matthew Desmond, and more
-
Book review: ‘Joyride: A Memoir’Feature A journalist’s story of how she chased and accomplished her dreams
-
Art Review: Downtown/Uptown: New York in the EightiesFeature Lévy Gorvy Dayan, New York City, through Dec. 13
-
R&B singer D’AngeloFeature A reclusive visionary who transformed the genre
-
Kiss guitarist Ace FrehleyFeature The rocker who shot fireworks from his guitar
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
6 well-crafted log homesFeature Featuring a floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace in Montana and a Tulikivi stove in New York
-
Film reviews: A House of Dynamite, After the Hunt, and It Was Just an AccidentFeature A nuclear missile bears down on a U.S. city, a sexual misconduct allegation rocks an elite university campus, and a victim of government terror pursues vengeance
