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Sex, violence and caviar: Men's Business @finborough

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Life's a dog in Men's Business. It's a nasty, cruel life where amongst the banality of everything, love, or something resembling a bit of it, exists out of a butcher's shop. And in between feeding dogs or chopping up offcuts of meat to sell as pet food, there's always time for sex and violence. The play gets into these dark and disturbing themes, inviting the audience to immerse themselves in this claustrophobic world. It's not a pleasant night at the theatre. Still, the intensity of the piece in the confined space of the Finborough Theatre and the exploration of these ideas make for an engrossing experience.   This is a new translation by Simon Stephens of Franz Xaver Kroetz's work. Initially published in 1972 and would later be expanded in the piece Through The Leaves, the action is set in a butcher's shop.  We're introduced to Charlie (Lauren Farrell), who inherited the shop from her father. Family don't seem to be around anymore. All she has...
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Love abridged: Uncle Vanya @Thehopetheatre

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Production company Tales Retold , which aims to take a new look at old classics distils the essence and passion of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya into a brisk 90-minute observation on family dysfunctions. And the disputes for money, love and survival in the Russian countryside with too much sun and vodka at hand don't seem too foreign to similar skirmishes nowadays either. It's currently playing at the Hope Theatre . Professor Serebryakov (Rory McCallum) and his young and beautiful second wife Yelena (Esme Mahoney) have come to the country estate run by Uncle Vanya (Adrian Wheeler) and his plain daughter from his first marriage, Sonya (Cassandra Hodges). Their arrival has upset the delicate balance of life at the property with their late nights and random walks. But Uncle Vanya is regretting his life, particularly since he had met Yelena ten years before and never asked her to marry her. And he doesn't think much of the professor. There's a doctor, Astrov (DK Ugonna) who...
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