Review of 2014 - Best Overall Theatre: The Almeida Theatre, Islington

When Rupert Goold took over as the artistic director of London's Almeida Theatre, he promised that the two words to describe his upcoming job would be risk and vision. 

It's fitting then, that in his first season there was a post-apocalyptic play about pop-culture, a "future-history" play about the reign of Charles III , a verbatim piece exploring the 2011 London Riots, a stripped down, metatheatrical retelling of a Thornton Wilder classic and to top it off a modern-dress Shakespeare production. 

The Almeida had always been popular to those who knew about it (for many productions, tickets are gold dust) , but Goold not only brought it to the 21st century, he did so with a sense of style and vitality that we will hopefully see more of over the coming years. Take his American Psycho - by casting Matt Smith in the title role, Goold exposed thousands of young audience members to the type of drama they just don't teach in schools.

We'd like to wish Rupert, the brilliant front of house team and what we're sure is a brilliant backstage crew the very best for what we're sure is going to be a very, very good year for the Almeida. 

Review: Almeida's Our Town

It's been said that since 1948, Thornton Wilder's seminal Our Town has been performed every single night, even on Sundays. In America, it's mega: amateur groups perform it because of the deliberately minimal staging, actors love it because of the naturalistic dialogue and directors worship it because of the bold metatheatrical devices, including having an on-stage 'Stage Manager' (played in this production by director David Cromer).

In the Almedia Theatre's new production, things have been stripped back even further: actors mime props, speak in thick regional English accents and David Cromer's stage manager oversees proceedings with a sense of casual ceremoniousness. When he enters, he describes the town of Grover's Corners. "The sky is beginning to show some sneaks of light" towards the back of the stalls and Main Street runs between rows A and B of the Almeida's new traverse auditorium.

And while this might sound like modernist mumbo-jumbo, it's actually good. Fantastic, even once it gets going. Cromer's simplistic staging ensures that the focus is always on the audience, and the theatrical revelation that comes in Act 3 filled the auditorium with gasps and even the odd teary eye. 

Marc Brenner

The cast, many of whom are making their professional stage debuts, give it their all, and special credit goes to Laura Elsworthy, David Cromer and Richard Lumsden as the everyman journalist Mr Webb. 

The lighting, while simple, is also standout. Performed mostly with the house-lights up, the gentle shifts to half-light and the sudden drop to black in third act did nothing but add to the startling intimacy and tenderness of this gripping production. 

With his production of Our Town, David Cromer has shone a light over the everyday. It is a play, and production, that asks us to not only look at the stage but also at each other; that young couple on the front row, the two pensioners at the back, me. While Wilder and Cromer share mayorship, it's still very much Our Town.

10/10