E.V. Crowe’s “Shoe Lady” at the Royal Court
“Would you rather have one shoe or no shoes?” Viv is here to show us that missing only one shoe is...
Read MoreMert Dilek is an academic, theatre critic, and dramaturg based in London. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Cambridge, where he holds the Camilla Mash Studentship at Trinity College. He received his M.Phil. with distinction also from Cambridge and holds a B.A. in English and Political Science from Yale University. His scholarly interests range widely across British, European, and American drama and performance from the late nineteenth century to the present. As a theatre critic and arts journalist, he regularly contributes reviews and features to The Stage, Exeunt Magazine, and Broadway World. He has worked as a script reader for the Arcola Theatre and Bush Theatre, and continues to collaborate with playwrights and theatre companies as a dramaturg. He has recently joined the Reading Panel at the National Theatre. For more information, please visit his website at mertdilek.com.
Posted by Mert Dilek | 13th Mar 2020 | London, Review, United Kingdom
“Would you rather have one shoe or no shoes?” Viv is here to show us that missing only one shoe is...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 22nd Feb 2020 | London, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom, United States of America
Antoinette Nwandu’s play Pass Over is a palimpsest. Its outer surface looks familiar: haunted by...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 20th Feb 2020 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
Now that’s what I call a star turn. Hitting the brakes on an express train, Lesley Manville lands...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 16th Feb 2020 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
A woman walks into her home. Then does another. And another. Stef Smith’s Nora: A Doll’s House is...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 15th Feb 2020 | London, Review, United Kingdom
Towards the end of Leopoldstadt, a young writer named Leonard is handed a sheet of paper with his...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 7th Feb 2020 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
Could diabolical interference be the only way for a woman in 17th-century London to advance in...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 1st Feb 2020 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
The wilting characters of Uncle Vanya would like us to believe that their scenes from country life...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 19th Dec 2019 | London, Review, United Kingdom
It is hard to believe that Shelagh Delaney wrote A Taste of Honey when she was only nineteen. This...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 15th Dec 2019 | London, Review, Theatre and Gender, United Kingdom
This Duchess of Malfi is a cool one. It is so cool that it has lost its gripping temper and, with...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 12th Dec 2019 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
“You into words?” Jamie Lloyd’s magnificent treatment of Cyrano de Bergerac very much...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 8th Dec 2019 | London, Review, Theatre and Politics, United Kingdom
Fairview is a scorching minefield that looks like a green meadow. At long last, London audiences...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 6th Dec 2019 | London, Review, United Kingdom
’Tis the season for Christmas pantos across the UK, and there could not be a more ideal opener to...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 29th Nov 2019 | Adaptation, Italy, London, Review, United Kingdom
Adapting novels for the stage is a tricky business. When the novel in question happens to be...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 26th Nov 2019 | Dramaturgy, News, United Kingdom
Founded in 2001, the Dramaturgs’ Network is the only organization in the United Kingdom solely...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 24th Nov 2019 | London, Review, Theatre and Art, Translation, United Kingdom
What’s the use of thinking about the future? What’s the use of thinking about the future in a...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 8th Nov 2019 | London, Review, United Kingdom
The winner of the 2019 Papatango New Writing Prize, Shook by Samuel Bailey offers a glimpse into...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 31st Oct 2019 | London, Review, United Kingdom, United States of America
“Wily, slippery thing.” “Spiky little animal.” “One long nightmare.” These are the phrases that...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 26th Oct 2019 | London, Review, Theatre and Gender, United Kingdom
Believe me when I tell you that there is much more to Alice Birch’s play [BLANK] than meets the...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 25th Oct 2019 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
“Our family doesn’t get on,” sneers the eponymous matriarch of Maxim Gorky’s Vassa, now playing at...
Read MorePosted by Mert Dilek | 17th Oct 2019 | Adaptation, London, Review, United Kingdom
Far away from Earth, there is a planet called Solaris. It is covered by an ocean and orbits two...
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