The week’s big news was the announcement that, after 11 spectacular years, Rupert Goold is leaving the Almeida. In 2026 he will bring his sizzle to the Old Vic, taking over from Matthew Warchus. The implications reach beyond one building. In two years’ time, all three big south London theatres will have new artistic directors, with Indhu Rubasingham at the National and Nadia Fall at the Young Vic. Here is a theatrical alternative to the West End: a sunrise boulevard.
Meanwhile, smaller spaces are busy provoking. Not least the Bush, run by Lynette (come on, Almeida) Linton. Eleanor Tindall’s new play should have been called Tenderised. There are a few softly romantic passages in Tender, but the most striking moments are to do not with sweet exchanges but with being painfully prepped for a new love.
