See it in
Hampsteadbefore it tours nationally.
Jay and the team at Fane are starting the national tour early — and Circle & Star goes first.
Jay Rayner brings a work-in-progress one-off to Circle & Star ahead of his national tour.
Marking the publication of his fabulous new cookbook, the restaurant critic and occasional pastry-wrangler brings twenty-five years of appetite to a room of 55 — a couple of hours of intense foodie insight, fabulous dinner ideas, and the occasional dodgy one too.
Three reasons to come: 55 seats with no bad ones; air conditioning, a genuine mercy this summer; and a roomful of people who care about being there.
All fifty-five have gone.
Proximity theatre at its best — a chance to see these shows as works in progress, in a room of 55. All good seats. Brilliant company.
Thank you. If you have a ticket, we will see you on Tuesday 25 August.
Jeremy BowenTruth Under Fire
Forty years, ninety countries, twenty wars — the BBC’s International Editor on how the battle for truth is being waged, and what it costs the people who report it. The second half belongs to the audience.
See Jeremy Bowen →Wit, raconteur & occasional pastry-wrangler.
Jay Rayner is one of Britain’s best-known food writers — now restaurant critic for the Financial Times, after twenty-five years reviewing for The Observer. He’s a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet and the author of a shelfful of books, including the bestselling cookbook Nights Out at Home.
More recipes.
More stories.
“It’s time to share a little more of my love for home cooking, and the merry dance of appetite and technique that lies behind the dishes I make.”
Following his bestselling Nights Out at Home, Jay returns to the kitchen with recipes sparked by the dishes he’s fallen for over a quarter-century as a restaurant critic — meatballs with braised spaghetti, shaved fennel and lemon-zest salad, tartiflette tart, slow-cooked tandoori lamb shoulder — alongside twenty of his very own, refined at home.
There are home-cooked versions of dishes from the chefs who inspired them, a whole section on the joys of good things on toast, and stories that walk both sides of the ‘home’ and ‘away’ line: the problem with dinner parties, the route to a less painful Christmas lunch, and — given all those wretchedly negative reviews — whether Jay might actually be a total scumbag.
Every seat is close
With only 55 seats, everyone gets something close to a front-row experience — intimate, immediate, and part of the story.
Yes, there’s air conditioning
Which, in this weather, is practically a cultural service.
Good company
You’ll be among a small, curious community of people who care about live performance, conversation, and the thrill of being in the room.
Circle & Star Theatre
28 Heath Street, Hampstead, London NW3 6TE. Hampstead station, Northern line — thirty seconds from the door. Fifty-five seats — all good ones.
Jay’s national tour is produced by the team at Fane — and we’re proud to give it its opening night, here in a room of 55.