A rediscovered Edwardian problem play gives a clear picture of marriage and morals in a bygone era.
Mates blogger: Aleks Sierz
Aleks Sierz is one of over 45 theatre bloggers who are part of the MyTheatreMates collective. This page features Aleks's posts on MyTheatreMates. Take a look at our full list of theatre bloggers and our aggregated feed of all our Mates' posts. We’re always looking for new theatre bloggers. Could that be you? Learn about how to join us.
Aleks Sierz FRSA is a theatre critic, and author of the seminal study of new 1990s playwrights, In-Yer-Face Theatre. His other books include Rewriting the Nation, The Theatre of Martin Crimp, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights and Modern British Playwriting. His latest book (co-authored with Lia Ghilardi) is The Time Traveller’s Guide to British Theatre. He also works as a journalist, broadcaster, and lecturer. Aleks blogs independently at www.sierz.co.uk and tweets at @alekssierz.
The latest from Aleks on MyTheatreMates
‘Psychologically convincing & fiercely compelling’: CONTINUITY – Finborough Theatre (Online review)
In Continuity, Gerry Moynihan explores the men’s fanaticism and the effects of their frustrated masculinity on their political beliefs.
‘Theatre is rarely so forceful or so urgent’: THE PROTEST – Bush Theatre
This venue’s urgent response to the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter campaign is powerfully realised.
‘Mark Gatiss’ mesmerising acting dominates the play’: THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III – Nottingham Playhouse (Online review)
Alan Bennett writes that “I’ve always had a soft spot for George III”, for no better reason than that he had studied the monarch’s reign at secondary school and then again at uni.
‘A real gem’: Philip Ridley’s online series The Beast Will Rise is ‘sublime storytelling’
The problem with creating theatre in an era of lockdown is that the constraints of working online tend towards a uniformity of creativity
Unprecedented or uninteresting? Do bad times provoke bad art?
We are living, I have frequently been told, through weird times. Maybe. But do weird times necessarily require weird art? Do bad times provoke bad art?
‘Diana Quick gives a bravura performance’: MIDNIGHT YOUR TIME – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
This revival of a 2011 HighTide hit, reconceived for streaming, stars Diana Quick and is intimate and quietly moving.
‘Gillian Anderson’s performance is a scorcher’: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE – Young Vic Theatre (Online review)
World on fire: The NT Live recording of this classic Young Vic production stars Gillian Anderson and is genuinely unmissable.
‘This is our humanity. And sheer genius’ – Andrew Scott in SEA WALL
Lockdown occasionally spawns some real delights. Like the surprise appearance of a strange creature from the profoundest depths. One of these must be Andrew Scott’s superb performance in Simon Stephens’s Sea Wall.
‘The camera captures Benedict Wong’s perfectly nuanced performance’: THE ARREST OF AI WEIWEI – Hampstead Theatre (Online review)
Howard Brenton’s docu-drama about the harassment of the Chinese artist is imbued with fresh urgency and relevance.
‘It is also about the elemental longing of all of us for human connection’: FRANKENSTEIN – National Theatre (Online review)
The megahit NT Live version of this iconic tale of creative hubris features a dynamic acting duo, but it is not perfect.
‘A joyous celebration of the magic of theatre’: WISE CHILDREN – York Theatre Royal (Online review)
Emma Rice’s version of Angela Carter’s last novel is a beautifully bizarre celebration of alternative families.
‘A powerfully resonant, relevant & riveting watch’: It’s True, It’s True, It’s True – Breach Theatre (Online review)
The BBC film version of a Renaissance rape trial is powerfully resonant, relevant and a riveting watch.
‘Philip Ridley’s masterly monologue explores the anxieties of our current culture of fear’: GATORS (Online review)
Gloriously surreal monologue about everyday anxieties in extraordinary circumstances: welcome back the glittering dark!
‘This proves that staying in really does have its compensation’: ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS – National Theatre (Online review)
These shows, originally filmed as part of the flagship’s NT Live project, are now available on its YouTube channel. The first is Richard Bean’s gloriously silly farce, One Man, Two, Guvnors, starring the irrepressible and Tony-award winning James Corden.
‘A story about isolation has a particular resonance’: THE CROFT – Original Theatre (Online review)
This touring theatre’s new tartan gothic thriller is complex, but also a bit overwrought and conventional.
‘Many good debating points here’: BUBBLE – Theatre Uncut (Online Review)
Theatre Uncut’s Bubble, a streamed film about social media and the woke generation is educational, but unexceptional.
Text of the Day: I Think We Are Alone
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
‘A powerful account of female middle-class anxieties in Britain today’: SHOE LADY – Royal Court Theatre
Shoe Lady at the Royal Court is not the most involving play in the world, but it does have an evocative resonance.
‘Has some watchable, even intriguing, moments’: CORPSE! – Park Theatre
Gerald Moon’s 1983 comedy-thriller, Corpse!, is a typical example of a style of writing about murder that is entertaining in its plotting, but offers little else of dramatic pleasure.