The current circumstances mean that there are questions about whether there will even be a usual theatre awards season next winter/spring, especially as there may, ostensibly, be little to give awards for. However, one scheme has stepped blinking into the light.
Mates blogger: John Chapman
John Chapman is one of over 45 theatre bloggers who are part of the MyTheatreMates collective. This page features John'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.
John Chapman works as a freelance education consultant, writer and copy editor. Prior to this, he was an Assistant Headteacher specialising in English and Drama. John first took to the stage as a schoolboy pretending to be a Latin frog. Decades later, he has been involved with 150+ productions, usually as an actor or director. He is currently a member of Tower Theatre in Stoke Newington, London. In 2016, he was in their “mechanicals” team that worked as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play For The Nation, appearing both at the Barbican and in Stratford-upon-Avon. In 2004, he served as a panellist on the Olivier Awards; he is currently an Offies assessor. He reviews for a variety of websites, writes his own independent blog 2ndFromBottom about his theatrical life.
The latest from John on MyTheatreMates
‘Distinct voices ably portrayed’: THE MIKVAH PROJECT – Orange Tree Theatre (Radio review)
The Mikvah Project by Josh Azouz had originally got quite a way into its run at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond before lockdown took place.
‘Never less than arresting’: SHOE LADY – Royal Court Theatre (Radio review)
BBC Radio’s Lockdown Theatre Festival, curated by Bertie Carvel, highlights productions cut short by broadcasting them with the original casts, albeit in an audio format only.
‘Pushes the envelope of the monologue genre’: DECLAN – The Actors Centre (Online review)
Jimbo is 12 and on the cusp of young adulthood. Both his body and his mind are confused about its identity and the world around him is not much help.
‘A modern-day classic about an age-old problem’: SMALL ISLAND – National Theatre (Online review)
A terrific and epic play about the Windrush generation: Andrea Levy’s sprawling novel Small Island has been turned into a glorious staged adaptation by writer Helen Edmundson.
‘These short pieces will provide valuable testimony for what people got up to in the great pandemic’: UNPRECEDENTED – Headlong Theatre (Online review)
Life as it is currently lived in 14 playlets: Most of the plays are about ten minutes in duration and punch well above their weight featuring writing by the likes of James Graham and April de Angelis.
Lost Labour of Love: ‘All I had to do was turn up & say the words wot Shakespeare wrote, didn’t I?’
Knowing that some 600 people had applied the week previous to that, I had no great expectation that I would be selected but, to my amazement, I was offered the part of Costard.
‘A towering central performance by Mark Gatiss’: THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III – Nottingham Playhouse (Online review)
An excellent production of a modern classic with a towering central performance: Alan Bennett’s early 1990s play examines public versus private monarchical concerns at the end of the 18th century in the latest stream from National Theatre At Home.
‘The delightful level of detail punctuates the action’: THE UNDERSTUDY – Lawrence Batley Theatre
Life on the lowest rung of the theatrical ladder. There are lots of in-jokes with digs at actors, directors, the rehearsal process, theatrical agents, critics and the site-specific trend.
‘Tom Hiddleston is worth the price of admission’: CORIOLANUS – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
There are some staggering contemporary references to draw from this staging of a lesser-known Shakespeare, starring Tom Hiddleston.
‘Power is shown to be almost totally male-dominated’: THIS HOUSE – National Theatre (Online review)
The plotline of James Graham play covers several years during a period when majorities were slim and politics was a brutal business.
‘It places sound firmly front & centre’: THE ENCOUNTER – Complicite (Online review)
Simon McBurney performs this stupendous and extraordinary solo show from Complicite. Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin’s soundscape is nothing short of a triumph.
‘Think you know the war poets? Think again’: IT IS EASY TO BE DEAD – Finborough Theatre
When poetry of the First World War is mentioned, the names which tend spring to mind are Brooke, Owen, Sassoon, Graves, Blunden and so on. Then there’s Charles Sorley.
‘A spectacular show which treats its subjects with respect’: ONLY THE BRAVE – Wales Millennium Centre (Online review)
After the 75th anniversary weekend of VE Day, the musical Only The Brave drew my attention as a perfect way to spend an afternoon.
‘Ralph Fiennes & Sophie Okonedo are well matched’: ANTONY & CLEOPATRA – National Theatre (Online review)
I’ve always found Antony and Cleopatra a bit of a slog. There, I’ve said it. Too many scenes which flit about all over the place, too many minor inconsequential characters, deaths which seem interminable.
‘A kind of strange hybrid form’: THIRTY MILLION MINUTES (Online review)
A life distilled to its essentials: 30 Million Minutes indicates the rough length of time that Dawn French had been alive at the time of her solo show recorded in its final incarnation in 2016.
‘The one-woman play is far superior to the TV series’: FLEABAG – Soho Theatre (Online review)
When DryWrite co-Artistic Director Phoebe Waller-Bridge wrote Fleabag back in 2013, it needed to be crowdfunded in order for it to be premiered at that year’s Edinburgh Festival.
‘This is a defiantly feminist reading of the text’: JANE EYRE – National Theatre (Online review)
The problem with staging a classic novel is that everyone has a slightly different view of how it should be done – many have tried and few have fully succeeded.
‘A success which I intend to repeat’: LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN – Marquee TV (Online review)
This production of Lady Windermere’s Fan is mostly a strong account of a play that will always be overshadowed by Earnest and a very pleasant way to spend a locked down afternoon.
40+ ways to get your theatre fix online during lockdown
Are you fed up with not being able to go out to the theatre? Don’t be. There’s a wealth of stuff to watch online. Here’s a handy list of current opportunities. OK, so it’s not quite the same as sharing the communal experience with others, but beggars, as they say…
- Page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2