Making use of the intimate studio space, director Siobhán Cannon-Brownlie recreates the indie movie theatre setting of the play, while a cast of locals dive head-first into the dazzling world of Bollywood.
Mates blogger: Not Exactly Billington
Not Exactly Billington is one of over 45 theatre bloggers who are part of the MyTheatreMates collective. This page features Not Exactly'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.
Launched in 2012, Not Exactly Billington is a Leicester-based theatre blog run by Adam and Jasmine, who are keen to explore and promote the arts on a national scale while maintaining the importance of regional voices, perspectives and creative endeavours. The couple share blogging responsibilities and often collaborate on reviews, thus giving a broader response. For three years, they also successfully ran the #ReadaPlayaWeek initiative. Each week, they championed a different play, ensuring there was equal representation of male and female writers as part of their advocacy for gender equity and diversity in the arts. They tweet at @NoBillington.
The latest from Not Exactly on MyTheatreMates
‘Absorbing family comedy’: THE END OF HISTORY – Royal Court Theatre
What’s so great about Jack Thorne’s play The End of History (as well as his consistently interesting use of stage directions) is that it has made me pause to think but is all wrapped up in this absorbing family comedy.
‘Irresistibly moving & thought-provoking’: THE COLOR PURPLE – Leicester
Celie’s journey from despair to belief, love and hope is, in T’Shan Williams’ hands, a believable and rewarding experience in The Color Purple.
‘I never tried to do anything before’: Three works by Kenneth Lonergan
Kenneth Lonergan’s 2009 play The Starry Messenger has opened at the Wyndham’s starring Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern. Longergan’s work has enjoyed a series of Tony-nominated revivals in New York over recent years.
#ReadaPlayaWeek: Texts from Tarell Alvin McCraney, Roy Williams, Olwen Wymark, Michaela Coel & Kenneth Lonergan
Not Exactly Billington has set themselves a challenge to read a new (to them) playtext every week. In May, their #ReadaPlayaWeek titles included Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size, Roy Williams’ interpretation of Antigone, Olwen Wymark’s Find Me, Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum Dreams, and Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth.
‘This message really packs a punch’: MATTHEW BOURNE’s ROMEO & JULIET – Touring
Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet is a wakeup call to the conscious and unconscious abuse of children and adolescents – psychological, sexual, physical – that plagues our society.
‘Once more shaking the bones of theatreland’: DEATH OF A SALESMAN – Young Vic
This production of Death of a Salesman will become the stuff of legend, hopefully setting a precedent for future ‘classic’ revivals.
#ReadaPlayaWeek: Texts from Valerie Windsor, Rose Leiman Goldemberg, Maureen Duffy & Claire Luckham
Not Exactly Billington has set themselves a challenge to read a new (to them) playtext every week. In April, the #ReadaPlayaWeek titles included Valerie Windsor’s Effie’s Burning, Rose Leiman Goldemberg’s Letters Home, Maureen Duffy’s Rites, and Claire Luckham’s Trafford Tanzi.
‘A blistering attack on the politics of the era’: TOP GIRLS – National Theatre
I’m coming to Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls (1982) afresh. Well, sort of. I read the play a few years ago, but I’ve not seen it and wasn’t born until 10 years after its original production at the Royal Court.
‘Memorable & playful’: CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN – Touring
Following Melly Still’s moving and visually stunning production of The Lovely Bones last year, I had high hopes for her latest literary adaptation, Louis de Bernières’ Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (1994).
‘A celebration of friendship, tradition & heritage’: BARBER SHOP CHRONICLES – Touring
Barber Shop Chronicles is a celebration of friendship, tradition and heritage. Ellams skilfully toes the line between sentiment, gaucheness, sincerity and wit while exploring issues of racial, social and gender identity with a keen eye for human foibles.
#ReadaPlayaWeek: Texts from Lisa Evans, Marie Laberge, Owen Sheers & Adam Barnard
Not Exactly Billington have set themselves a challenge to read a new (to them) playtext every week. In March, their #ReadaPlayaWeek titles included Lisa Evans’ Stamping, Shouting and Singing Home, Marie Laberge’s Night, Owen Sheers’ Unicorns, Almost and Adam Barnard’s buckets.
‘It’s all first rate stuff’: THE COMEDY ABOUT A BANK ROBBERY – Touring
And, as with all their previous productions, Mischief Theatre’s The Comedy About A Bank Robbery proves exactly why their triumph is so deserved.
‘Light-hearted & giddily enjoyable’: EDMOND DE BERGERAC – Birmingham
Alexis Michalik’s play (translated by Jeremy Sams) detailing the fictionalised writing process behind Cyrano, impishly titled Edmond de Bergerac, receives its English premiere in Roxana Silbert’s light-hearted and giddily enjoyable production.
‘Pretty perfect family entertainment’: THE WORST WITCH – Touring
I’m delighted to say that Emma Reeves’ new stage adaptation loses none of The Worst Witch’s gleeful mayhem and enchantment.
‘The joy is in meeting the characters’: JESUS HOPPED THE ‘A’ TRAIN – Young Vic Theatre
The joy of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train is in meeting his characters: watching them perform to each other; hearing their patois and verbal brio; exude a charisma which they know gives them power.
‘A sure-fire hit’: THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN – Touring
The Girl on the Train is contemporary, both in its subject and staging. There is a strong balance between a suspenseful whodunit that drives the play and a psychological element about memory and control, and abusive relationships.
#ReadaPlayaWeek: Laura Wade’s Breathing Corpses, Superhoe by Nicôle Lecky & more
It’s a #ReadaPlayaWeek: featuring Laura Wade’s Breathing Corpses; Adult Child/Dead Child (1987) by Claire Dowie; Thatcher’s Women by Kay Adshead; and Superhoe by Nicôle Lecky.
‘Only marginally entertaining’: SHIPWRECK – Almeida Theatre
Anne Washburn’s latest offering, Shipwreck, is a marathon play at the Almeida Theatre that takes direct aim at the Trump Administration.
‘I am utterly beguiled’: AMERICAN IDIOT – Touring
Having seen the ways that people can come together in a crisis in the uplifting Come From Away last week, this week brought a more anarchic and nihilistic view of post-9/11 America from American Idiot, the rock opera based on the Green Day concept album of the same name.