The National Theatre’s staging of Under Milk Wood is far from the first time Dylan Thomas’ poem has been adapted for the stage. It’s easy to see the temptation to perform a work so packed with characters, drifting through a strange, semi-mythical setting encountering one another.
Mates blogger: Tom Bolton
Tom Bolton is one of over 45 theatre bloggers who are part of the MyTheatreMates collective. This page features Tom'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.
Tom Bolton is an author and researcher, based in London. He comes from Stratford-upon-Avon, where Derek Jacobi in The Tempest got him hooked on theatre. He sat on the Olivier Awards judging panel, and started reviewing for Londonist in 2010. He is particularly keen on disinterred classics, new writing and physical theatre, and spends a week at the Edinburgh Festival every year looking for more. Tom blogs independently at tombolton.co.uk and tweets @teabolton.
The latest from Tom on MyTheatreMates
‘One of the most absorbing & significant plays every written’: HAPPY DAYS – Riverside Studios
Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days is, as Lisa Dwan observes, often described as ‘the female Hamlet’. Dwan has played every other female Beckett lead but even she was intimidated by a role previously inhabited by Peggy Ashcroft, Brenda Bruce, Fiona Shaw and Juliet Stevenson, among others. It is understandable. Happy Days, first performed in 1961, is a mighty play, and 60 years later still unlike anything you’ve seen.
‘The writing is nuanced & structured’: HYMN – Almeida Theatre (Online review)
In an empty Almeida Theatre, two heavyweight actors – Adrian Lester and Danny Sapani – bring serious male energy to Lolita Chakrabati’s new play Hymn.
‘Powerful, funny & thoroughly engaging’: NAKED – Cockpit Theatre (Online review)
NAKED is a powerful, funny and thoroughly engaging piece of physical theatre. It is the first show from performers Luke Vincent and Paige-Marie Baker-Carroll of the NAKEDpresents queer collective.
‘We are transported somewhere far from Covid’: UNCLE VANYA – Harold Pinter Theatre (Screening)
Cut off in its prime in March, Ian Rickson’s Uncle Vanya returns to us from an empty theatre, filmed for cinema release.
‘A remarkable play’: LES BLANCS – National Theatre at Home (Online review)
The National Theatre’s 2016 production of Les Blancs was directed by Yaël Farber and used the full resources of the Olivier stage to transmit its full force.
‘A strangely disconcerting play’: PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD – Druid Theatre (Online review)
The online release of productions from Druid Theatre’s 2005 season of JM Synge’s complete works is a lockdown boon.
‘A powerful picture of a dark day for democracy’: THE BATTLE OF THE BEANFIELD – Breach Theatre
The Battle of the Beanfield is the first show by Breach Theatre, now known for the excellent It’s True, It’s True, It’s True about Renaissance artist Artemisia Gentileschi.
‘It is immediately clear how prescient it was’: THIS HOUSE – National Theatre (Online review)
The chaos of national politics in the mid-1970s seemed light years away in 2014, but how arrogant that assumption seems now.
‘A fascinating body of work’: I, Peaseblossom / I, Banquo (Online review)
Tim Crouch’s series of performances as overlooked characters in Shakespeare is a fascinating body of work. He has been developing these one-man shows (with assistance) for more than 15 years.
‘They are the only tangible reminder of experiences that live powerfully in the memory’: My collection of 57 years of RSC programmes
I have been collecting these for at least 35 years and now have a nearly complete set of post-war programmes from the Stratford theatres (if anyone has a hoard of uber-rare, early programmes from The Other Place, I need to know).
‘Patsy Ferran is a treat’: TREASURE ISLAND – National Theatre (Online review)
The excitement still builds on a Thursday night, when many of us sit down to watch theatre as though it was analogue television in the four-channel era.
‘Re-living the past so intensely is eerie’: ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS – National Theatre (Online review)
After the theatres closed, the National Theatre was quick to announce a free mini-season of online shows from their NT Live broadcasts, which immediately became the only evening bookings in thousands of newly empty diaries. The first Youtube show – Nicholas Hytner’s mid-2000s mega-hit, One Man, Two Guvnors – had a real sense of anticipation.
‘The evening is enjoyable for its cast’: THE CUTTING EDGE – Arcola Theatre
Despite the combined skills of its performers, The Cutting Edge lacks pace and drive and the key moment of crisis, which always seems around the corner, never arrives.
‘Dramatic & engrossing’: THE INCIDENT ROOM – New Diorama Theatre
The Incident Room is a multi-layered and satisfying drama, a proper assessment of a story that gripped, terrified and obsessed the nation. This excellent production confronts our dark past head on.
‘Cuts to the heart of what it is to have a voice’: CINNA – Unicorn Theatre
I, Cinna is a small masterpiece of unshowy writing and performance that is some of the best small-scale theatre of its time, equally satisfying to audiences of young people and adults.
‘Pitch perfect’: FAR AWAY – Donmar Warehouse
Caryl Churchill wrote Far Away in 2000 and, 20 years on, it feels more current by the moment.
‘No lack of inventiveness in the evening’: PEOPLE SHOW 137 – Southwark Playhouse
The company in People Show 137 has an admirable ability to conjure moments that capture the audience’s attention and to deliver about turns that keep the audience intrigued.
‘The simplicity of Rackza’s writing is masterful’: ANTIGONE – New Diorama Theatre
Holy What’s version of Antigone is about the two teenage girls at the heart of the play, Antigone herself (Annabel Baldwin) and her sister Ismene (Rachel Hosker).
‘Endlessly fascinating’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – Barbican Theatre
Gregory Doran’s RSC production of Measure for Measure is a subtle and absorbing account of a play that gets weirder with every viewing.