In light of the closure of theatres across the UK due to COVID-19, the Original Theatre Company’s productions of Alan Bennett’s The Habit Of Art and Ali Milles’ The Croft, both of which were touring the UK, will now each have an online launch performance.
NEWS: The Habit of Art starring Matthew Kelly will be filmed in a closed performance for download
In light of the most recent government advice due to COVID-19, The Original Theatre Company’s production of Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art, which was due to open at Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne on 18 March 2020, will now perform a closed filmed performance on the same day 2pm.
‘This cast gives a masterclass in drama’: HISTORY BOYS – Wolverhampton Grand Theatre ★★★★★
History Boys is long overdue a revival and the production (which has been meticulously directed by the hugely talented Jack Ryder) is a treat indeed.
NEWS: Menier Chocolate Factory announces its spring season for 2020
The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced the forthcoming two productions – the European premiere of Paula Vogel’s Tony Award-winning play Indecent, directed by Rebecca Taichman; and Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus directed by Patrick Marber, who returns to the Menier following his hit production of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties.
FROM DOWN UNDER: Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Lady in the Van review
Melbourne Theatre Company begins the new year with a showcase for revered actress Miriam Margolyes who takes on the cantankerous title character in Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van.
‘You gain in a proximity to the action denied even to the front row’: NT Live screening – The Madness of King George III
The revival of Alan Bennett’s 1991 classic The Madness of King George III at Nottingham Playhouse couldn’t then be more relevant, a play that speaks to our interest in the people who govern us as well as concerns about fitness to rule, mental health and its treatment.
‘Mark Gatiss gives a remarkably touching performance’: THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III – Touring
The Madness of George III offers a great part for an actor, one which Mark Gatiss relishes. His vocal and physical tics are memorable, while never reducing mental illness to a series of quirks.
‘Witty, insightful, knowledgeable’: THE HABIT OF ART – Touring ★★★★
Alan Bennett’s The Habit Of Art has returned to its meta-spiritual home this week, arriving at the Oxford Playhouse to amuse and entertain its erudite audience with in-jokes about the city’s gay scene and penises.
‘The play holds up even better ten years on’: THE HABIT OF ART – Touring ★★★★
It is nine years since Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre of The Habit of Art opened Bennett’s fascinating play: high time we had it back, and this York-led collaboration does it proud.
‘By turns cynical, touching & with a rogue twinkle in its eye’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre
By turns cynical, touching and with a rogue twinkle in its eye, Allelujah! doesn’t set the stage alight, and as both a black comedy and state-of-the-nation play it feels underpowered, but Bennett remains a bastion of not just British playwriting, but Britain as a whole.
Could Allelujah!’s transfer from stage to screen change our perception of the production?
Screening Alan Bennett’s Allelujah! on the big screen may well alter the viewer’s perspective, placing it within the tradition of television and film drama that lends itself to the cliffhanger-based six-part series that Bennett’s broad and episodic approach calls upon.
‘It is Bennett’s lasting gift to amateur dramatic societies up and down the country’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre ★★★★
I am fully content to hail Alan Bennett as a National Treasure, and while I enjoyed many aspects of Allelujah!, I still hoped for even better and a return to his form in, say, The Madness of George III.
‘I’ve not had such a viscerally angry reaction to a play for a very long time’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre
I don’t use the word ‘hate’ often in this blog, because let’s be real I never truly hate being in a theatre, but I came very close to hating Allelujah! I’ve not had such a viscerally angry reaction to a play for a very long time.
‘There are zero complaints about the acting, it’s the play that is on life support’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre
In some ways, Allelujah! is perfectly symptomatic of the problem I have with the Bridge Theatre. Does London really need any new theatres, no matter how much people think they want interval madeleines?
Text of the Day: Allelujah!
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
Diary of a theatre addict: Time for a critical reboot
I came to a belated realisation: my life was not a dress rehearsal — and it really didn’t matter if I missed a few (dozen) shows. So when it came to booking this year’s P-town trip, which we do every January, we asked about availability for an extended stay.
Review Round-up: Alan Bennett’s Allelujah! at the Bridge Theatre
Alan Bennett’s latest play has officially opened at the Bridge Theatre, the premiere production directed by Bennett’s frequent collaborator and Bridge artistic director Nicholas Hytner. Here, Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews….
‘Warm & funny, dark & thought-provoking, all at the same time’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre
The politics are an Old Labour and North London hybrid and, the hospital on stage is probably more fantasy than NHS reality. But when national treasures do something new, we should all rejoice. Allelujah, indeed.
‘Well-crafted & politically sensitive’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre
A new Alan Bennett play is an event. And hospitals – the epicentres of birth and death – are eventful places. Allelujah! is a match made in heaven then.
‘Extremely funny & has something very urgent to say’: ALLELUJAH! – Bridge Theatre
Allelujah! is not a masterpiece, mainly because most of the characters are underdeveloped and there is too much going on, but it is extremely funny and it has something very urgent to say, and says it without compromise.