Enda Walsh’s adaptation of Max Porter’s contemporary classic gets the big-stage treatment, starring Cillian Murphy. With mixed results.
Text of the Day: The Ferryman
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
Text of the Day: Bad Roads
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
‘You have goat to be kidding me’: GOATS – Royal Court Theatre
You have goat to be kidding me: the Royal Court’s latest experiment is a tonally-confused take on the Syrian conflict, fake news, and livestock management.
‘The animals are the real stars’: GOATS – Royal Court Theatre
Go goats! New play about truth and lies in the Syrian conflict is upstaged by its animal performers.
KILLOLOGY – Royal Court
Sion Daniel Young is Davey, a fifteen-year-old tearaway who roams the streets looking for trouble. A traumatic incident several years before, severe poverty and a well-intentioned but clueless mum means he channels his anger into violent bullying.
CIRCUS DIARIES: Any Port In A Storm
Dressing up boxes, jewels, and the English countryside are three of the prominent phrases that stick in my mind from the Giffords Circus website. And, as if by magic, they have all been brought to life in the quintessentially quaint circus pitch in the fields of Fennells Farm, and in the Elizabethan opulence that waits inside the bright white tent.
Text of the Day: While We’re Here
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
CIRCUS DIARIES: The Painted Wagon, by Giffords Circus
Wild West inspired acts have been a feature of circus since William Cody’s Buffalo Bill show took off across the States in the late 1800s. Trick riding, so often associated with cowboys and rodeos, was of course a feature of circus since its foundations in 18th Century London.
Edinburgh Fringe: Tank
Like their debut production The Beanfield, Breach Theatre’s second show Tank recreates a contentious historical event in a distinctive meta-theatrical mashup up forms and styles. In the 1960s, Dr John Lilley built a Caribbean villa to research cetacean communication with NASA money.
CIRCUS DIARIES: UniverSoul Circus, Western Unit 2016
The yellow and red striped tent of UniverSoul Circus aptly signals the gaiety it houses inside. This is circus reinvented as one big party, with a communal spirit at its heart. A jaunty logo decorates exterior fencing and interior merchandise booths with a globe that wears its own big top like a hat. Past the red-coated vendors, camel rides, and tuxedo’d ringhands, the logo appears again, playing across the moving LED screen ring doors as we take our seats around the perimeter.
HUMAN ANIMALS – Royal Court Theatre
Stef Smith’s frantic, apocalyptic story captures society’s instinctive, “Must. Destroy. Everything.” response to the natural world threatening contemporary human sovereignty.
CIRCUS DIARIES: Circus Mondao, 2016
The 11th season from family owned and operated Circus Mondao is a welcome reminder that the best shows don’t always come from the biggest operators. Away from the big city, their tents are pitched in the Welsh hills, amid damp earth and friendly smiles. Blue and gold military uniforms for the performers serving front of house match the blue of the big top, and the matching stable tents out back.
CIRCUS DIARIES: Circus Reunion 2016
‘Bringing Friends Together…’ reads the tagline across the brightly coloured cover of this weekend’s programme of events and, for many, the Circus Reunion is the only opportunity in each year’s busy touring calendar to gather circus family, friends and colleagues together under one roof. This is a time to relax, to catch up, to learn, and to party.