Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
‘Too many issues for any one play to carry’: THE DOCTOR – Almeida Theatre
Robert Icke’s final production for the Almeida, after spectacular successes including Mary Stuart, Andrew Scott’s Hamlet and The Wild Duck, is a complete reworking of a play by Arthur Schnitzler. He rips the original play, Professor Bernhardi, out of its turn-of-the-century Vienna setting, and drops it into the information age in The Doctor.
‘Once again Icke has pulled off a brilliant reframing’: THE DOCTOR – Almeida Theatre ★★★★
Problematic, troubling, with a cast who give of themselves with unstinting commitment, once again Icke has pulled off a brilliant reframing in The Doctor.
‘Delving beneath the surface of labels & stereotypes’: THE DOCTOR – Almeida Theatre
The performances are superb in The Doctor at the Almeida Theatre, Juliet Stevenson is as formidable as her character and Ria Zmitrowicz’s dry one-liners are a refreshing light relief particularly as the persistent tension can become a bit numbing.
‘Theatrically inspiring & often astonishing’: THE DOCTOR – Almeida Theatre
In The Doctor at the Almeida Theatre Juliet Stevenson is mesmerising in a brilliantly written ethical debate that is both thrilling and challenging.
‘An updating perfect for our times’: THE DOCTOR – Almeida Theatre ★★★★
Arthur Schnitzler was, like Chekhov, a doctor; he was an Austrian Jew at a time when mistrust was rising. The Doctor belongs passionately to that time: but director Robert Icke’s very free adaptation belongs – urgently and exhilaratingly – to our own.
NEWS: Juliet Stevenson & Ria Zmitrowicz will star in the world premiere of Robert Icke’s The Doctor at the Almeida
The Almeida Theatre has announced a new play written and directed by Robert Icke called The Doctor, freely adapted from Arthur Schnitzler’s 1912 play Professor Bernhardi, featuring Juliet Stevenson and Ria Zmitrowicz.
LA RONDE – The Bunker
Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 play of 10 interlinked intimate encounters has proven enduringly popular over the years – adapted for the gays, for fans of musicals, for Charlie Spencer’s libido – and now Max Gill has taken a decidedly 21st century gender-neutral approach to La Ronde for the opening salvo in the Bunker’s second season.
F**KING MEN – Vaults Theatre
Joe DiPietro’s cult hit is enjoyable enough, but rather predictable in both form and content.
THE RED BARN – National Theatre
David Hare’s latest is a superb adaptation of a Simenon thriller that is set in the United States.
F*CKING MEN – King’s Head Theatre
All the reviews of F*cking Men at the King’s Head referred to its setting ‘in the gay community’. If it does nothing else, Memphis writer Joe diPietro’s re-working of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 Viennese cycle of illicit courtship La Ronde proves there’s no such thing.