Translating poetry to the stage can be challenging for both performer and audience, the importance of the language while alive and vivid on the page can feel verbose or intangible, even static, when read aloud.
‘Ralph Fiennes & Sophie Okonedo are well matched’: ANTONY & CLEOPATRA – National Theatre (Online review)
I’ve always found Antony and Cleopatra a bit of a slog. There, I’ve said it. Too many scenes which flit about all over the place, too many minor inconsequential characters, deaths which seem interminable.
‘Feels as fresh & relevant as ever’: A TASTE OF HONEY – Trafalgar Studios
With its comment on the burden of expectation placed on women, class struggle, race and sexuality, more than six decades on A Taste Of Honey has lost none of its bite.
‘Remains a vital piece of theatre’: A TASTE OF HONEY – Touring ★★★
Some outstanding performances overcome a series of gimmicky directorial choices in the UK National Theatre’s touring production of A Taste of Honey at the King’s.
‘Writes with wit & clarity’: HANSARD – National Theatre
Simon Woods’ debut play Hansard, about the parliamentary ruling class is timely, and amusingly preceptive, but ultimately unsatisfying.
‘A great political play’: HANSARD – National Theatre
Hansard is a great political play, one that tells us everything about the society we have become and why the impasse of the last three years cannot be easily broken.
‘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.
‘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.
‘Disappointingly middle of the road’: THREE SISTERS – Almeida Theatre
Chekhov classic from the team behind the West End hit Summer and Smoke is too middle of the road
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‘A vibrant & meaningful interpretation’: THREE SISTERS – Almeida Theatre
It is a vibrant and meaningful interpretation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters that reaps rewards. Keep on an eye on this new theatre partnership, it could be around for many years to come.
NEWS: Jodie Prenger is cast in the National Theatre’s UK touring production of Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey
The National Theatre has announced a UK tour of Bijan Sheibani’s production of A Taste of Honey, Shelagh Delaney’s taboo-breaking 1950s play which was first produced in the Lyttelton Theatre in 2014. Designed by Hildegard Bechtler, the piece has been reconceived in an exciting new production, featuring a live onstage band, and will star Jodie Prenger as Helen. Further casting is to be announced.
‘There are moments here to be savoured’: ANTONY & CLEOPATRA – National Theatre ★★★★
At three and a half hours all in Antony and Cleopatra is a long haul, but with Fiennes and Okonedo making Shakespeare’s verse sing, there are moments here to be savoured.
‘Delivers on so much of its promise’: Antony & Cleopatra – National Theatre
After a genuinely exhilarating Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre a few months ago, Shakespeare’s subsequent tale Antony and Cleopatra has arrived at the National starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo.
‘Surely a candidate for best play of the year’: MOOD MUSIC – The Old Vic
Mood Music is all about the music industry and the pains of creativity. It is a powerful journey into the dark heart of music-making — and surely a candidate for best play of the year.
‘Fascinating examination of power in the entertainment industry’: MOOD MUSIC – The Old Vic
Joe Penhall’s new play Mood Music is set in the music industry and examines the complex and tricky personalities whose deep and longstanding knowledge of how the ‘business’ works means they have become adept at manipulating every system.
HAMLET – Harold Pinter Theatre
Andrew Scott’s interpretation of the Prince of Denmark is stylish, relevant and completely contemporary.
HAMLET – West End
Andrew Scott’s take on Hamlet, in Robert Icke’s Almeida production that has just transferred to the West End, is a testament to the versatility of Shakespeare’s prose. With Benedict Cumberbatch, TV’s Sherlock, having been London’s last celebrity Hamlet, Scott’s (who played Sherlock’s nemesis Moriarty) take on the role offers us a striking glimpse into the breadth of interpretation and intrigue that is offered by the Prince of Denmark.
CONSENT – National Theatre
Rape is such a serious social issue that it’s hardly surprising that several recent plays have tackled it. I’m thinking of Gary Owen’s Violence and Son, James Fritz’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds and Evan Placey’s Consensual. All of these discuss, whether implicitly or explicitly, the notion of consent, which is the name of playwright and director Nina Raine’s latest drama about the subject.
SUNSET AT THE VILLA THALIA – National Theatre
Downton’s Elizabeth McGovern stars in a new play about Greece that is both intelligent and very enjoyable.
WASTE – National Theatre
Do scandals have a sell-by date? When it comes to sex and politicians, the answer is no. The tabloids, and the news-hungry public, still seem to relish a good story about a powerful man who is caught with his trousers around his ankles. So Harley Granville Barker’s Waste — first put on in 1907 and then rewritten some 20 years later — is ostensibly a highly relevant drama of a personal tragedy in which our characteristic national mix of prurience and puritanism gets a longwinded airing. Certainly, the plot is instantly recognisable.
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