Empathetic revival of Zinnie Harris’s 2000 play about a lost world and small island longings
The post Further Than the Furthest Thing, Young Vic appeared first on Aleks Sierz.
‘The changing tone is very engaging’: FURTHER THAN THE FURTHEST THING – Young Vic Theatre
Malevolent forces shaping small communities is a strong premise for all kinds of drama, from the arrival of outsiders that tend to be the focus of horror to the power shifts of Pinter plays that upset the status quo with new authorities forming that overshadow the existing order. Zinnie Harris’ 2000 play Further Than the Furthest Thing combines these ideas with broader notions of industrialisation and the religious management of a community relatively untroubled by the outside world until one if its returning sons brings change.
‘Jodie McNee’s leading performance burns with energy’: FAUSTUS: THAT DAMNED WOMAN – Lyric Hammersmith
In opening-up the female experience of the era in Faustus: That Damned Woman, Chris Bush reinforces the decision to switch the gender of the central character.
‘Mildly interesting, mildly well written & mildly amusing’: WHITE PEARL – Royal Court Theatre
White Pearl at the Royal Court Theatre, a new satire about the cosmetics industry and race, plays with stereotypes but is only mildly funny.
PRISM – Hampstead Theatre
Terry Johnson’s new play is a deeply felt and typically witty look at the cinematographer Jack Cardiff.
MOSQUITOES – National Theatre
The question that always needs to be asked of any example of science on stage, and there are now very many, is this: does the science add anything to the meaning of the play?
MOSQUITOES – National Theatre
The question that always needs to be asked of any example of science on stage, and there are now very many, is this: does the science add anything to the meaning of the play?
HAPGOOD – Hampstead Theatre
Because of the instability of the present there’s always a faint whiff of nostalgia for the old certainties of the past. And the Cold War era has its very own allure. This can be seen in two current successes: that of the revival of Tom Stoppard’s 1988 play, Hapgood, and of a new play by American playwright Mia Chung, You for Me for You, which takes a look behind the bamboo curtain at North Korea. When it was first staged, Stoppard’s play was widely seen as incomprehensible, with a labyrinthine plot which puzzled not only the characters of the story itself, but audiences as well. And Cold War certainties are surely not so comforting if they are, well, uncertain.