After the 75th anniversary weekend of VE Day, the musical Only The Brave drew my attention as a perfect way to spend an afternoon.
‘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.
‘A kind of strange hybrid form’: THIRTY MILLION MINUTES (Online review)
A life distilled to its essentials: 30 Million Minutes indicates the rough length of time that Dawn French had been alive at the time of her solo show recorded in its final incarnation in 2016.
‘The one-woman play is far superior to the TV series’: FLEABAG – Soho Theatre (Online review)
When DryWrite co-Artistic Director Phoebe Waller-Bridge wrote Fleabag back in 2013, it needed to be crowdfunded in order for it to be premiered at that year’s Edinburgh Festival.
‘This is a defiantly feminist reading of the text’: JANE EYRE – National Theatre (Online review)
The problem with staging a classic novel is that everyone has a slightly different view of how it should be done – many have tried and few have fully succeeded.
‘A success which I intend to repeat’: LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN – Marquee TV (Online review)
This production of Lady Windermere’s Fan is mostly a strong account of a play that will always be overshadowed by Earnest and a very pleasant way to spend a locked down afternoon.
40+ ways to get your theatre fix online during lockdown
Are you fed up with not being able to go out to the theatre? Don’t be. There’s a wealth of stuff to watch online. Here’s a handy list of current opportunities. OK, so it’s not quite the same as sharing the communal experience with others, but beggars, as they say…
Best of the Blogs: The Sugar Syndrome, Persona, Sold & Blithe Spirit
In our continuing series, our editor Lisa Martland picks out some of her Top Picks from the last week of theatre (to 2 February 2020), ranging from Ian Foster’s praise of the Orange Tree Theatre’s fine revival of Lucy Prebble’s first play The Sugar Syndrome.
‘Dense study of women in emotional turmoil’: PERSONA – Riverside Studios
While I can fully imagine Persona working on film – indeed it seems to be generally hailed as a masterpiece – on stage I fear it fares less well.
‘Given a new lease of life’: TEN TIMES TABLE – Touring
A review of Ten Times Table by Alan Ayckbourn currently at Richmond Theatre . Still has resonance.
‘All a bit too minimalist’: BECKETT TRIPLE BILL – Jermyn Street Theatre
A man sitting behind a table, a man sitting on the edge of an unmade bed, two men sitting on a park bench. These are the settings in the Samuel Beckett Triple Bill currently at the tiny Jermyn Street Theatre and directed by theatre legend Trevor Nunn.
‘A valuable reminder of how far things have progressed’: COMING CLEAN – Trafalgar Studios
If I have understood the timeline correctly the latest incarnation of Kevin Elyot’s debut play Coming Clean is a revival of a revival.
‘Fails to be seriously entertaining’: THE WEATHERMAN – Park Theatre
“A meaningful play about a really important subject”. As I left the Park Theatre having watched Eugene O’Hare’s play The Weatherman, these were the sort of (overheard) comments I heard. Unfortunately, I could not altogether agree.
Best of the Blogs: From Brexit via Plenty to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Amidst editor Lisa Martland’s seven Top Picks from the last week of theatre are Libby Purves’ description of her blissful time at Nicholas Hytner’s immersive production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre and Aleks Sierz’s thoughts on the Kiln Theatre’s new opening, Samuel Adamson’s take on A Doll’s House in Wife.
‘Splendidly sharp & biting satire’: BREXIT – King’s Head Theatre
A revival of the play Brexit at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington is very much of the moment and stirs some classic sitcom memories.
To be (onstage) or not to be (onstage)
Last night I found myself both onstage and in the audience at the same time – neat trick if you can do it and I have done… on more than one occasion.
‘It was just the most magical experience of reading a play’: Director Rob Ellis fills in the background on new play Cuttings at the Hope Theatre
Rob Ellis directs Ollie George Clark’s new play called Cuttings at London’s Hope Theatre which examines the hitherto unexplored backstage world of theatrical PR – a world that has become increasingly important with the rise of online social media.
A play about the writing & staging of a play has always been part of a popular genre
Inevitably writers will gravitate to the world they most often inhabit and about which they can speak with a degree of authority whether that be professionally, publically or privately.
THE PEDLAR OF SWAFFHAM – Norfolk ★★★
It shouldn’t have surprised me (as a local) that I had never heard the Norfolk folktale of John Chapman, the dreaming pedlar who found a fortune buried in his garden and used it generously to restore his beloved town of Swaffham.