Race, rage and relevance: sensitive revival of American writer Alice Childress’ 1955 anti-racist play shines bright.
‘Written with intelligence, vigour & energy’: THE SUGAR SYNDROME – Orange Tree Theatre
Excellent revival of Lucy Prebble’s disturbing debut play The Sugar Syndrome about loneliness, the internet and illegal desire.
‘Its power is unmistakeable’: THE SUGAR SYNDROME – Orange Tree Theatre
A fine revival of Lucy Prebble’s first play The Sugar Syndrome features a strong debut performance from Jessica Rhodes at the Orange Tree Theatre.
THE NORMAN CONQUESTS – Chichester Festival Theatre
Seeing the plays from different perspectives felt appropriate as that is the nature of Ayckbourn’s trilogy written in 1973. Three times we visit the same group of six characters over the same weekend but based in a different part of the house.
What were our Top 25 reviews & other blogs in September 2017?
What were the reviews and other blogs that got readers clicking most? Any surprises? Our Top 25 Mates Blogs from September 2017 are listed below with summaries and links to read more.
What were our Top 25 reviews & other blogs in September 2017?
What were the reviews and other blogs that got readers clicking most? Any surprises? Our Top 25 Mates Blogs from September 2017 are listed below with summaries and links to read more.
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… The Norman Conquests’ John Hollingworth
“Alan Ayckbourn is brilliant at farce – people talking at cross purposes, mis-timed entrance and exits, slapstick encounters – but he also nails the desperation of these six people marooned in a crumbling country house.”
Autumn casting news: Oslo, Doubt & Chichester’s Norman Conquests
I want to be able to resist anything to do with Alan Ayckbourn but the cast and creatives for Chichester’s production of The Norman Conquests is making it very hard indeed. Wunderkind director Blanche McIntyre is at the helm of a company for the trilogy of plays.
Photos & podcast: On Benjamin Britten, WH Auden & Gypsy Rose Lee
A New York artistic commune in the early 1940s – occupied by British exiles Benjamin Britten, WH Auden, American novelist Carson McCullers (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter) and stripper Gypsy Rose Lee amongst many other artists – is the setting for Zoe Lewis‘ new play Britten in Brooklyn, which has just premiered at London’s Wilton’s Music Hall.
BRITTEN IN BROOKLYN – Wilton’s Music Hall
Exiled in America for his beliefs and a national disgrace Benjamin Britten must decide which way his conflicted political ideals lie but the constant parties, doomed affairs and John Dunne, the mysterious stranger provide an easy distraction.
BRITTEN IN BROOKLYN – Wilton’s Music Hall
Washed up in wartime, Britten, his friend and romantic obsession W H Auden, the tedious waif-like poet and novelist Carson McCullers, and stripper turned thriller writer Gypsy Rose Lee shared a bohemian squat in a dilapidated row house in Brooklyn Heights from where they tried to influence the US’s entry into the war with pacifist writings and socialite dinner parties.