With a new year fast approaching, it is an interesting time to reflect on small changes across the theatre landscape in 2019 that will continue to shape how UK theatre will look as it moves into a new decade.
‘Never less than compelling’: MACBETH – Chichester
It has been a long time since the West End saw a truly great Macbeth so perhaps this is a chance for Simm and Kirwan to buck the trend with impressive performances that offer a different perspective on their characters while creating a potency in their exchanges that is never less than compelling.
‘Masterful central performances are worth the admission price alone’: MACBETH – Chichester
See this production of Macbeth for those masterful central performances, they’re more than worth the price of admission, even if so much of the rest is “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing!”
‘It’s very easy to see all sorts of contemporary parallels’: Director Paul Miller on Macbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Macbeth, led by John Simm and Dervla Kirwan as the corrupted couple, marks a homecoming for director Paul Miller.
‘Nothing less than astonishing’: Pinter At The Pinter Season – West End
In just six months, Jamie Lloyd’s creative team and ever-changing company of actors has utterly transformed our perspective on Harold Pinter.
NEWS: John Simm, Dervla Kirwan Hugh Bonneville, James Nesbitt & Sheila Hancock all feature in Chichester Festival Theatre’s new season
Chichester Festival Theatre’s Festival 2019 has been announced by artistic director Daniel Evans. It includes John Simm & Dervla Kirwan in Macbeth, Hugh Bonneville in Shadowlands & Tim Firth’s first solo musical starring James Nesbitt.
‘Themes as relevant now as when the plays were written’: PINTER FIVE & SIX – West End
There are no balloons or party poppers but a good time is guaranteed with Party Time and Celebration, a standout Pinter Six from the consistently strong Pinter at the Pinter season in London’s West End.
‘Eminently watchable’: PINTER SIX – West End
One of the benefits in producing such a wide-ranging festival as Pinter at the Pinter has been the flexibility in its programming, allowing for thematic evenings to emerge as opposed to a straight chronological trip through the canon. So here, Jamie Lloyd is able to bring together two plays set at gatherings, both conveniently cast for nine people.
‘You’ll want to accept an invitation to this wonderful Pinter party’: PINTER SIX – West End
The purpose of Jamie Lloyd’s still and contained approach is extremely well and atmospherically realised by a top-notch cast who bring such clarity to Pinter Six’s social commentary.
NEWS: Antony Sher, Penelope Wilton, Russell Tovey & others join all-star Pinter at Pinter
Further all-star casting has been announced for Jamie Lloyd Company’s Pinter at the Pinter, an unparalleled event featuring all twenty short plays written by Harold Pinter in the West End theatre that bears his name.
NEWS: Further casting for Pinter at the Pinter includes Keith Allen, Rupert Graves, Gary Kemp, John Simm & Maggie Steed
Keith Allen, Phil Davis, Paapa Essiedu, Rupert Graves, Gary Kemp, John Simm and Maggie Steed have joined the extraordinary company of Pinter at the Pinter, the unprecedented season featuring all 20 of Harold Pinter’s one-act plays, running from September 2018 to February 2019, to mark the tenth anniversary of the Nobel Prize winner’s death.
THE HOMECOMING – West End
It’s fair to say that Pinter is not for the faint hearted of theatre goers. The complexity, controversial and sometimes baffling storylines dealing with sexism, antiquated values, male chauvinism and anger does not make for a necessarily enjoyable evening. An awkward reminder of bygone days is an unusual choice to celebrate its 50th anniversary. However what makes this production is the artistic direction of Jamie Lloyd and a cast of brilliant actors each at the height of their profession.
TICKETS: Mark’s Top Ten recommendations + this week’s openings (7 Dec)
What’s opening in London and beyond this week, plus my personal Top Ten of the Week including Bend it Like Beckham and The Winter’s Tale
TICKETS: Mark’s Top Ten recommendations + this week’s openings (7 Dec)
What’s opening in London and beyond this week, plus my personal Top Ten of the Week including Bend it Like Beckham and The Winter’s Tale
THE HOMECOMING – West End
A true theatre masterpiece can survive any directorial mugging. By this definition, Harold Pinter’s 1965 play, The Homecoming, is a robust work of genius. It has to be because, from the very start of this starry 50th anniversary revival, director Jamie Lloyd seems determined to turn it into a lurid mix of cartoon and nostalgia-fest. As the evening begins, the drama’s grubby setting, given a retro look by designer Soutra Gilmour with the addition of a couple of sticks of period furniture, is bathed in bright red light while pounding drums and throbbing bass evoke something like the Swinging Sixties.
NEWS: Jamie Lloyd revives Pinter’s Homecoming for 50th anniversary
The Jamie Lloyd Company returns to the West End with Harold Pinter’s enigmatic masterpiece, The Homecoming, in the 50th anniversary year of the multi award-winning modern classic. Public booking opens Tuesday 22 September 2015 at 10am.