Kenneth Branagh’s final show in his West End season is a revival that is slick, but a bit passionless.
Text of the Day: Harold Hobson on London theatre
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
LETTER TO LARRY – Jermyn Street Theatre
Theatre loves to eat its own history, and fair enough: if you want intensity, volatile emotion, hope and heartbreak and impossible yet irresistible characters, there are few richer diets. Especially looking back at the age of star-cursed star marriages and a pre-permissive intensity of scandal. Only lately Southwark gave us ORSON’S SHADOW, with Adrian Lukis as Laurence Olivier, taking up with his third-wife-to-be Joan Plowright during an ill-fated collaboration with Orson Welles. In that play Vivien Leigh (Gina Bellman) was mentally disintegrating gradually, but in the background to the clash of Titans.
My theatre diary: To Kill a Mockingbird, Henry V, As Is, Orson’s Shadow & The Invisible
Since I got back from my month of remote working in Mallorca, I’ve been lucky enough to pack in lots of trips to the theatre, including this quintuplet of limited season plays that are all worth a look. As usual, I’ve listed productions in closing date order, and the first on the list finishes this Saturday, so don’t delay if you want to see it…
ORSON’S SHADOW – Southwark Playhouse
WHEN LARRY MET ORSON AND KEN AND IT DIDN’T GO WELL… Sir Larry spreads his arms wide in the rehearsal room and moans “I am a giant in chains!” His director rolls his eyes. The critic-dramaturge in the corner cringes. … Continue reading →
Press pass: All the news, interviews, opinions (and booking) for Kenneth Branagh season
Just days after Kevin Spacey gave his (literal) swansong when accepting his Special Award at the Oliviers, our own homegrown Hollywood star has announced his plans to take over a West End theatre as actor-manager. As you will have noticed from the avalanche of coverage and quickening social media frenzy, Kenneth Branagh is back. Though […]
What’s the message of World Theatre Day? And why don’t the English celebrate it?
The inaugural #LoveTheatre day back in November caused quite a stir. Theatre – and more specifically #lovetheatre – was trending up and down the country. Now, here we are today, the 54th annual World Theatre Day (or, like with like, #WorldTheatreDay) and you’d hardly know it. More than five decades in, you’d think that World […]