We are in Cornwall, forty years ago, on the 19 December 1981. A lifeboat in Penlee Station answers a distress call, but never returned, with the loss of sixteen lives.
‘Not all subterfuge & double jeopardy’: A SPLINTER OF ICE – Original Theatre Company (Online review)
A Splinter of Ice moves away from a basic biography by mirroring its spy subjects and never allowing the audience to be quite sure which of its many faces is the real one.
‘Defects apart, this is a fine drama by a young writer who will go far’: THE STRANGE DEATH OF JOHN DOE – Hampstead Theatre
At its’s best Fiona Doyle’s text is an ambitious, theatrically exciting and fast-moving panorama which conveys something of the breath-taking scope of contemporary migration, as well as details of its horrors.
Cell Mates: ‘We are endlessly fascinated by spies & betrayal’
We are endlessly fascinated by spies and the nature of betrayal. For those who knew the men spying for Russia in the mid-Twentieth Century, more than country or ideology, it is the personal treacheries that still rankle.
FUNNY GIRL – Touring
This version from Chocolate Factory Productions returns to the original – with some updates – and is now touring after an acclaimed West End run. Much of the publicity has centred on Sheridan Smith in the central role, and she surely deserves all of the praise that continues to come her way.
THE GO-BETWEEN – West End
Michael Crawford remains on the stage for the duration of the play, narrating and recalling memories of that hot July summer. His stage presence never in question, he delivers a commanding performance. Gemma Sutton and Stuart Ward play Marion and Ted, the lovers whose story is pivotal to the story.
THE GO-BETWEEN – West End
Michael Crawford returns to the London stage to star as Leo Colston, a man who is still haunted by events that took place fifty years ago… What would you do if you were made to deliver secret messages between two people who are in love but couldn’t publicly declare it? What would happen if you […]
FUNNY GIRL – Menier Chocolate Factory
People, people who need people are, allegedly, the luckiest people in the world. I’d argue that those who are emotionally and financially self-sufficient have a hell of a bigger reason to feel lucky than those who depend needily on others for their wellbeing. But I’m not a character in a musical – and neither, really are the people who need people who appear in Funny Girl a narrative so far removed from the actual history of kooky kosher comedienne Fanny Brice and her deeply dodgy gangster hubby Julius ‘Nicky’ Arnstein as to be a complete fiction.
FUNNY GIRL – Menier Chocolate Factory
Imelda Staunton may have just wowed in Styne and Sondheim’s Gypsy, but hard on her heels is Sheridan Smith’s take on Fanny Brice. In a role that famously demands an unconventional beauty – and which, from both Broadway and Hollywood launch pads Barbra Streisand was rocketed into the highest of stellar orbits – Smith has enormously famous shoes to fill.