The memory play is a theatrical genre which allows the playwright to locate their characters in the here and now while at the same time travelling back in time. It is the form adopted by Bjørg Vik, a Norwegian writer and journalist who died in 2018, for her short play, The Journey to Venice.
‘Know us by our courage, not by our fear’: VOICES FROM UKRAINE – Finborough Theatre (Online Show)
The second pair of plays from #FinboroughFrontier’s quartet of pieces #VoicesFromUkraine reflecting on the situation in the war torn nation is now available. They join the first couple to form a suite of programmes focusing on life in the country as the inhabitants are invaded by a hostile force and their response to the situation.
‘Think you know the war poets? Think again’: IT IS EASY TO BE DEAD – Finborough Theatre
When poetry of the First World War is mentioned, the names which tend spring to mind are Brooke, Owen, Sassoon, Graves, Blunden and so on. Then there’s Charles Sorley.
‘The production’s strong point is its casting’: GO BANG YOUR TAMBOURINE – Finborough Theatre
Rare Philip King play tries to turn a farcical situation into a serious drama – and it doesn’t quite work.
NEWS: Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance & gender-swapping Company are the big winners at the Critics’ Circle Awards
Matthew Lopez’s epic two-part drama The Inheritance was the big winner at the 2018 Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards held today at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London’s West End, hosted by Critics’ Circle Drama Section chairman Mark Shenton.
‘Makes for a really compelling play’: MASTERPIECES – Finborough Theatre
This revival of Sarah Daniels’ 1983 feminist classic, Masterpieces, is Neil McPherson’s latest good idea. It’s a play that is often seen, in textbooks, as typical of a militant femintern style of theatre-making so, in the #MeToo moment, it now acquires a renewed relevance.
RUN THE BEAST DOWN – Finborough Theatre
Run the Beast Down, which runs in rep with Carmen Nasr’s Dubailand. Run the Beast Down is a solo show in which actor Ben Aldridge performs a 90-minute monologue about Charlie, a young man who is in bad trouble.
NEWS: Finborough rediscovers Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy in new spring season
The Finborough Theatre’s new Spring Season features three rediscoveries from Arthur Miller, BS Johnson and Victorian theatrical revolutionary T. W. Robertson, and three brand new plays including Carmen Nasr’s Dubailand.
IT IS EASY TO BE DEAD – Trafalgar Studios
On Armistice Day each year, we remember and honour those who’ve given their lives in service to their country – so there could hardly have been a more appropriate evening to see the West End transfer of Neil McPherson’s It is Easy to be Dead.
NEWS: Finborough’s It Is Easy to Be Dead transfers to Trafalgar Studios
Transferring from its critically acclaimed sell-out run at the Finborough Theatre earlier this year where it was nominated for seven OffWestEnd Awards, the world premiere production of It Is Easy To Be Dead by Finborough artistic director Neil McPherson opens at Trafalgar Studio 2, for a strictly limited four-week season/
Text of the Day: It Is Easy to Be Dead
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
IT IS EASY TO BE DEAD – Finborough Theatre
New play about a forgotten First World War poet stages both the passion of youth and the pity of war.
P’YONGYANG – Finborough Theatre
Does Neil McPherson, artistic director of this fringe venue, have a direct line to the North Korean capital? In an uncanny coincidence he is opening In-Sook Chappell’s new play about everyday life in the Big Brother state in the same week as North Korea has announced that it has tested a hydrogen bomb. Similarly coincidental is the fact that Mia Chung’s You for Me for You, another play on a very similar subject, is still running at the Royal Court. Both of these studio plays paint a very similar picture of the deprivations visited on ordinary citizens.