I am gradually amassing quite a pile of books about writing plays. Collecting and reading them is probably a displacement/procrastination activity. One of these days I really am (or so I keep telling myself) going to write a play. Just don’t ask me when.
‘It’s probably a case of nothing ventured nothing gained’: How about Susan Elkin as playwright?
For a start you need dramatic talent, flair and an ear for dialogue as well as ideas and a good vocabulary to write a play. And I’m still not sure. But, as always it’s probably a case of nothing ventured nothing gained. Perhaps later this year…
‘I can never do this show justice. It’s simply too good for words’: THE SHAPE Of PAIN – Wilton’s Music Hall
Fantastic collaboration between Rachel Bagshaw and Chris Thorpe results in the really amazing show The Shape of Pain at Wilton’s Music Hall.
‘Full of vivid images & rapid changes of focus’: MRS DALLOWAY – Arcola Theatre
This intelligent and sensitive adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s modernist classic Mrs Dalloway at the Arcola Theatre is a good example of current fringe creativity.
Pint-sized Playwriting Podcast: HighTide’s Steven Atkinson & Francesca Clarke
The Pint-Sized Playwriting Podcast exists to help emerging playwrights understand how to get ahead in the world of new theatre. This latest episode is with the wonderful Steven Atkinson and Francesca Clark of HighTide.
‘Rather slender but well put together & fun, fun, fun’: SILK ROAD (How to Buy Drugs Online) – Trafalgar Studios
This West End revival of smart monologue about drug dealing on the Dark Web is well written if a bit slight.
‘Plenty of fun amid the tears’: NINE NIGHT – National Theatre
London-born actress Natasha Gordon’s warmhearted play, Nine Night, now making its first appearance at the National Theatre, is as much about family, music and mourning as it is about ethnicity or migration.
Pint-sized Playwriting Podcast: Advice from literary agent Janet Fillingham
The Pint-Sized Playwriting Podcast exists to help emerging playwrights understand how to get ahead in the world of new theatre. This latest episode is with the superb Janet Fillingham, literary agent at Janet Fillingham Associates.
BEGINNING – National Theatre & West End
It’s about three in the morning on a Saturday night in the living room of a one-bedroom flat in Crouch End. Laura is a 38-year-old managing director, and it’s the tail end of her housewarming party.
A DAY BY THE SEA – Southwark Playhouse
Classic 1953 play by the English Chekhov is fascinating, but rather dated in its values and too clumsy in its production.
Text of the Day: Prism
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
THE BLINDING LIGHT – Jermyn Street Theatre
Howard Brenton’s latest takes a scalpel to the collapsing mind of playwright August Strindberg.
THE BLINDING LIGHT – Jermyn Street Theatre
Howard Brenton’s latest takes a scalpel to the collapsing mind of playwright August Strindberg.
MOSQUITOES – National Theatre
The question that always needs to be asked of any example of science on stage, and there are now very many, is this: does the science add anything to the meaning of the play?
MOSQUITOES – National Theatre
The question that always needs to be asked of any example of science on stage, and there are now very many, is this: does the science add anything to the meaning of the play?
Text of the Day: Playwright Anders Lustgarten on hope
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
INK – Almeida Theatre
Graham tells the eye-opening story of how Murdoch bought the ailing Sun newspaper and turned it into Britain’s most popular tabloid by focusing on the tycoon’s relationship with Larry Lamb, the paper’s new editor, and the rivalry between Lamb and his former boss, the Mirror editor Hugh Cudlipp.
Text of the Day: Anatomy of a Suicide
Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
COMMON – National Theatre
History is a tricky harlot. She is bought and sold, fought for and thrown over, seduced and betrayed — and always at the mercy of the winners. In a general election week, it is hard to deny that still now we are the progeny of the possessive individualism of previous centuries.
DEPOSIT – Hampstead Theatre
In this general election, the intergenerational conflict between youth and old age is never far from the surface. The oldies have never had it so good; the young ones are Generation Rent, crippled by debt and zero hope of owning their own homes. This aspect of the housing shortage is the subject of Matt Hartley’s play, Deposit.