I remember Apologia from its first time around, at the Bush Theatre. Then it seemed an extraordinarily acute if honest rebuke to those women of the 1960s and ‘70s.
APOLOGIA – West End
The 1960s were “hilarious”, says one young character in this revival, starring Broadway icon Stockard Channing, of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s 2009 family drama at the Trafalgar Studios. How so? “Oh you know, the clothes, the hair, the raging idealism.”
GUARDS AT THE TAJ – Bush Theatre
Soutra Gilmour’s stunning Taj Mahal parapet wall stretches into the far distance creating a Stygian gloom with a channelled, divided stage floor that, it’s true, caught one unfortunate spectator completely unaware. Little did he know that the cracked surface he tripped into would later become an execution channel, awash in the blood of 20,000 hands chopped off by guards following the order of their illustrious Emperor.
GUARDS AT THE TAJ – Bush Theatre
verything Jamie Lloyd touches seems to turn to gold, the current Midas of the directing world. A long-standing partnership with designer Soutra Gilmour is certainly one of the reasons that his plays are so stylised, so specific, but Lloyd is also able to bring out the humanity in every character – their darker sides shine through as much as their honourable qualities.
GUARDS AT THE TAJ – Bush Theatre
For its reopening, Younis has looked across the pond for a new play. He has chosen Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj, which was first staged at the Atlantic Theatre, New York, in 2015, picking up an Obie Award along with other plaudits.
GUARDS AT THE TAJ – Bush Theatre
West London new writing venue reopens with an ethically troubling play about another architectural marvel.
GUARDS AT THE TAJ – Bush Theatre
West London new writing venue reopens with an ethically troubling play about another architectural marvel.
THE COMMITMENTS – Touring
Based on the 1991 film and Roddy Doyle book of the same name, The Commitments is an outstanding must-see musical like no other. For those unfamiliar with the much-loved story, the plot follows a dysfunctional soul band from Dublin, Ireland – by the name of The Commitments – and their journey to become “the world’s hardest working band”.
KILLER – Shoreditch Town Hall
One of the reasons that Philip Ridley is the crown prince of imaginative playwriting is that he came at theatre from leftfield. In the 1980s, he didn’t go to drama school — he went to art college instead. This freed his mind from following established theatre conventions, and so anything was possible.
KILLER – Shoreditch Town Hall
Latest trio of monologues from Philip Ridley are performed in the dark: both chilling and humorous.
THE WILD PARTY – The Other Palace
Drawn from Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 poem of the same name the show is an unrelenting tale of bastardry in 1920s New York. Frances Ruffelle’s Queenie and her husband Burrs are a pair of fading Vaudeville artistes.
THE PITCHFORK DISNEY – Shoreditch Town Hall
Pairing director Jamie Lloyd with writer Philip Ridley seems almost guaranteed to produce a hit – a vibrant director that appeals to a youthful, diverse audience and a writer who found fame in the 1990s for pioneering vulgar, shocking and unapologetic plays.
THE PITCHFORK DISNEY – Shoreditch Town Hall
Jamie Lloyd tackles Philip Ridley’s 1991 modern classic — with terrifically immersive results.
DOCTOR FAUSTUS – West End
Harington, albeit looking more comfortable delivering the modern sections by Teevan than the originals, convinces as the easily-duped Faustus. The real strengths of this production however lie with Jenna Russell’s Mephistopheles and Forbes Masson as Lucifer.
DOCTOR FAUSTUS – West End
Harington, albeit looking more comfortable delivering the modern sections by Teevan than the originals, convinces as the easily-duped Faustus. The real strengths of this production however lie with Jenna Russell’s Mephistopheles and Forbes Masson as Lucifer.
DOCTOR FAUSTUS – West End
Game of Thrones celebrity casting can’t save a misconceived, vulgarly populist updating of this Renaissance classic.
Fame before the fall: Kit Harington in Doctor Faustus in 9 quotes
The first thing you need to know about Jamie Lloyd’s new production of Doctor Faustus – apart from the fact that it stars Kit Harington (a.k.a. Jon Snow from TV’s Game of Thrones), which every Throner undoubtedly already knows – is that it is not for the squeamish. There is A LOT of blood – […]
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.
HECUBA – RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon
A KIND OF HORRIFIC GRACE.. We are having a spate of grisly classicana at the moment, brutal old tales of curses and murders and doom spinning down the unforgiving generations. A brace of stage Oresteias, a scorching Elektra, Bacchae everywhere … Continue reading →
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