Archive for 2009

Review – The Kreutzer Sonata, Gate Theatre

Posted on December 26, 2009 | No Comments
Theatre monologues are a little bit like David Blane stunts – impressive feats, certainly, but not something which is likely to be interesting to watch all the way through. Clare Higgins’ ability to perform Wallace Shawn’s The Fever was impressive, but it didn’t really require...
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The decade’s best theatre

Posted on December 24, 2009 | 2 Comments
Quick, the future is coming! It’s nearly 2010, which means that in a matter of days we may all be living in a futuristic dystopia in which the theatre we all know and love will be entirely replaced by monstrous mechanical beasts, bloodthirsty zombie actors and Hollywood stars...
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Review – The Priory, Royal Court

Posted on November 21, 2009 | 1 Comment
The Priory really is a rather old fashioned play. Cast of seven, same setting throughout, lots of people walking on and off for slightly incongruous reasons so that appropriate plot-driving conversations can take place, dramatic tension, character development, the whole lot. After all this site...
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Review – Othello, Trafalgar Studios

Posted on November 14, 2009 | 1 Comment
I can’t have been the only person who viewed the Northern Broadsides/West Yorkshire Playhouse’s casting of Lenny Henry as Othello as leaden with potential for a truly disastrous theatre spectacle, a respected regional company sacrificing its hard won integrity in favour of celebrity- and novelty-driven...
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Review – Money, Shunt

Posted on November 10, 2009 | 2 Comments
When did Bermondsey get so trendy? When I first arrived in London, losing sight of the river anywhere east of London bridge was immediate precursor to losing your wallet or several pints of blood. It certainly wasn’t the place to go to enjoy loft living,...
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Review – The Habit of Art, National Theatre

Posted on November 7, 2009 | 2 Comments
As I’ve previously written, The Habit of Art is a serious undertaking for the National Theatre. The previous Bennett/Hytner collaboration was the much lauded (and enormously profitable) History Boys which did much to bolster Hytner’s reputation at Sellafield on Thames. The comparisons between the new...
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Theatricalia

Posted on October 25, 2009 | 1 Comment
Launched on Friday, Theatricalia aims to be a kind of IMDB for the theatre, providing details of current and historical productions and cast and crew. This isn’t the first such effort (there’s the Internet Broadway Database, the Internet Theatre Database, etc, etc.) but there are...
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Review – Pains of Youth, National Theatre

Posted on October 25, 2009 | 2 Comments
The plot of Pains of Youth is not entirely straightforward: Desiree wants Marie; Petrell wants Marie but doesn’t want her mothering him, so ends up with Irene; Freder really wants Desiree, but ends up toying with Lucy instead; Lucy doesn’t know what she wants, but...
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Upcoming at the RSC

Posted on October 24, 2009 | No Comments
There’s a bunch of new stuff coming up from the RSC, and a few old favourites. In no particular order: Twelfth Night comes to the Hampstead Theatre this winter courtesy of the unstoppable Gregory Doran. Solid casting include Richard Wilson as Malvolio, James Fleet (who...
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Review – ENRON, Royal Court

Posted on October 11, 2009 | 2 Comments
There’s plenty of blame to go around in the story of ENRON, and it would be easy for Lucy Prebble’s play to descend into a hysteria of finger pointing and indignation. But it doesn’t. The production doesn’t pull it’s punches, but it does present Kenneth...
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