Theatre
Blindness, Donmar Warehouse review - a beautifully haunting parableMonday, 10 August 2020
Wowee! Twenty weeks after the last time I set foot in a theatre, I was able to visit a venue once more. Hello again Donmar! It’s great to see you again. Not for a show featuring live performers, who are currently banned, but for a theatre experience... Read more... |
Imagine... My Name is Kwame, BBC One review - interesting but incompleteFriday, 07 August 2020
Filmed, as one would, well, imagine, prior to lockdown, Imagine .... My Name is Kwame hearkens to what now seems a bygone era of full and buzzy playhouses and adventurous theatre-making that was about the live experience and not some facsimile... Read more... |
Theatre Unlocked 3: Signs of activity after a long siestaThursday, 06 August 2020
After a weeklong hiatus due to an absence of noteworthy material, this column is back heralding the return, as well, of something resembling live theatre. Okay, so the Simon Stephens premiere Blindness at the Donmar doesn't actually feature actors... Read more... |
Scrounger, Finborough Theatre online review – autobiography meets meta-theatreTuesday, 04 August 2020
During the current pandemic, stories about isolation have a particular resonance. Feelings of claustrophobia, loneliness and frustration slide off the stage and echo in our subconscious – yes, this is us alright. One of the most prescient is Athena... Read more... |
The Merchant of Venice, BBC iPlayer review – a parable on the limits of toleranceFriday, 31 July 2020
Ah, 2015. Those halcyon days of packed theatres. Thank God the RSC had the presence of mind to film Polly Findlay’s production of The Merchant of Venice, now streaming on BBC iPlayer. Condensed into just over two hours, it’s a thoughtful take on... Read more... |
Songs for a New World, The Other Palace Digital review - chimes with our extraordinary 'moment'Saturday, 25 July 2020
We’ve already had The Last Five Years in lockdown; now, we get a digital production of American composer Jason Robert Brown’s earliest work. A series of wistful pop/jazz numbers loosely linked thematically, rather than narratively, this 1995... Read more... |
Theatre Unlocked 2: A starry premiere and musical revival alongside Greek tragedy where it beganThursday, 23 July 2020
Theatres will begin gently unlocking their doors as we head into August. In the meantime, a beleaguered community continues to find fresh and startling ways to sustain interest and excitement, whether that be the premiere of a new play starring... Read more... |
My White Best Friend (And Other Letters Left Unsaid), Royal Court review – raw but generousWednesday, 22 July 2020
The strength of the response to the re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter campaign has provoked some theatres to create provocative new work. Often, the keynote is personal feeling. One recent example is the Bush Theatre’s Protest: Black Lives... Read more... |
Institute, BBC Four review – masculinity and memory in a nightmarish world of workMonday, 20 July 2020
Missing the office? Or dreading the day you have to return? What’s your relationship to the people you work with and for, and how does it intersect with your personal life? Do your paymasters know you? Do they care about you? Are there days when the... Read more... |
Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain, Northampton Saints review - history made funnyMonday, 20 July 2020
In each of its incarnations – books, television series and theatre shows – covering more than 80 titles, Horrible Histories, created by Terry Deary, has been a hit. Children love the stories' anarchic humour and gory details, while parents and... Read more... |
Amadeus, National Theatre at Home review – wild dance at the edges of sanityFriday, 17 July 2020
It is 41 years since Peter Shaffer ripped off Mozart’s respectable façade to reveal a foul-mouthed verbally incontinent child-man with no more ability to control his behaviour than his genius. Inspired by a short story by Alexander Pushkin that put... Read more... |
Theatre Unlocked 1: George Floyd remembered, a classic transformed, and a call to action re climate changeThursday, 16 July 2020
We're easing out of lockdown, haircuts are being had, and the theatre continually shape-shifts to accommodate these changing times. All credit to the 14 writers who have conjoined forces in urgency and haste to create 846, a collection of audio... Read more... |
