Theatre
Wonderland, Hampstead Theatre online review - a major play about the minersWednesday, 08 April 2020
The talk is of an “economy in ruin [with] unemployment through the roof”: a précis of Britain in lockdown? In fact, this is one of the many eerily apposite remarks to be found in Wonderland, the Beth Steel drama set in the early 1980s that marks the... Read more... |
Cyprus Avenue, Royal Court Theatre online review - a mind in mesmerising meltdownTuesday, 07 April 2020
One of the most blistering stage performances in recent memory gets a renewed lease on life with the streaming of the 2019 screen version, aired last autumn on BBC Four, of Cyprus Avenue, the David Ireland play in which Stephen Rea unravels to... Read more... |
It’s True, It’s True, It’s True, Breach Theatre online review – a riveting watchTuesday, 07 April 2020
Artemisia Gentileschi has definitely had a hard time. Although she was an outstanding Renaissance painter in the style of Caravaggio, and the first woman to become a member of Florence’s Accademia di Arte del Disegno, her work was attributed to her... Read more... |
One Man, Two Guvnors, National Theatre at Home review – bliss, utter comic blissSaturday, 04 April 2020
Armchair theatre-lovers rejoice. During the lockdown, the National Theatre is streaming a selection of its past hits for free for one week at a time. These shows, originally filmed as part of the flagship’s NT Live project (which broadcast... Read more... |
Wild, Hampstead Theatre online review - timelier than anticipatedThursday, 02 April 2020
“The whole world is just tilting at the moment,” we’re told near the end of Wild, the Mike Bartlett play from summer 2016 that is available (through Sunday) online to help get us through these wild times right now. The first of three Hampstead... Read more... |
The Croft, Original Theatre online review – give me the remoteTuesday, 31 March 2020
With everyone in lockdown, observing physical if not social distancing, a story about isolation can have a particular resonance. And there are few places in the UK that are as isolated as some parts of the Scottish Highlands. Ali Milles’s tartan... Read more... |
Sondheim at 90 Songs: 5 - 'Every Day A Little Death'Friday, 27 March 2020
“Whipped cream with knives” is how Harold Prince, who directed the Broadway premiere of A Little Night Music in 1973, famously described this particular Sondheim show. And nowhere is that borne out with more exquisite agony than in this duet between... Read more... |
Sondheim at 90 Songs: 4 - 'America'Thursday, 26 March 2020
Ever since I heard the quintessential prog rock group The Nice do a psychedelic instrumental version of “America” in 1968, I have loved this song. Later on, I was better able to appreciate Sondheim’s lyrics, whose satirical sharpness and superb... Read more... |
Sondheim at 90 Songs: 3 - 'Johanna' (Quartet Version)Wednesday, 25 March 2020
Along with many others, my first exposure to Stephen Sondheim’s art was through watching the film of Bernstein’s West Side Story as a child. The song which still floors me is the Quintet near the end of Act 1. Bernstein’s ecstatic, dynamic... Read more... |
I and You, Hampstead Theatre review - now streaming online, this YA play is oddly pertinentTuesday, 24 March 2020
The way that theatres and other arts institutions have leapt into action over the past week, providing a wealth of material online and new ways to connect with audiences, has been truly inspirational. Yesterday, the Hampstead Theatre re-released on... Read more... |
Sondheim at 90 Songs: 2 - 'Epiphany'/'A Little Priest'Tuesday, 24 March 2020
Two numbers, one hair-raising slice of music-theatre. When Sondheim's paying homage to the older, revue type of musical, you can extract a string of top hits: Follies, from which Marianka Swain chose "I'm Still Here" yesterday, could yield at least... Read more... |
Bubble, Theatre Uncut online review - educational, but unexceptionalTuesday, 24 March 2020
It’s only been a week since London’s West End went dark, and theatres closed all over the UK, but it feels like months. Really. Like many, I’m in self-isolation, stressed by working online and worried about getting enough food and essentials, so it... Read more... |
