National Theatre
The Magistrate, National TheatreThursday, 22 November 2012
You don't see much of Arthur Wing Pinero's considerable output these days. Although he was largely contemporaneous with Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and Gilbert and Sullivan, whose works have stayed the course, his plays have not, with just a... Read more... |
The Effect, National TheatreWednesday, 14 November 2012
Science thrives on stage. In play after play, various scientific ideas seem to flourish in the warm, well-lit environment of the theatre, fed by a crew of artists and despite the threats of critics or other predators. Now, Lucy Prebble — fresh from... Read more... |
People, National TheatreThursday, 08 November 2012
The word “people” of the title of Alan Bennett’s new play is to be spat out, like a lemon pip. People, who invade your space, boss your values, make you be what they want. So does the beleaguered Lady Dorothy Stacpoole feel about the stark options... Read more... |
National Theatre, 2013 SeasonFriday, 02 November 2012
The National Theatre’s highlights for the winter up until Easter 2013 include Antony Sher in The Captain of Köpenick, Marianne Elliott's revival of Simon Stephens’ Port, the transfer for This House to the Olivier and of The Curious Incident of the... Read more... |
Frankenstein: A Modern Myth, Channel 4Thursday, 01 November 2012
I think Frankenstein should always be pronounced Fronkenshteen, the way Gene Wilder says it in Young Frankenstein. But that would have been far too frivolous for this intermittently interesting but often irritating film about the legacy of Mary... Read more... |
Damned by Despair, National TheatreThursday, 11 October 2012
Spain's Golden Age turns unaccountably to dross in Damned by Despair, the Tirso de Molina play that is a good half-hour shorter than the running time given in the programme but won't (in this production, anyway) ever be brief enough for some.... Read more... |
Scenes From An Execution, National TheatreFriday, 05 October 2012
Walkouts are always intriguing. When audience members leave before the final curtain, it’s usually a sign that the play is too powerful, or too scandalous, or maybe just not very good. After reports that during previews many people aren’t returning... Read more... |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, National TheatreFriday, 03 August 2012
When Complicite conceived their beautiful A Disappearing Number they gave maths energy, drama, and above all watchability, but they never quite brought the heart. In Simon Stephens’s new adaptation, A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Playwright Simon StephensSunday, 29 July 2012
Simon Stephens (b 1971) is the most prolific British playwright of his generation. Born and brought up in Stockport, he began writing as a student in York University and had produced seven plays before his Bluebird was produced at the Royal Court in... Read more... |
The Doctor's Dilemma, National TheatreWednesday, 25 July 2012
“Of all the anti-social vested interests the worst is the vested interest in ill-health.” The Preface on Doctors that precedes George Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma finds the writer at his characteristic best: caustic certainly, witty... Read more... |
Timon of Athens, National TheatreWednesday, 18 July 2012
As the much-loved Arthur Marshall so profoundly noted, Ibsen is “not a fun one”. One could, with as much truth, say the same about Shakespeare’s rarely staged Timon of Athens: its misanthropy, missing motivations and mercurial shifts in temper do... Read more... |
Matthew Bourne's Play Without Words, Sadler's WellsSaturday, 14 July 2012
Sound the trumpets triumphantly - Matthew Bourne’s most original masterpiece has come out of hiding into full view, a giddy, sexy, diabolical confection that hovers on the edge of hellish, and deserves to become a global smash. Play Without Words is... Read more... |
