Steve Thompson’s play is about Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam’s trip to the US in 1975 to challenge ABC’s edit of the fourth series of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. What seems superficially to be a simple tale of plucky Palin and honorary Brit Gilliam taking on the Goliath figure of the culturally bland American network,… Read More
Category: Theatre
Am getting out of order – I saw this back in July. Loyalty, by Sarah Helm, is set during the run-up to the Iraq war, and around the period of the inquiry into it. Helm is the wife of Tony Blair’s chief-of-staff, Jonathan Powell. Maxine Peake plays Laura a staunchly anti-war journalist with experience in… Read More
I Never Get Dressed ’til After Dark on Sundays is an unpublished Tennessee Williams work that adopts the play-within-a-play ruse. It’s hard to believe though that the audience ever really cares about the framing device. The play being rehearsed is far more compelling and classic Williams fare. This was a strong production of an enjoyable… Read More
Still Life at Pentameters Theatre
A double-bill of short Noël Coward dramas at the tiny Pentameters restored my faith in the theatre after the Nutcracker debacle. First up, Red Peppers, a behind-the-scenes view of a 1930s vaudeville act struggling in a world that was fast overtaking them. Funny and quick, although perhaps a little heavy on the shouting (it really… Read More
Strange one this – more hour-long art installation than conventional play. Almost no dialogue but plenty of noise. Director Katie Mitchell very successfully creates an uncomfortale mood of claustrophobia and psychological imprisonment, but does nothing with it. 6/10
This re-imagining of the classic Christmas ballet is a curious beast. At times Mitteleuropean rock opera, at times slightly amateurish school play, this imaginatively staged production in Hampstead’s minuscule upstairs theatre will not be to everyone’s taste. Little of the original score remains although everyone will recognise the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. It’s… Read More
Hilariously funny, incredibly poignant and brilliantly acted. The script flows effortlessly from believable dialogue to philosophical musing. Musical interludes work well and it’s hard to imagine a more fun evening out in the snow. Go and see Midsummer now. 10/10
Astoundingly good production of Arthur Miller’s play about emasculation, identity, and unspoken fears set in late 1930s Brooklyn. Antony Sher is so good as Phillip Gellburg that you can’t imagine anyone else playing the role. 10/10
Fantastic moody drama from Gary “The Shield” Lennon. Sexual tension between all the characters, great punk soundtrack, barely suppressed violence and snappy banter. Excellent cast, especially Natalie Dormer as Pat, the central character. Don’t mess about, this play’s only on until November 27th. Go and see it. Now. 8/10 (you can also read a longer… Read More