-
Is it the best of parallels?
I really wanted to love this play. Who wouldn’t, if only for the current context of October the 7th. But additionally, this is a play written by Dmitry Glukhovsky – a Jewish Russian in exile – sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia; and directed by Maxim Didenko, a fellow dissident. Both choosing to…
|
-
Never too late
When I mentioned to a work colleague I was going to see “Frank and Percy” that evening, they asked what the play was about. “I don’t quite know,” I responded, “but I could watch Sir Ian McKellen drink tea for two hours, and it would make me happy.” And in a way, it turned out…
|
-
Does science exonerate?
This play is set in Farm Hall and the events take place from July 1945 to January 1946. As a reminder, Nazi Germany capitulated in May 1945; Japan in September. The play tells the story of ten German physicists sequestered by the British, who monitored their conversations with the aim of figuring out how close…
|
-
What or how you say it?
Pygmalion is a classic. So what can I write? I went to the theatre knowing what I would see. And it was all well executed – the later version with the scene at the ball written in. Some scenes felt a bit overplayed, almost farcical; others maybe a little underplayed – leaving me asking –…
|
-
Does it take a madman to care about women?
This performance is all movement and music. My affair with the Pinter almost ended after going to see the Seagull, poorly acted out in a pinewood box with a couple of plastic chairs for props. But this re-ignited my love. The actors used the entire stage, including the audience boxes to either side; the balcony…
|
-
A comic strip about history
I remember reading Midnight’s Children; I was very young and hell-bent on reading a book by the great Rushdie. So I did – but to the very end I felt that, whilst I might be understanding all the words, I am most certainly missing the plot. I was educated in Poland – India’s partition or…
|
-
Where did the Patriots lose their why?
The scenography is superb (although at the Noel Coward theatre Miriam Buether’s crimson, cruciform set is probably best enjoyed from the circle where you can actually see its form, which you do not really get in the stalls), the acting really quite enthralling, but the play itself – mediocre to say the least. Watching it,…
|
-
Why we don’t need a female Katurian
The blurb on the Duke of York theatre’s website calls this a dark comedy. So maybe I should not be surprised that members of the audience are laughing out loud. But I cannot seem to join in. The play opens up to a scene that immediately brings 1984 to mind – two police officers abusing…
|
-
Why can we not learn?
Before I go on, I have to start by saying this was a brilliant experience. The monologue is superb and Maureen Lipman is, well, mesmerising. If you still can, buy a ticket right now. So now I can go on to say – this play made me so angry. Why? Because it is the most…
|
-
There is no method in ‘t
This is a play giving an insider glimpse into John Gielgud’s struggles to direct what became known as Richard Burton’s Hamlet. Despite the infamously fraught and alcohol-drenched process, the 1964 production was a massive financial success (the artistic success was less undisputed) and ran for 137 performances. You can enjoy a film record of the…
|