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The existential tiger – Aesop’s fable for the XXI-st century
Set in the early days of the second Gulf War, and premiering before the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, this harrowing play charts the brutal acts taking place both before and during the American occupation from the vantage point of the ghost of an existential tiger. Suspended in purgatory, the tiger’s ghost walks the…
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Muted not menacing
On 7 May 1964, The Guardian described Orton’s first play as a ‘milk-curdling essay in lower-middle-class nihilism’. A dark farce, it aimed to shock contemporary audiences with taboo subjects, including homosexuality. By the time the screen version appeared in 1970, sex between men over 21 had been legalised in England. Disdain lingered, but the silence…
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Master of puppet
I am fairly sure I just funded a very expensive drama lesson for an already accomplished actor (Arthur Darvill in this performance). What I am not so sure about, is why I did it. Maybe this makes me a philistine, but I go to the theatre to see actors deliver their trade – gripping interpretations…
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The punch that takes your breath away
Recently I have been losing hope that any good play will ever be written again and grown increasingly tired of weak modernisations of brilliant classics. Thank goodness for Robert Icke on the remake front and for James Graham on the front of the originals. I had previously seen his Best of Enemies at the Noel…
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Sobbing psychopath
I like going to the theatre to see a play I know nothing about. It is a very special kind of experience, sitting in the audience without any expectation of what might happen next. Which is why I was thrilled with the opening scene of Little Foxes – I had to quickly assess the various…
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