https://revstanstheatreblog.co.uk
26 posts
Film & TV 92% · Culture 4% · Writing 4%
Subscribe via RSS
In His Words, Bread & Roses Theatre What would you do if you were cast in a play only to discover that it was written by your ex and about your relationship? That’s the central premise of In His Words, and Esther (Heather Woodhouse) decides she’s going to stick it out and see how he ends the play. Meanwhile, her girlfriend Isabella (Megan Goldsman) has got a job looking after an old lady with Alzheimer’s who is obsessed with a particular cave. There is a lot of nature in this play with…
Video transcript: Did you know that there is a performance space at the back of the Calder Bookshop on the Cut, opposite the Young Vic? I didn’t until the brilliant blogger Lou Reviews asked me if I would join her for an Edinburgh preview performance of Krapp’s Last Tape, starring David Westhead and directed by Stockard Channing. [Details of Edinburgh Fringe run below.] Now I saw this play back in May with Gary Oldman, and I actually saw him perform it up in York last year. And this is a very…
Video transcript: The Cherry Orchard at the Swan Theatre in Stratford. The Cherry Orchard isn’t a favourite play of mine, but the cast – Kenneth Branagh, Helen Hunt, Bill Pullman – that’s what got me up to Stratford-upon-Avon for this. And it was amazing to see the cast. That was a real highlight for me, particularly Kenneth Branagh.He performs in a Northern Irish accent, and it really changed my perspective of him as a performer. In my head, I could see the performance he was going to give,…
l-r Francesca Amewudah-Rivers and Nadi Kemp-Sayfi in ‘Tender’ at Bush Theatre. Photo by Harry Elletson Tender is getting a second outing this time in the Bush Theatre’s larger space and is a play about a chance encounter that develops into something more. The encounter is between two women who are living with not wholly comfortable relationships. Ivy (Nadi Kemp-Sayfi) is living with her pushy boyfriend and has an equally pushy brother. Ash (Francesca Amewudah-Rivers) has returned from living in…
Live From The Warehouse, White Bear Theatre. Photo: Deepan Singh Live From the Warehouse is a multimedia play set, as the title suggests, in a warehouse. Tanmay (Aryaman Krishna Aggarwal) and Riyan (Vrishab Wig) are hiding out after a school prank involving a gun goes wrong. With the police in pursuit, they contemplate their options and find ways to pass the time, flirting recklessly with the idea of becoming social media famous and having all eyes on them. Aryaman Krishna Aggarwal and Vrishab…
Video transcript: Glengarry Glen Ross at the Old Vic Theatre sees the cast swap genders, so rather than it being an all-male cast, it becomes an all-female cast, and this is an interesting take on it. It somehow accentuates the aggressive masculinity of the play. They don’t swap any of the names; they use all the male names. It is literally just a change in actors. And I really liked how it just emphasises this, that aggressiveness in a way far greater than productions I’ve seen with an…
Meg Walls (left) and Anna Marks Pryce (right) in Lulla at the Omnibus Theatre. Photo: Lidia Crisafulli Lulla, presumably short for lullabies, which weave through this play, centres on 16-year-old Marin (Anna Marks Pryce), a queer 16-year-old who has bunked off school to get to know Dolores (Meg Wallis) more intimately The two are having a lovely time when her mum (Madeleine MacMahon) comes home early and catches them in a compromising position. Her mum doesn’t take the idea of her daughter…
Ben Ockrent’s play Relics reminded me of Nachtland at the Young Vic from a couple of years ago. • Siblings reunite to divvy up their dead parents’ belongings. Tick. • A painting is found with a suspected dodgy history. Tick. • Said painting divides the siblings, causing arguments. Tick. Relics has a different comic tone, though. Where Nachtland had dark humour, this is lighter, it has witty repartee with some amusing physical comedy thrown in. The four siblings meet at the family home to decide…
Nusrath Tapadar and Bhasker Patel in Camdenwalla, Camden People’s Theatre. Photo: Harry Elletson REVIEW: It’s 1994, and Muhammad (Bhasker Patel) runs the Camden Monitoring Project, an organisation that supports victims of racist attacks. If someone from the local Bangladeshi community is feeling threatened or under attack, they can call the service, and a man in a van will come and collect them and take them home or somewhere safe. Muhammad carefully documents every incident in the hope that…
F**king Swans at the Omnibus Theatre is part of the 96 Festival of queer theatre and is a play centred on two same sex couples. Their gender is a refreshingly incidental detail because, aside from mentions of when gay marriage became legal, the focus is on their relationships. Ronnie and Harper are the cutesy couple and are expecting a baby. Carol is loud and has a relationship with Lindsay built on bickering and making up. They are all friends and seem to tolerate each other’s behaviour until,…
Patrick McAndrew in Slaughterhouse-Five, Southwark Playhouse. Photo: Henry Hu. Is it possible to adapt a complex, time-hopping novel with aliens for the stage? This production of Kurt Vonnegut’s 1968 anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five started life at Brockley Jack Studio and has now transferred to the Southwark Playhouse, and there is plenty that is inventive and slick in how it is staged. It’s the life story of Billy Pilgrim (Patrick McAndrew), who became a prisoner of war in the Second World…
Myla Carmen as Zara in Before I’m Dead, The Glitch, Photo: Phoebe Dyer There is a veil of death hanging over the theatres around The Cut in London. Care at the Young Vic is set in a nursing home and about the end of life, and a few minutes’ walk away at The Glitch is Before I’m Dead, a play about a terminally ill teen. But the two couldn’t be more different productions. Zara (Myla Carmen) is 17 and likely won’t make 18 because of a brain tumour. She is assigned a therapist, Stuart (Pete…
Caroline Rippin and Agnes Lillis in Albatross, Omnibus Theatre. Photo: Ashley Day Albatross at the Omnibus Theatre is a play about the fractious relationship between a mother and daughter, the sacrifices they make and climate change. Eve (Agnes Lillis) has been caring for her young granddaughter, Alba, while her daughter, Alice (Caroline Rippin), is working on a climate research project in Antarctica. With Alice’s imminent return, she is looking forward to getting her life back and going on a…
Jerome Yates and Tia Bannon in I’m Not Being Funny, Bush Theatre. Photo: Richard Lakos I’m Not Being Funny at the Bush Theatre is a play which at one point has you laughing at Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On and then later crying during the same song. It is a bittersweet story of a young couple with a 3-year-old child, forced to face a future no one wants to think about. Billie (Tia Bannon) has signed up her and her husband, Peter (Jerome Yates), for an open mic night. With daughter Ruby…
L-R: Samantha Begeman, Clare Stenning and Jad Sayegh in Brief Play About Rage, Omnibus Theatre Brief Play About Rage at the Omnibus Theatre is a funny one. You’ll either get it or you won’t. You’ll either find it hilarious and daring or OTT and irritating. It’s set in the flat of Val (Samantha Begeman) and Hugh (Jad Sayegh), and tensions are running high as they await the arrival of Val’s old ‘friend’ Nell (Clare Stenning). They only have two chairs, but neither seems concerned about where…
Video transcript: You know, when you’re watching a play, and the auditorium is silent. Nobody’s shuffling around, there’s no noise whatsoever, and you can just tell that everybody is utterly gripped. Well, that was what it was like watching Mass at the Donmar Warehouse for the entire hour and 45 minutes. This is an extraordinary play, a very powerful play, a gripping play. And it’s remarkable for a lot of reasons, not least that it’s a very static play in that for a large portion of it, you…
Heart Wall at the Bush Theatre starts as the audience arrives with a karaoke. Pub manager Valentine (Aaron Anthony) encourages people to come onto the stage to sing. The auditorium is lively, some singing along to the popular anthems, waving arms, and I’m sure tapping toes. As the popular pop songs fade, we meet Franky […]
Video transcript: A Doll’s House at the Almeida Theatre is a modern adaptation of Ibsen’s play. First thing to say about that is, this is the second modern adaptation I’ve seen in a few weeks, the first one being Summerfolk at the National Theatre, and both playwrights have chosen to liberally sprinkle swear words. Now […]
Michael Frayn’s play Copenhagen is a philosophical, moral mystery set around a meeting between Danish physicist Niels Bohr (Richard Schiff), his wife, Margrethe (Alex Kingston) and German physicist Werner Heisenberg (Damien Molony) in 1941. The two men had once worked closely together, but the war saw Germany invade and occupy Denmark, leaving the half-Jewish Bohr […]
A guide for small theatre production companies and fringe theatres doing their own marketing I’ve been writing about theatre in London for 15 years* and I’m lucky enough to get sent press releases, invites and pitches of all shapes and sizes, but I wanted to share some tips for the small productions and venues doing […]
Video review transcript (lightly edited for grammar): Les Liaisons Dangereuses – I never know how you pronounce that. Dangerous Liaisons at the National Theatre, starring Aidan Turner and Lesley Manville, is superb. I’m just going to come straight out and say it. The chemistry between the two leads is fantastic. There’s a delightful mixture of […]
Plays with multimedia can feel a bit gimmicky and therefore disappointing, but this isn’t the case with This is Not About Me at the Soho Theatre. Written by Hannah Caplan, it’s a two-hander about friends who have tipped over into ‘with benefits’ on three occasions, which threatens their friendship. They are opposites who somehow fit […]
Video transcript: The RSC has a new production of Henry V starring Alfred Enoch, who some of you may know from his days in Harry Potter But, he’s done a lot of stage and screen work since then, so it feels slightly mean bringing up his child role. It’s an interesting production. It blends nicely […]
Video transcript: Summerfolk at the National Theatre is a big play. It’s got a huge cast. It’s also long, nearly three hours, including an interval. It’s been adapted by Nina and Moses Raine. The language has been updated, but the costume and setting are still period. It’s plenty of wit and humour and bubbles of […]
Two friends to enemies meet in a hotel bar in the early hours. The years have passed since something happened to shatter their relationship, but emotions haven’t necessarily mellowed. Mark Bastin’s play The Dawn of Reckoning is a two-hander which unravels the broken friendship between Ruth (Jilly Bond), a children’s book illustrator, and Helena (Bryonie […]
Video transcript: Arthur Miller’s play Broken Glass is one that doesn’t get staged very often, and usually, there are a couple of reasons for that. It could be that it’s problematic, or it could be that it’s just overlooked. And I think it’s definitely the latter. With this production at the Young Vic, it is […]
