REVIEW: An Octoroon, National Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭
Paul T Davies reviews An Octoroon by Dion Boucicault adapted by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins now playing at the National Theatre.
Celeste Dodwell
Cast announced for An Octoroon at Orange Tree
The cast has been announced for the European premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Obie Award-winning play, An Octoroon, at the Orange Tree Theatre in London. The line-up comprises Cassie Clare, Emmanuella Cole, Celeste Dodwell, Iola Evans, Ken Nwosu, Vivian Oparah, Alistair Toovey, and Kevin Trainor. They are joined by cellist James Douglas. Ned Bennett returns to the Orange Tree to direct after his successful production of Alistair McDowall’s Pomona which transferred to the National Theatre and Royal Exchange. An Octoroon, which premiered Off-Off Broadway in 2014, is set on a failing plantation, Terrebonne, after the death of its owner Judge Peyton. His handsome nephew George arrives as heir apparent and quickly falls in love with Zoe, a beautiful “octoroon” – a 19th-century term for a mixed-heritage person with just one black great-grandparent. However, the dastardly M’Closky has other plans for both Terrebonne and Zoe. It is based on Irish playwright Dion … Read more
REVIEW: Hay Fever, Duke Of York’s Theatre ✭✭✭✭
Felicity Kendal is a triumph as the effervescent, self-indulgent diva that is Judith. Her throaty, raspy tones; the endless lighting and stubbing out of cigarettes; the casual, but persistent, flick of tousled curls; the innocent eyes and the naughty remark and the naughty remark and the innocent eyes; the devilment, the wild abandon, the sneaky confidence, the haughty indifference. Every aspect of the performance is beautifully judged by Kendal.
