REVIEW: One Of Those, Tristan Bates Theatre ✭✭
As the lives from one carriage merge with the other, the play descends into farce and the promise to bring new understanding is lost.
Month: January 2016
Round The Horne makes a comeback at the Museum of Comedy
Following a UK tour, Round The Horne has just commenced an eight-week run at the Museum of Comedy. Celebrating the ground-breaking radio comedy series of the 1960s, Apollo Theatre Company have recreated the original recordings from the BBC’s Paris Studios to mark its 50th anniversary. Director Tim Astley has compiled the script for the production using only material from the original broadcasts, with the full blessing and support of the original writers’ estates. On why he wanted to mount this production, Tim explains: “I thought it was only right that its 50th anniversary be celebrated, and what better way to do that than to be able to transport fans back to the original recordings and recreate the anarchic atmosphere that made the programme such fun to listen to?” With the eponymous Kenneth Horne at the helm and the stellar supporting cast of Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick and Betty Marsden, Round … Read more
REVIEW: Yen, Royal Court Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭
Her characters are abundantly flawed while still empathetic, and their relationship with the modern world is a marriage of dark comedy and struggle. Her plays are hugely important. See for yourself.
Three days of Drama and Literature at Hampstead Theatre
Following last year’s success, Hampstead Theatre has confirmed that its second annual festival will take place on 18 – 20 March 2016. The Festival boasts over 30 unique events including workshops and panel discussions featuring Sir David Hare, Sir Matthew Bourne, Howard Brenton, Darcey Bussell, Tim Pigott-Smith, Deborah Moggach, Meera Syal and Kate Mosse. Hampstead Theatre’s artistic director Edward Hall and producer Issy van Randwyck have invited a wide variety of artists to share their stories and work processes. Hall said: “Hampstead Theatre is thrilled to be bringing back The Festival after its incredible success in 2015. “We hope this year’s programme will give attendees an opportunity to meet some of the most original thinkers in British culture today and discover new insights into the wonderful worlds these people work in.” The first Hampstead Theatre Festival was hosted in March 2015 and attracted a 2,500 audience footfall in just one … Read more
Attenborough gives Hampstead Theatre Reasons to be Happy
Michael Attenborough directs the UK premiere of Neil LaBute’s romantic comedy, Reasons to be Happy, at Hampstead Theatre in March. Reasons to be Happy – a companion piece to Reasons to be Pretty, directed by Michael Attenborough in 2011 – follows the lives and loves of four friends as they desperately search for happiness and explores ‘unfinished business’ in relationships. LaBute’s other plays include Reasons to be Pretty, Bash, The Shape of Things, The Distance From Here, Autobahn, Fat Pig, Some Girls, This Is How It Goes and In A Forest Dark and Deep. His films include In the Company of Men, for which he won the New York Critics’ Circle Award for Best First Feature and the Filmmakers’ Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival. Reasons to be Happy is Michael Attenborough’s fourth collaboration with LaBute. The former artistic director of the Almeida Theatre returns to Hampstead Theatre following Luna … Read more
Hangmen Proves To Be Financial Success
Producers have revealed that Matthew Dunster’s production of Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen has recouped in under six weeks. The news comes as the production is announced the winner of the Critic’s Circle ‘Best New Play’ and ‘Best Design’ Awards. Read our 5 star review of Hangmen. Following a sell out run at the Royal Court Theatre, Matthew Dunster’s production of Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen transferred to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre for a strictly limited season in December ending on 5 March. Matthew Byam Shaw, Producer for Playful Productions, said, “No-one expected a play about public lynchings to go wild at the box office over Christmas, but Hangmen is so entertaining and unique, the public has decided that this is the new play to see.” Lucy Davies, Exec Producer at the Royal Court said, “We programmed this play at the Royal Court in May, opened it to sold out houses in September, … Read more
English premiere of Jo Clifford’s acclaimed Every One at Battersea Arts Centre
Chris Goode and Company and Battersea Arts Centre present Every One by Jo Clifford – a take on the medieval morality play Everyman. Clifford’s exploration of grief and acceptance sees the award-winning Chris Goode & Company producing the work of another writer for the first time. Every One received great critical acclaim when it was originally produced by the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh in 2010. The incredibly personal play was sparked by the death of Clifford’s wife, and draws from her experiences of the sudden death of her mother at a young age and her own feelings of mortality following heart surgery. Jo Clifford is most recently known for The Gospel According to Jesus Queen of Heaven, her one woman show featuring a transgender Jesus coming back to the world. She is an Edinburgh based writer, performer, poet and teacher with about 80 plays to her name. She is an associate … Read more
REVIEW: Hangmen, Wyndham’s Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭
If you can trust anyone to execute a black comedy, it’s Martin McDonagh. The Irish playwright is an undoubted master of the genre, with an enviable back catalogue which includes The Pillowman, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and In Bruges. Hangmen is a worthy addition to his collection, offering a fascinating insight into the dark absurdities of a death-fixated culture
