REVIEW: The Corn Is Green, National Theatre London ✭✭✭
Paul T Davies reviews The Corn Is Green a semi-autobiographical play by Emlyn Williams now on stage at the National Theatre, London.
Paul T Davies reviews The Corn Is Green a semi-autobiographical play by Emlyn Williams now on stage at the National Theatre, London.
Producers The Original Theatre Company and Salisbury Playhouse in association with Eastbourne Theatres have given us these great preview images from the rehearsal rooms of the UK Tour of Emlyn Williams’s Night Must Fall. Emlyn Williams wrote Night Must Fall in 1935 and played the lead role in the first stage production. The play was noted for its exploration of the killer’s complex psychological state, a step forward for its genre. Robert Montgomery starred in the film version in 1937 and Albert Finney in the 1964 re-make. This new production of Night Must Fall stars Gwen Taylor (TV’s Barbara, Driving Miss Daisy at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre, Calendar Girls UK Tour), Daragh O’Malley (TV’s Sharpe, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Manchester’s Royal Exchange), Niamh McGrady (TV’s The Fall and Holby City, Macbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre, West End and Broadway) and Will Featherstone (Dr. Scroggy’s War, Romeo and Juliet, … Read more
Salisbury Playhouse and The Original Theatre Company in association with Eastbourne Theatres will present a national tour of the Psychological thriller Night Must Fall by Emlyn Williams. The production will be directed by Luke Sheppard. When charming, smooth-talking Dan arrives at old Mrs Bramson’s remote woodland home, he soon ingratiates his way into her life and that of her niece, Olivia. But when a local woman goes missing and is later found murdered, Olivia begins to suspect her aunt’s new private assistant. She resolves to find out the truth. Emlyn Williams wrote Night Must Fall in 1935 and played the lead role in the first stage production. The play was noted for its exploration of the killer’s complex psychological state, a step forward for its genre. Robert Montgomery starred in the film version in 1937 and Albert Finney in the 1964 re-make. Niamh McGrady and Will Featherstone will star as … Read more
McIntyre directs with careful, thorough assuredness, avoiding the easy trap of treating the material like the melodrama it could so easily become, preferring instead to focus on true and believable characterisation and detailed, intimate, and utterly believable situations and exchanges.