REVIEW: Pack Of Lies, Menier Chocolate Factory ✭✭✭✭
Mark Reed reviews Hugh Whitmore’s play Pack Of Lies now playing at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
Jasper Britton
Casting Announced For Raising Martha At Park Theatre
Casting has been announced for the World Premiere of Raising Martha, a dark comedy by award-winning writer David Spicer, playing at the Park Theatre from 12 January – 11 February 2017. Gwyneth Keyworth (E4’s Wasted, Game Of Thrones) will play ‘Caro’, Julian Bleach (co-creator and MC of Shockheaded Peter, Dr Who) will play ‘Roger’, Tom Bennett (Netflix’s Mascots, E4’s Phone Shop) will play ‘Marc’; Jasper Britton (Richard II, RSC, The Libertine, Theatre Royal Haymarket), will play ‘Gerry’; Joel Fry (ITV’s Plebs, HBO’s Game of Thrones, Sky’s You, Me and the Apocalypse) will play ‘Jago’; and Jeff Rawle, (Channel 4’s Drop the Dead Donkey, Handbagged, Tricycle / West End, Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire) will join the cast to play ‘Inspector Clout’. Gerry and Roger’s mum has gone missing. Well, most of her has… The unwitting victims of animal rights activists campaigning for the freedom of the family frog farm’s slimy … Read more
REVIEW: The Libertine, Haymarket Theatre ✭✭✭
The Libertine is an enjoyable, but rather unfulfilling play. The Earl of Rochester is an intriguing figure, and Dominic Cooper’s is a witty and energetic portrayal. Yet in spite of the high calibre performances and tremendous dialogue – I lost count of the number of phrases I felt “I must look up” – The Libertine is a rather aimless piece. For all the philosophising and avarice, at its heart are two incongruously conventional romantic narratives. In spite of good performances by Ophelia Lovibond and Alice Bailey Johnson, these fail to draw complete conclusions about Rochester’s desire to love himself and others, and reconcile how such a passionate man could let his thirst for life slip away like so many empty carafes.
REVIEW: The Jew Of Malta, Swan Theatre ✭✭✭✭
This is a play where the inhabitants of a Nunnery are slain by poisoned porridge; where the daughter of a Jew becomes a Christian Nun, twice; where, having purchased a Thracian slave, owner and slave engage in a bout of one-upmanship about the vile deeds they claim to enjoy; where Friars are referred to as “religious caterpillars”; where the Jew inquires if theft is the basis of Christianity; where a Friar casually asks if the Jew has been “crucifying children”; and where no one, really, has any redeeming features. It all but screams farce, even if some of the subject matter is repugnant and, sadly, deadly accurate.
