REVIEW: Labour Of Love, Noel Coward Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭
Under Jeremy Herrin’s slick direction, Martin Freeman and Tamsin Greig are a delight, the Beatrice and Benedict of the Ballot Box.
Jeremy Herrin
Tamsin Greig to replace Sarah Lancashire in Labour Of Love
Producers have advised that on the advice of doctors Sarah Lancashire has had to withdraw from the upcoming production of James Graham’s Labour Of Love. Olivier Award-winning actress Tamsin Greig will now play Jean Whittaker opposite Martin Freeman as David Lyons. Greig and Freeman join Rachel Sterling (Elizabeth Lyons), Kwong Loke (Mr Shen), Dickon Tyrrell (Len Prior) and Susan Wokoma (Margot Midler) in Jeremy Herrin’s production which reunites Herrin and Graham following their previous collaboration on Headlong’s This House which recently played at the Garrick Theatre following an acclaimed run at the National Theatre. Labour MP David Lyons cares about modernisation and “electability”… His constituency agent, Jean Whittaker cares about principles and her community. Set away from the Westminster bubble in the party’s traditional northern heartlands, this is a clash of philosophy, culture and class against the backdrop of the Labour Party over 25 years, as it moves from Kinnock through Blair into Corbyn… and beyond? Labour of Love starts … Read more
This House UK Tour
Following its acclaimed run at the National Theatre and in the West End, James Graham’s political drama This House will begin a UK national tour at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on 22 February 2018. 1974. The UK faces economic crisis and a hung parliament. In a culture hostile to cooperation, it’s a period when votes are won or lost by one, when there are fist fights in the bars and when sick MPs are carried through the lobby to register their vote. It’s a time when a staggering number of politicians die, and the building creaks under idiosyncrasies and arcane traditions. Set in the engine rooms of Westminster, This House strips politics down to the practical realities of those behind the scenes; the whips who roll up their sleeves and on occasion bend the rules to shepherd and coerce a diverse chorus of MPs within the Mother of all Parliaments. … Read more
REVIEW: Common, National Theatre ✭✭✭
Trimmed down by about 30 minutes since previews began, Common has gained momentum in time for press night although it still feels like it needs more work.
REVIEW: People, Places and Things, Wyndham’s Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭
People, Places and Things Wyndham’s Theatre 5 Stars More Info | Book Now Whenever I review I always hope I act with discretion while making the occasional note to refer back to after the performance. I never want to distract my neighbor from the story that is unfolding on stage. There was no chance, however, of this being an issue throughout People, Places, Things at Wyndham’s Theatre – the action is arresting, and the performances thoroughly engaging. This production was so good it stopped me writing; I could not take my eyes off it for a second. Duncan Macmillan’s play, a co-production between The National Theatre and Headlong, enjoyed a successful run at The Dorfman last Autumn, and as the vibrancy of this production spills out into the auditorium it is all too clear why it sold out – its transfer is utterly deserved. In an attempt to recreate the … Read more
Parliamentary Drama This House Comes To The Garrick
This House, the critically acclaimed political drama will transfer to the Garrick Theatre in London in November 2016. This House will open soon at the Chichester Festival, having played two sell-out seasons at the National Theatre. 1974. The UK faces economic crisis and a hung parliament. In a culture hostile to cooperation, it’s a period when votes are won or lost by one, when there are fist fights in the bars and when sick MPs are carried through the lobby to register their vote. It’s a time when a staggering number of politicians die, and the building creaks under idiosyncrasies and arcane traditions. Set in the engine rooms of Westminster, James Graham’s This House strips politics down to the practical realities of those behind the scenes: the whips who roll up their sleeves and on occasion bend the rules to shepherd and coerce a diverse chorus of MPs within the … Read more
REVIEW: The Moderate Soprano, Hampstead Theatre ✭✭
What pleasure the play offers comes in the characters Hare has carved from fragments of history. Roger Allam, almost unrecognisable as John Christie, does a superb job, totally transforming himself into a funny, fussy, oddly dressed Opera lover. He makes eccentricity part of the fibre of Christie and superbly shows his extremes: his anger about Glyndebourne when things don’t go his way; his gentle adoration of Audrey; his unflappable belief in the inherent value of Opera as the most sublime aspect of humanity.
The Absence Of War 2015 UK Tour
CLICK FOR THE ABSENCE OF WAR TOUR DATES BELOW Headlong, The Rose Theatre Kingston and Sheffield Theatres have announced the 2015 UK tour of David Hare’s The Absence Of War. It’s now or never for George Jones. The heavy-smoking, Shakespeare-loving Labour leader needs to get out of opposition and into Number Ten. Plagued by a hostile media, beset by divisions in his party and haunted by his own demons, George has three weeks to convince the Great British Public that he’s their man. But how much compromise is he prepared to make? How can you truly appeal to the man in the street from the Palace of Westminster? And which tie should he wear for Prime Minister’s Questions? Reece Dinsdale will be joined by Theo Cowan, Ameira Darwish, Don Gallagher, James Harkness, Charlotte Lucas, Barry McCarthy, Maggie McCarthy, Cyril Nri, Ekow Quartey, Helen Ryan and Gyuri Sarossy in David Hare’s … Read more
