My 2017 Theatre Highlights – Paul T Davies

Angels in America Part 1 at the National Theatre

We asked our review team to nominate their 2017 theatre highlights. Paul T Davies nominated his favourites and a few productions for a special end of year ovation. Angels In America (National Theatre) About twenty-five years ago, I got a standing room ticket for the original National Theatre production of Tony Kushner’s epic. I stood for the whole seven and a half hour cycle, and, although I wore a younger man’s clothes then, I had to sit down afterwards not just because of the physical demands, but because of the emotional intensity. I had never seen a play like it, and it had a profound influence on me, it also became a cornerstone of my PhD. Marianne Elliot’s majestic production did what you hope every revival will do, it took every line, every scene, every act and every character anew and reinforced the play as a classic. It also had … Read more

Tamsin Greig to replace Sarah Lancashire in Labour Of Love

Tamsin Greig replaces 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