At a time when the role of the arts is as hotly discussed as ever, Stoppard’s play could not be timelier. Travesties both baffles and intrigues; a masterful piece of writing that will leave you thinking all the way home.
Van Hove’s production is never less than interesting, creating memorable stage pictures, and containing powerful, committed, acting from the ensemble.
UPDATE: This production is selling fast. Book now to avoid disappointment. David Tennant is to return to the West End in the title role in Patrick Marber’s Don Juan in Soho. The play presented by Playful Productions and directed by Patrick Marber will be presented at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre for a strictly limited eleven week season. Don Juan in Soho tickets are now on sale. “Please don’t be charmed, he’s not a lovable rogue…” Loosely based on Molière tragicomedy ‘Don Juan’, this savagely funny and filthy modern update transports the action to contemporary London and follows the final adventures of its debauched protagonist – a cruel seducer who lives only for pleasure. David Tennant is well known to television, theatre and film audiences alike through performances which have won him The Critics’ Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance and the National Television Awards’ Outstanding Drama Performance. He is best known … Read more
The Menier Chocolate Factory and Sonia Friedman productions have announced that Tom Stoppard’s award-winning comedy Travesties will transfer to the Apollo Theatre in February 2017. Travesties tickets are now on sale. Tom Stoppard’s dazzling comedy of art, love and revolution features James Joyce, Tristan Tzara and Lenin as remembered — and misremembered — by Henry Carr, a minor British diplomat in Zurich 1917. When Gwendolen and Cecily wander in from The Importance of Being Earnest, Henry’s mind wanders too. He knows he was Algernon in a production in Zurich. But who was the other one? The original production of Travesties premiered at the Aldwych Theatre in 1974, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy and a New York Critic’s Circle and Tony Award for Best Play on Broadway. Travesties broke box office records at the Menier Chocolate Factory selling out ahead of its first preview. This new production is … Read more
So often the press night comes too early in a run to fully assess a production’s potential. This welcome and ambitious new version has not yet attained greatness but certainly has the makings of it.
Marber is not writing just about football. The play is fundamentally about notions of masculinity as well as about modern society. The trio represents a kind of football holy trinity – all connected, and representing father, son and spirit. Which of the trio fulfils which role is not always clear, sometimes shifts, and this is perhaps the most interesting aspect of Marber’s play. Calvin Demba is adept at displaying Jordan’s naivety as well as his darker, more complex side. Peter Wight is compelling as the sad, lonely, committed club man, Yates, whose life is entirely centred on the game and The Red Lion.
Watching David Leveaux’ stylish revival at the Donmar Warehouse, Closer seems not so much a play about people who don’t have children yet as a play about grown up children. Games, set-ups, lies, betrayals, revenge, secrets – the machinations of the four characters (who are the strangers who become lovers/lovers who become strangers) resemble schoolyard activities. Marber’s dialogue is sharp, ugly and vicious; it is often very funny too.
