Category: Theatre

Little Light by Alice Birch, Orange Tree Theatre, 7 February 2015

Janie and I were on a bit of a roll at that time, as was The Orange Tree.

Little Light by Alice Birch – click here for the Orange Tree resource on that production – was really good.

In some ways this was yet another family drama, but it was very well written and performed. It kept us awake and interested throughout.

Plenty of one-liner reviews in the Orange Tree link above:

 

Islands by Caroline Horton, Bush Theatre, 24 January 2015

We thought this play and its production were just awful.

I seem to recall that it ran straight through without an interval; had there been an interval we would not have returned for the second half of this one. Perhaps there was and we didn’t. The whole experience was so bad we’ve mostly blotted it from our minds.

The subject matter – tax havens and the greed of the super rich – is fair game for theatre. But this was like a really bad copy of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi style with almost no substance – opportunities missed.

If you want to know more about the production, the Bush has a decent stub on it – click here.

I could go on, but I won’t.

 

The Chronicles of Kalki by Aditi Brennan Kapil, Gate Theatre, 9 January 2015

Janie and I went to see this play/production during the hiatus between mum’s death and the funeral. Mum would have wanted us to go ahead with the theatre visit, that’s for sure.

I remember the show being quite magical and fun. Not deep and profound; but a modern telling/adaptation of Indian mythology. It was a good evening at the theatre.

The Gate Theatre has preserved an excellent resource on this production – click here. Why there seems to be an inverse relationship between the ability of arts organisations to put up excellent archive resources on the web compared with their size and scale is a discussion for elsewhere.

Perhaps if we had been more in the mood for challenging theatre we’d have felt more critical too – as it was, Janie and I both enjoyed the escapism of it and some good acting by a young, talented cast.

I think I served up a splendid Big Al pasta dish and salad when we got home, but really my memories of that week are all a bit blurry.

Tiger Country by Nina Raine, Hampstead Theatre, 12 December 2014

Talk about bad timing.

Less than a week earlier we’d seen a play about dementia (albeit a truly excellent one), while mum’s dementia was fast deteriorating:

Visitors by Barney Norris, Bush Theatre, 6 December 2014

…little did we know that we were seeing this play about NHS hospital chaos less than a fortnight before mum was to make her final, one-way trip to such a place.

In truth, although we quite enjoyed this play/production, we found it a bit fast and furious without really saying all that much. We’d felt similarly about the police one, Wildefire, at the same venue a few weeks before:

Wildefire by Roy Williams, Hampstead Theatre, 7 November 2014

As with Wildefire, there was some great acting, some wonderful lines and some super vignettes in there. Indira Varma was excellent, as usual; in fact the whole cast was good.

Perhaps it was just a bit too near the bone for me – not just in the mum aspect but also because I was doing so much work with NHS Foundation Trusts at that time. Definitely worth seeing, but no wow factor for either of us.

Below is a “behind the scenes” video:

Below is the actual trailer for the production:

Here is a link to the reviews – the critics pretty-much universally loved the piece.

Visitors by Barney Norris, Bush Theatre, 6 December 2014

This was a really excellent piece, performed beautifully.

We went to see this only a month before mum died, by which time her dementia was getting rapidly worse. So I went with a mixture of trepidation and eager expectation.

I needn’t have worried – the play handled dementia as its central theme with great balance and dignity. An excellent effort from a young playwright in his 20s.  Barney Norris, you are now on our watch list.

Here is a link to the Bush resource on this play/production.

All of the performances were good, but Linda Bassett and Robin Soans were both exceptional.

There’s a neat little interview with Barney Norris (playwright) and Eleanor Wyld, one of the performers:

Mostly well received by the critics – click here for a search term that finds the reviews.

Solomon And Marion by Lara Foot, The Print Room At The Coronet, 28 November 2014

We rather liked this piece.

Very South African. It reminded us of Athol Fugard’s style of rural chamber plays.

Both of the performers were excellent – we expected nothing less from Janet Suzman but Khayalethu Anthony was also excellent.

Here is a link to a search term that finds the (mostly excellent) reviews.

We’d like to see more Print Room at the Coronet, but since this piece, on the whole they seem to be choosing stuff that isn’t up our street. Sort it out, Print Room folk.

 

Chimera by Deborah Stein, Gate Theatre, 21 November 2014

Chock full of interesting ideas, this one generated lots of topics for me and Janie to discuss afterwards and had some lovely vignettes within it, yet it didn’t work quite so well for either of us as a coherent piece of drama.

Here is a link the The Gate resource on this production.

Still we enjoyed and were glad we saw this production.

I think it left some of the critics as confused as we were – click here for a search term that finds the reviews.

Pomona by Alistair McDowall, Orange Tree Theatre, 15 November 2014

Just occasionally we see something that is stunningly good…

…breathtaking, both Janie and I saying “wow” to each other as we leave the theatre good.

Pomona was that good.

It cemented our view that Paul Miller’s new regime at the Orange Tree really was going places, despite the dreaded Arts Council cuts.

We saw the play on the first Saturday. Had I been “real time Ogblogging” back then I’d have implored friends to drop everything and somehow get a ticket.

Here is a link to the Orange Tree resource for the production we saw in 2014.

Below is the trailer:

Here is a link to the Orange Tree online resource for the 2015 revival of the  production – after it had triumphed with a run at the RNT and elsewhere.

Finally, here is a link to a search term that finds the (mostly rave) reviews.

Wildefire by Roy Williams, Hampstead Theatre, 7 November 2014

A play about modern policing in the inner-London suburbs, the central character being a policewoman who might have bitten off more than she can chew in that environment.

Roy Williams is a highly skilled playwright and this subject-matter is right up his street.

Lots of subplots – domestic violence, police corruption (or is it) in attempts to infiltrate criminal gangs etc.

In some ways the play was all over the place and in that sense unsatisfactory. We went on a Friday after work (and Harry Mograns) – we were quite exhausted by the end of it, despite the fact that it is a short piece (not even 90 minutes long).

But it was gripping and had some great scenes and some superb acting in it – we were glad to have seen this piece.

Here is a link to the Hampstead resource on this play/production.

Below is a little “behind the scenes” vid with Roy Williams & more:

On the whole the critics were underwhelmed by the piece – click here for a link to the reviews.

Our Town by Thornton Wilder, Almeida Theatre, 18 October 2014

An unusual play and production, this.

An American classic, performed on a very sparse set in a sort-of workshop style.

It worked for us.

There are elements of this play that could easily seem cheesy to the modern and non-US audience, yet this production managed to avoid the worst excesses of fromage and mawkishness – the piece came across to us as charming and touching.

Here is a link to the Almeida resource on this production.

Below is the trailer, with some interviews:

It didn’t please all the critics, but it did please many of them – click here for a search term that finds the reviews.