Nightingale And Chase by Zinnie Harris, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 29 September 2001

Janie and I had been most impressed by Zinnie Harris’s Further Than the Furthest Thing the previous year…

…so made a bee-line for Zinnie Harris’s next play – this time at the Royal Court.

The subject matter of Nightingale and Chase – a woman being released from prison, was very interesting. I’m not sure this one quite worked as theatre, though.

Mark Cook gave it a short plug in the Guardian:

Nightingale Cook Guardian Nightingale Cook Guardian 22 Sept 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Jasper Rees, meanwhile, wrote an interesting piece about Zinnie and both plays:

Zinnie Rees Telegraph Zinnie Rees Telegraph 27 Sept 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Zinnie explained all of this in her won words in the Guardian:

Zinnie on Zinnie Guardian Zinnie on Zinnie Guardian 29 Sept 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Not many actual reviews, but you can trust our friend Michael Billington to give such a production the full works and to remind me why we wanted to like this one more than we actually did:

Nightingale Billington Guardian Nightingale Billington Guardian 5 Oct 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca, Young Vic Theatre, 5 June 1999

Very good indeed…

…we both said. We’re both partial to a bit of Lorca in any case.

Wonderful play, excellent production.

This production had been doing and continued to do the rounds for some time, at regional theatres. A superb cast, including Sandra Duncan, Amanda Drew, Tanya Ronder & Carolyn Jones, directed by Polly Teale – here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Our friend, Michael Billington, was also impressed by the production, once it landed at the Young Vic.

Bernarda Guardian BillingtonBernarda Guardian Billington 22 May 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard was also mostly very impressed:

Bernarda, de Jomgh, StandardBernarda, de Jomgh, Standard 20 May 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com