Tag: Gerald Kyd

The Local Stigmatic by Heathcote Williams & The Dwarfs by Harold Pinter, Lyric Studio, 27 May 2000

My take on these two short plays is clearly documented in my log:

The Local Stigmatic: Dreadful.

The Dwarfs: Much better than the Stigmatic!!

That’s all he wrote, folks.

We liked the Lyric Studio back then and quite often went there for interesting new works or (as in this case) rarely seen revivals. Mandrake Theatre Company seems to have been in the business for that sort of thing, although I don’t think we saw their work too often.

Despite being in the low-key studio, this double bill was reviewed by The Standard. Nick Curtis did not agree with my comparative take on the two plays, giving both the dreaded Standard “X”:

Stigmatic Curtis StandardStigmatic Curtis Standard 26 May 2000, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We were not having a great run in May 2000, but, fear not, we saw some excellent stuff in June.

Prophet in Exile by Nadim Sawalha, Chelsea Theatre, 8 May 2000

A rare Monday evening visit to the theatre for us. I had booked the day out as a long weekend. Perhaps Janie had intended to do the same, but her diary shows that she treated some patients, engineering it that she ended up in the Kensington & Chelsea area.

We really liked the stuff that little Chelsea Theatre was putting on back then – it had a short flowering of producing the sort of unusual fringe theatre stuff that we like.

This play was basically a biographical piece about Kahlil Gibran, not least the birth of his great work, The Prophet.

This production was very much a family affair for the Sawalha family, with author Nadim appearing in the production, along with brother Nabil and a couple of other Sawalhas; Lara & Omar, in some cases doubling up, playing several smaller parts. Gerald Key played Gibran, Briony Glassco played Mary Haskell and Colin Redgrave directed the production.

This production was previewed in The Standard

Prophet StandardProphet Standard 27 Apr 2000, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We rather liked the piece and performances. But then Janie had/has a bit of a thing about The Prophet. But 25 years later, I don’t think I’d get a positive answer if I suggested a Monday night at the theatre, even if the subject matter was close to Janie’s heart!