Tag: Kerry Shale

Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan, Donmar Warehouse, 19 August 2006

Janie and I were really taken with this play/production. On my log I gave it a one word review:

superb.

Peter Morgan writes these historical/biographical plays really well and Michael Sheen seems well fitted to the lead roles in them, be the role Tony Blair or David Frost.

Actually the whole cast was excellent, with especially memorable performances by Frank Langella, Kelly Shale, Lydia Leonard and Corey Johnson.

Michael Grandage was doing great work at the Donmar at that time.

There is a superb Donmar educational resource available for this production, now in the public domain but not well publicised, which I have scraped to here and/or the image link below:

Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frostnixonposter.png with the same attribution and for the same fair use reasons as stated on Wikipedia.

We saw the original Donmar run quite early in its life – perhaps even still in preview or just after the press night. The play/production was extremely well received, deservedly so. A link to reviews can be found here.

The piece transferred big time and also was made into a film. Janie and I were delighted to have seen the original production before the big fuss broke out.

Dona Rosita The Spinster by Federico García Lorca, Almeida Theatre, 10 May 1997

We were on quite a roll with our theatre going that spring. We thought this one was very good, as indeed we had consistently said for some time – certainly everything we had seen since our return from the Middle East.

We are both partial to a bit of Lorca, but Dona Rosita is considered to be a difficult Lorca play. This production did the piece proud.

A superb cast for this one, including Celia Imrie, Eleanor Bron, Phoebe Nicholls, Justin Salinger, Amanda Drew, Kerry Shale, Kathryn Hunter (she seemed to be everywhere at that time) with Phyllida Lloyd directing. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this one.

Our friend, Michael Billington, was suitably impressed with it.

Billington Guardian Dona RositaBillington Guardian Dona Rosita 30 Apr 1997, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul taylor in the Indy, similarly lauding it and comparing the piece with high-class Chekhov:

Paul Taylor Indy Dona RositaPaul Taylor Indy Dona Rosita 01 May 1997, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kate Basset in the Telegraph was less keen:

Kate Bassett Telegraph Dona RoistaKate Bassett Telegraph Dona Roista 07 May 1997, Wed The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Not for absolutely everyone, then, but certainly good enough for us!