Chimerica by Lucy Kirkwood, Almeida Theatre, 1 June 2013

Janie and I both really really liked this play/production.

In many ways not the sort of play we normally like. It was quite long and very broad in its sweep – spanning continents and decades.

But it was such a good play and so well done.

Fine cast; not least Claudia Blakley (who we think of as an Orange Tree regular), Stephen Campbell Moore (who I got to know quite well shortly afterwards at BodyWorksWest) and Benedict Wong (who we’ll forever think of as Ai Weiwei – or at least Janie will).

We liked Lucy Kirkwood’s previous play, NSFW...we loved Chimerica.

Click here for a link to the Almeida resource on this Chimerica production.

It subsequently transferred (pretty much intact, I believe) to the Harold Pinter that autumn.

Below is the trailer vid:

It got rave reviews, deservedly – click here for a search term that finds them.

London theatre at its very best.

NSFW by Lucy Kirkwood, Royal Court Theatre, 3 November 2012

Nephew Paul and his partner Mish came up from Bristol and joined us for this evening.

We thought the subject matter of the play would interest them, as they both teach teenagers and thus come across lots of these media issues in the real world…

…it did interest them, giving us all lots to talk about afterwards.

It was also a very entertaining evening at the theatre.

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

Below is the vid trailer:

This play/production was pretty well received by the critics – click here for a search term that finds the reviews.

We had a very pleasant meal together and discussed the play at Colbert, virtually next door to the Royal Court, in the quieter room at the end where you can hear yourself think and can hear the other people at your table when they talk.

It was a very enjoyable evening.