Tag: Michele Enright

The Playboy Of The Western World by J M Synge, Cottesloe Theatre, 16 June 2001

Janie and I thought this play/production was…

…excellent.

The RNT put on terrific stuff in the Cottesloe at that time. Fiona Buffini directed an excellent cast, including Sorcha Cusack, Patrick O’Kane & Derbhle Crotty. The Theatricalia entry for this production can be found here.

Despite the fact that we thought it was excellent, our friend, Michael Billington, really didn’t like it, bemoaning the fact that the only Synge that ever gets revived is this one.

Playboy Billington Guardian Playboy Billington Guardian 22 Feb 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph loved it:

Playboy Spencer Telegraph Playboy Spencer Telegraph 21 Feb 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard rated it good, which is sort-of medium:

Playboy de Jongh Standard Playboy de Jongh Standard 21 Feb 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

In that case, the casting vote must go to me and Janie. It was excellent.

The Old Neighbourhood by David Mamet, Royal Court Theatre at the Duke Of York’s Theatre, 11 July 1998

All I wrote in my log was:

No interval.

That suggests that we didn’t get a great deal out of this one, unusually for Mamet. Possibly we just felt that we’d seen a lot of material like this before.

Was it three short plays or one play with three somewhat disconnected scene?. I wrote down

The Disappearance of the Jews, Jolly and Deeny.

Splendid cast: Linal Haft, Colin Stinton, Zoe Wanamaker, Vincent Marzello and Diana Quick, directed by Patrick Marber.

Nicholas de Jongh really liked it:

de Jongh, Standard, Mametde Jongh, Standard, Mamet 24 Jun 1998, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington also liked it a lot:

Billington Guardian MametBillington Guardian Mamet 24 Jun 1998, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph was less sure:

Spencer Telegraph MametSpencer Telegraph Mamet 25 Jun 1998, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kate Kellaway’s interview with Patrick Marber is very interesting:

Kellaway Observer Marber InterviewKellaway Observer Marber Interview 14 Jun 1998, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Reading these reviews and the interview, I think I should, 25 years later, re-read the play(s) and see what I think of them now.