Tag: Riverside Studio 3

Clean by Clare Duffy, & Static by Chris Thorpe, Riverside Studio 3, 12 April 2001

Two short plays at The Riverside.

In truth, 25 years later, I remember little about this evening and/or these plays.

Unusual for us to go to the theatre on a Thursday evening, so something must have inspired us to do that. Possibly the secure knowledge that after my Washington trip the week before, Passover at my parent’s place the preceding weekend, and dinner with Anthea and Mitchell arranged for the next day, this would be our only chance to see this production. I’ll write some more about the Washington trip and those other events elsewhere, when the time feels right.

Still, something else must have inspired us to choose this twinning of short plays by writers we hadn’t heard of, with cast and creatives we also hadn’t heard of.

Theatricalia can’t help me with this one.

To the rescue, Mark Cook with this preview in The Guardian.

Static Cook Guardian Static Cook Guardian 7 Apr 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Also to the rescue, Patrick Marmion in The Standard. This pretty good review, published the very evening we went:

Static Marmion Standard Static Marmion Standard 12 Apr 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Eye Contact by Neil Monaghan, Riverside Studio 3, Then On To Thai Bistro, With Kim & Micky, 16 December 2000

This was probably Kim and Micky’s idea…

…informed by the fact that Janie and I were constantly unavailable on Saturdays because we were going to the theatre.

Why don’t we all go and see…

…I can almost hear Kim suggesting to Janie.

Why not? I can imagine all of us agreeing to this with ease. This production soon became one of the hottest tickets in town, not least because model and celebrity Kelly Brook was playing the role of a pole/table dancer. Janie sorted out the tickets – presumably ahead of the reviews and brouhaha, £16.50 x 4 according to her diary…

…plus some very specific timings to get all of us from The Riverside to the Thai Bistro for supper after the show…

…as if we would need the heat of Tom Yum after the hot totty on show at The Riverside.

But who would have possibly imagined, at that time, that Janie would, a mere 17 years later, decide to give pole dancing a go herself, with considerable (albeit, mercifully, private) success.

Images from late 2017, written up here.

Dominic Cavendish seems to have hated it…the Eye Contact play, I mean, not Janie’s pole dancing:

Eye Cavendish Telegraph Eye Cavendish Telegraph 12 Dec 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Rachel Halliburton similarly, was disparaging:

Eye Halliburton Standard Eye Halliburton Standard 7 Dec 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Irving Wardle was a bit kinder, right at the end of this three review piece:

Far Away Wardle Sunday Telegraph Far Away Wardle Sunday Telegraph 3 Dec 2000 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But did we have a good evening? Of course we did. We saw a show and had dinner with Kim and Micky. Simples.

Crossing by Reza de Wet, Riverside Studio 3, 15 September 2000

To the Riverside Studio on a Friday evening to see this unusual South African play.

very good

I said in my log.

I don’t remember much about it without help, so thank goodness for Patrick Marmion in the Standard…

Crossing Marmion Standard Crossing Marmion Standard 13 Sept 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

…and Lyn Gardner in The Guardian

Crossings Gardner Guardian Crossings Gardner Guardian 15 Sept 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com