Tag: Steven Pacey

Six Degrees Of Separation, John Guare, The Old Vic, 16 January 2010

Around the time that we booked this play, I was writing the chapter of The Price of Fish, coincidentally Chapter Six, that explains the “shrinking world” theory known as six degrees of separation.

In theory, this play is all about that concept. In practice, I struggled at times to link this social comedy with the theory.

Without the futile search for intellectual insight, it was a reasonably fun evening at the theatre but a rather lightweight one. A super cast for this revival, but I’m not sure this play is worthy of a revival within 20 years, even though the world has/had changed between times.

Here is a link to The Old Vic resource on the production.

Here is a link to a search term that finds plenty of reviews, mostly indifferent ones. The consensus seemed to be that the production was excellent but the play somewhat lacking. Although neither Janie nor I had seen the play first time around, we thought that assessment was right.

Dolly West’s Kitchen by Frank McGuiness, Abbey Theatre Dublin at The Old Vic, 29 July 2000

I remember thinking this play and production was rather good, although I wrote nothing positive or negative about the experience in my log. We’re both partial to Frank McGuiness and the Abbey Theatre Dublin as an ensemble rarely lets us down.

Perhaps I was too exhausted to write a comment after a week of total culture-vulturing – three museums/galleries, two concerts, two plays and a heck of a lot of work in-between.

Here’s the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Nicholas de Jongh wrote highly of it in The Standard:

Dolly de Jongh Standard

Article from 18 May 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England)

Paul Taylor also wrote highly of it in The Independent:

Dolly Taylor Independent

Article from 18 May 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England)

Charles Spencer positively raved about it in The Telegraph:

Dolly Spencer Telegraph

Article from 27 May 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England)

Lyn Gardiner in The Guardian similarly heaped the praise:

Dolly Gardiner Guardian

Article from 19 May 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England)

In short – this play/production was a good ‘un. Surprising it has never been revived.

Celebration & The Room by Harold Pinter, Almeida Theatre, 22 April 2000

Very good indeed

That was my log note for this memorable evening of theatre.

Celebration was a brand new play. The Room a revival of Pinter’s first. Harold himself directing as well as writing – not always a brilliant idea but Harold could pull that trick off.

What a cast! Keith Allen, Andy de la Tour, Lindsay Duncan, Steven Pacey, Indira Varma, Lia Williams, Danny Dyer, Nina Raine, Henry Woolf, George Harris and others. Theatricalia holds chapter and verse on the cast lists etc.:

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph hated the evening:

24 Mar 2000, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard really liked it:

Celebration de Jongh StandardCelebration de Jongh Standard 23 Mar 2000, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

My friend, Michael Billington, agreed with us, giving it a rave review:

Celebration Billington GuardianCelebration Billington Guardian 23 Mar 2000, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We didn’t dine out after this one. But we did go to Michael & Elisabeth (& Xenia) for lunch the next day.