Month: January 2012
Interview: Adrian Jackson
Cardboard Citizens’ artistic director Adrian Jackson tells Tom Wicker what inspired his new play, A FEW MAN FRIDAYS. In the late 1960s, the inhabitants of the British-owned Chagos Islands were evicted to make way for a US military base. This was the result of a secret deal that saw the … Continue Reading Interview: Adrian Jackson
Interview: Ed Dick
Director Ed Dick talks to Tom Wicker about reviving playwright and artist Philip Ridley’s brilliant and brutal debut play, The Pitchfork Disney, at the Arcola Theatre. When The Pitchfork Disney was first performed at the Bush Theatre in 1991 it had some audience members fleeing with terror. Ridley’s distinctive, darkly … Continue Reading Interview: Ed Dick
Shallow Slumber
Ex-social worker Moira radiates defeat. Limp-shouldered, her grey dressing gown hangs loosely from her as she clutches a mug of tea and looks with deadened eyes at Dawn, the young woman recently released from prison who is asking tearfully and increasingly angrily why she “won’t fucking help” her. “Because you … Continue Reading Shallow Slumber
Stacy
The title of Jack Thorne’s deceptively simple one-man play of 2007 – the most recent revival of which has transferred to London following a critically acclaimed run at last year’s Edinburgh Festival – is a neat bit of misdirection. We never meet the eponymous Stacy; we only encounter her through … Continue Reading Stacy
Interview: Alfie Enoch
Tom Wicker talks to former Harry Potter star Alfie Enoch ahead of his biggest adventure yet: making his professional stage debut in London. Enoch, who portrayed Dean Thomas in the blockbuster film series, is starring in the UK premiere of Happy New, a dark comedy by award-winning Sydney playwright Brendan … Continue Reading Interview: Alfie Enoch
The Art of Concealment
Giles Cole’s new play focuses on the private life of British writer Terence Rattigan, who is very much in vogue at the moment – an irony that would not have been lost on the mid-twentieth century playwright. Last year saw the release of a Rachel Weisz-starring film adaptation of The Deep … Continue Reading The Art of Concealment
Huis Clos
In today’s world of reality TV and instant celebrity, Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1943 vision of a place of damnation in which one of the greatest torments is that there are no mirrors feels chillingly prescient. “Hell is other people” when their faces, distorted by lust, fear or self-deception, are the only … Continue Reading Huis Clos
Guys and Dolls
The Fringe’s recent winning streak of musical adaptations continues into 2012 with this raucously fun version of the enduring 1950 Broadway hit by Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Director Racky Plews proves that less is more, eschewing the razzmatazz of other revivals to make a virtue of the … Continue Reading Guys and Dolls