Month: March 2012
A Clockwork Orange
Why bother adapting Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange after Kubrick? The author wasn’t happy with the film but as Stephen King’s dismal TV version of his own novel The Shining demonstrates, faithful doesn’t equal definitive. Add to the mix the tabloid scaremongering about copycat killings that saw Kubrick ban his film from being shown … Continue Reading A Clockwork Orange
Interview: Clever as Clever
Following the success of their debut production, Public Interest, exciting young theatre company Clever as Clever returns to the New Diorama Theatre with Four Days of Grace. This one-actor show tells the story of Grace, a young mother trying to put the pieces of her life in place. Restricted to … Continue Reading Interview: Clever as Clever
How’s the World Treating You?
Frank More just wants to teach history. But from losing his trousers in an army transit camp in 1946 to losing his marbles as a failed washing machine salesman in 1966, will he ever succeed? Roger Milner’s surreal three-act comedy about post-war British snobbery and double standards – unseen in … Continue Reading How’s the World Treating You?
Interview: Philip Ridley
“It’s a strange kind of dream time.” Talented playwright, artist, screenwriter and children’s novelist Philip Ridley is talking to me about how it feels finally to be kicking his new play Shivered out of the front door and into the world. But he could also be describing the past few years of his … Continue Reading Interview: Philip Ridley
Going Dark
Sound&Fury’s innovative new production plunges us into darkness to connect the vastness of the night sky with our lives, loves and ways of seeing the world. Sometimes the lines are a little too obviously drawn; but ultimately this cosmic exploration of human loss and the power (and necessity) of imagination … Continue Reading Going Dark
Off West End Theatre Awards 2012
On Sunday 5 February, OffWestEnd.com (founded by Sofie Mason) held its second Off West End “Offies” Awards, celebrating the best of fringe and independent theatre of the past year. The event was hosted by Theatre Royal Stratford East and presented by actress Louise Jamieson. Stars of stage including Alison Steadman, Don Warrington … Continue Reading Off West End Theatre Awards 2012
The Summer House
Three men – two doctors and one stranger – fret over their career paths and ponder dormer windows, while sniping at each other like children and trying to achieve the impossible task of seeming macho by getting pissed in a hot tub. This collective effort from Will Adamsdale, Neil Haigh, … Continue Reading The Summer House
The Lady from the Sea
There are times during this revival of Ibsen’s take on the Little Mermaid myth – premiering a new translation by director Stephen Unwin – you wish that the “lady from the sea” would just jump in the ocean and not come back. While Unwin is good at teasing out the … Continue Reading The Lady from the Sea