Snobs and high brows may dismiss Ayckbourn as a mere lightweight, light entertainer of suburbia an ache bore, you might say, but for me, he is England’s Chekhov as well as being our most prolific - he’s written 89 plays and still going - and most undervalued and scandalously under estimated contemporary dramatists. But in a week that has seen the death of Martin Amis, another victim of England’s penchant for cutting down tall poppies, that shouldn’t surprise us. But as Amis so wittily put … [Read more...]
About John OBrien
August in England at the Bush Theatre
August in England is Lenny Henry’s playwriting debut. Henry has not just written it but performs it as well. It's a Tour de Force tragi comedy that exposes the grotesque injustices that have come to be called The Windrush Scandal. Using all of his extraordinary talent Henry has given the defining performance of his stellar career and in August Henderson has created a character who epitomises the hopes, dreams and betrayal of the post war generation of Caribbean migrants. It's a searingly … [Read more...]
Trumpets and Raspberries by Dario Fo | Review
To the Curtain Up pub in Comeragh Road to see Trumpets & Raspberries at the Barons Court Theatre. The Curtain is Up but the theatre is most definitely down in the cellar. As I descended the steep steps I felt a Dantesque sense of going down to the underworld. The theatre is in the basement adjacent to the men's toilets! There is a certain aroma shall we say which hangs in the air. My Italian reference is indeed appropriate for the husband and wife team of Dario Fo and Franca Rame were … [Read more...]
Quality Street at Richmond Theatre
Nostalgia is alive and well. I can think of at least three productions doing the rounds which mine the inexhaustible resources of our great national obsession. Pride and Prejudice (sort of) takes us back to the Jane Austen era of the Regency. Home, I’m Darling homes in on the nostalgia mania that is the 1950s. And now Quality Street once again returns to the Regency (1810-1820 - so called because the Prince of Wales stepped in for his father George III who had gone mad) and the world of Beau … [Read more...]
Review of Home, I’m Darling at Richmond Theatre
Over at The Duke of York’s Theatre Sheridan Smith is bringing Shirley Valentine’s escape from domestic drudgery to life for a whole new generation whilst at Richmond in South West London Jessica Ransom does the exact opposite and revels in all things domestic. As these two contrasting takes on women’s lives indicate there is no one 'answer' to the 'woman' question. In fact, as both plays demonstrate there are more questions than answers. For the question of what it means to be a woman is … [Read more...]