In the 1987 cult film, Withnail and I, unemployed actor Withnail (Richard E Grant) decries: Bastard asked me to understudy Konstantin in The Seagull. I'm not going to understudy anybody. Especially that pimp. I loathe those Russian plays. Always full of women staring out of windows, whining about ducks going to Moscow. I, too, hate the languorous morbidity of Anton Chekhov's characters and his plays. But I have the utmost respect for Brian Friel, a dramatist whose oeuvre situates language as … [Read more...]
All Quiet on the Western Front by Incognito Theatre Company
'The greatest moral evil is, of course, war' (Voltaire, 1694 - 1778). The 21st Century is proving to be a global playing field of endless military conflict. Beginning with the US/UK-led invasions of Afghanistan in 2001; Iraq in 2003; and the same nations intervening in Libya, 2011; and at different times in Syria, it seems death and destruction only serve to whet the appetite of these misguided transgressors. Given it is the remit of democratic nations to start and maintain military … [Read more...]
Raskolnikova presented by Teatro Nómada at The Actors Centre | Review
The Actors Centre is presenting a Latin American Season comprised of 21 plays authored by Latin American playwrights. A particular challenging piece is Mexican playwright David Gaitán's Raskolnikova which attempts to re-work the themes present in Dostoyevsky's classic novel Crime and Punishment. It is currently a work in progress with an international cast of five talented actors grappling with the raw stages of combining physical theatre and verbose exchanges to energise the repeated … [Read more...]
Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill | Review
Eugene O'Neill's epic play, Long Day's Journey Into Night, is considered one of the all-time great classics of the 20th Century. Echoing Greek tragedy, it is a vicious, unrelenting family drama devoid of grace or forgiveness, in which each of its members - through what they perceive to be an insurmountable circumstance - wallows in self-pity, self-hatred and a need to destroy one another. It is also a vivid depiction of O'Neill's own experience growing up inside a family headed by a thespian … [Read more...]
This Play Will Solve Climate Change at John Lyons Theatre at City Lit
We are in a state of crisis emergency. Global warming is stealing our future. World leaders should be at the forefront delivering this message, but it's not the politicians who've created a universal platform to ward off this oncoming disaster but a teenage political activist named Greta Thunberg. However, despite Greta's efforts to bring the richest and most offending nations on board, today's newspapers report the United Nations Climate Summit in Madrid has put back talks on global carbon … [Read more...]