A piece of theatre should stand alone and be judged on its own merits. One would like to do this with La Strada but the spectre of the original film haunts this production not least because it is invoked by a). the title - which should be, in English (like the translated dialogue), The Road and because b). the creative team display an almost sycophantic channelling of the original in the programme and publicity. So two questions arise: 1). Why do it? And 2). Does it work? Federico Fellini was … [Read more...]
Review of Occupational Hazards at Hampstead Theatre
Man doesn’t really sort out two Iraqi provinces in the aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein but gives it a really good go. This is a messy, violent, hopeless, frustrating but ultimately uplifting true story of how to negotiate the un-negotiable, how to compromise with those for whom compromise is absent from their DNA. That it ends in (relative) failure should not, this play tells us, be seen as a failure. Rory Stewart, before becoming an MP and Minister of the Crown, walked across … [Read more...]
Review of Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. at Trafalgar Studios
This show is a real delight. If you feel in need of some relief from the - admittedly riveting - election that currently has the nation gripped then you could do a lot worse than making the trip to Trafalgar Studios to be taken out of yourself and have a good laugh. You will meet JD, played with affectionate panache by Keith Stevenson. JD lives out there, I mean really out there, on Fried Meat Ridge, which you get to via hicksville, turning left at hillbilly avenue, skirting around backwater … [Read more...]
Heaven On Earth The Live Arena Spectacular
Coming to an arena near you (one of 14 from Portsmouth to Aberdeen) a musical spectacular with original script by God based on his best seller the Book of Genesis. It’s a story of creation, of Original Sin, of waterfalls, of real flowers, of serpents, of apples and, of course, naked ambition. As well as song and dance and special effects on a biblical scale there’s going to be flying. Real flying. Flying on stage with no strings attached - we are promised. "It’s magic", says director Racky … [Read more...]
Review of Late Company at Finborough Theatre
Jordan Tannahill, the writer of Late Company, does a really clever thing: he carefully and reverently constructs a character for us with all the trimmings - the peccadilloes, the emotions, the highs, the lows - and the secrets - but it’s a character we never see. Yes, Joel Shaun-Hastings, teenage son of Politician Michael and artist Debora, is absent from a family dinner with guests because he is deceased: death by suicide, a victim of vicious social media victimisation by school mates and … [Read more...]