Confession: I was lucky enough to have seen the original American touring production of ‘Night, Mother in the mid-80s shortly after it won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize, with Kathy Bates’ Broadway understudy, Phyllis Somerville, in the lead as Jessie Cates. Possibly an inappropriate choice for someone as young as I was at the time (not…
The bereaved homecoming is a tried-and-tested dramatic device, be it Chekhov’s Three Sisters (1901); Langford Wilson’s Burn This (1987) or Tracy Letts’ August: Osage Country (2007). Amongst heightened emotions, familial tensions and uncovered secrets, tragedy and farce have a natural opportunity to reveal themselves and intensify in the claustrophobic confines of gathering for funeral rites…
‘When will this farce be over?’ cries Sylvia (Ellie Nunn) – who is 58th in line to the throne and whose arranged betrothal to another aristocrat is at the heart of Quentin Beroud and Jack Gamble’s adaptation of Pierre de Marivaux’s 18th-century comedy. After an hour of a talky and relatively timid nibble at the…
Confession: I have an aversion to (linear) streamed theatre because it reminds me too much of what I’m not experiencing as live performance. Emma Rice’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk may have just cured me, however. This two-hander love story of Marc and Bella Chagall set against the constant tumult of the first half of…
Lambco Productions remain innovative and stoic as they constantly adapt to new social distancing regulations so that Londoners can enjoy musical theatre entertainment during the Great Pestilence of 2020. Their third musical outing at the Eagle Pub’s Garden Theatre (cleverly dry and warm and a great evening out no matter what!) is a showcase for…
Fernando Sakanassi’s production of David Gaitán’s 2009 play, that originally premiered in Mexico in Spanish, is described as a ‘work-in-progress’, but its modern telling of Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel feels tight, pacey and well-considered for its studio space and fringe limited run as part of the Actors’ Centre’s Latin American Season. With an ensemble cast of…
