Category: plays
-
Originally posted on November 26, 2009. He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. — Proverbs 11:29 A play at the Old Vic — is there a…
-
– Jerusalem, the Olivier- and Tony-award winning play written and directed by Jez Butterworth and Ian Rickson respectively, was arguably the best play I have seen in London: wickedly funny, timely and featuring a great performance by Mark Rylance as Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron,…
-
From Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (1978): You’re lovely. I’m crazy about you. All these words I’m using, don’t you see, they’ve never been said before. Can’t you see? I’m crazy about you. It’s a whirlwind. Have you ever been to the Sahara Desert? Listen…
-
This post was written on September 12, 2009 On Friday, we went to the Duke of York’s Theatre to watch Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. It was the first time we had been to this theatre and it was an interesting experience. The theatre seemed…
-
Last May, we went to the National Theatre for a revival of London Assurance, an early Victorian comedy by Dion Boucicault (1841). The play received consistently good notices and we can see why. Although far from a perfect play, the…
-
In his latest book 50 Literature Ideas You Really Need to Know, John Sutherland says this about Hamlet: “Every age interprets the play’s enigmas differently, sometimes wildly so (is Hamlet mad, enquired Oscar Wilde; or merely the critics of Hamlet?).…
-
Last December, we went to see Alan Bennett’s new play, The Habit of Art, which is about an imaginary meeting between W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten (this is in a way similar to Adam Fould’s novel The Quickening Maze, which…
-
On Tuesday, we went to see Alan Ayckbourn‘s Season’s Greetings at the National Theatre. Jeff lined up early in the morning to take advantage of the NT’s day ticket policy.1 They hold back a number of tickets to sell on the day,…
-
This post was originally written on 5th July, 2009. – Yesterday we spent an evening in Islington. It was a beautiful day and we sat by Regent’s Canal and had a drink from the Narrow Boat Pub (Beer in a…
-
– Reading Eddie’s poem “Country” reminded me of the following from the film Proof (2005), adapted from David Auburn’s play (2001). Let X equal the quantity or quantities of X. Let X equal the cold. It is cold in…
-
by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho(This post was originally written on 14 February 2010.) . As many of you know, I am currently on a blog break. However, after seeing the National Theatre’s revival (actually, the return of the revival) of…
-
This post was originally written on 5th March, 2010. Last week, we went to see the West End transfer of Enron. The play, which was written by the promising young playwright Lucy Prebble and directed by the current it-boy of…
-
Picture source Last night we went to see Tribes (written by Nina Raine – Craig Raine‘s daughter) at the Royal Court. I was glad to finally get a chance to go to this near-legendary theatre, which is a leading spot…
-
Benedict Cumberbatch (the new Sherlock) will be featured in Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of War Horse (source). Today, the play is under the limelight again: in an Observer article, it is revealed that racism and bullying plague the production backstage. Horrible.My review…
-
This post was originally written on 17th June, 2009.– Tonight we went to watch Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, a tragi-comedy. (Also see my review of Krapp’s Last Tape.) The production stars Ian McKellen (Estragon) and Patrick Stewart (Vladimir). I…
-
The inimitable Gambon plays Krapp It is my birthday tomorrow and therefore it is perhaps fitting that we went to watch Krapp’s Last Tape (full text), a work which portrays an ageing writer’s birthday. (Also read my brief review of Waiting…
Cha 