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A Man For All Seasons: Seagull True Story - Marylebone Theatre

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It's not often that you see a play that tells you not so much a story but gives you a sense of how it feels to be in a situation, how it feels to be silenced, how it feels to be marginalised, how the dead hand of consensus stifles your creativity. However, in Seagull True Story, created and directed by Alexander Molochnikov and based on his own experiences fleeing Russia and trying to establish himself in New York, we have a chance to look beyond the headlines and understand how the war in Ukraine impacted a a group of ordinary creatives in Russia. And how the gradual smothering of freedom and freedom of expression becomes impossible to resist, except for the brave or the suicidal. Against the backdrop of Chekhov's The Seagull, which explores love and other forms of disappointment, it presents a gripping and enthralling depiction of freedom of expression in the face of adversity. After playing earlier this year in New York, it plays a limited run at the Marylebone Theatre . Fro...

Theatre: Tom and just Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

How close did I get to Tom Cruise on Tuesday? Well close enough to see that he really is short. Oh and he has great hair. Getting cheap tickets at Leicester Square I had my back mostly turned on him as while it is great he mingles with the fans for hours, star worship isn't my thing… Unless it is Kathleen Turner… Turner and Bill Irwin have reprised their Broadway roles in Edward Albee's modern (now slightly revised) classic "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" It is about to close after a few months running in the West End and it was well worth seeing.

Turner may not have the looks (or the voice) she once had but she still has got something. Even with her foghorn voice she still managed to fill the stage. So much so you almost forget that there are only four actors that make up the cast in this. Irwin complimented Turner in his subtle and sly delivery.

There is so much fun to be had in watching this show about a sparring marital couple that even if it is a little overlong at three hours (and you wish they would get on with it and smash a few plates or something), you can't say that you weren't fascinated by the whole ordeal. Maybe it has been a while since I have seen the film or read the play, but this version made it very clear Martha invited the young professor and his wife around at 2am so she could fuck the young man. There is probably a central message in their about relationships but I was happy to let it serve as a warning to husbands everywhere when their wife suggests having a party at 2am…

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