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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: The Glass Menagerie



Tuesday evening I caught the excellent production of The Glass Menagerie starring Jessica Lange. I thought it was a superbly staged, acted and directed show. For over two hours I was kept alert (no falling asleep in the stalls tonight). Lange was great to see on stage. A simple stare seemed to convey so much. And when in the second act she puts on her best outfit for a gentleman caller you can't help but feel horrified and pity for her as well.

The rest of the cast were just as good. There was Ed Stoppard as Tom - the son who always seems to be going to the movies and coming home late (one time with a red handkerchief in his back pocket... Say no more). And Amanda Hale as the Laura the crippled daughter too nervous to face life and its disappointments... It may not be Tennessee William's best play (some of the flashbacks and the narration is jarring and unnecessary) but there is so much in this story to ponder over (at interval and at the bar after, on the tube home) that it is easy to overlook these minor flaws.

It was a pity this great production isn't playing to packed houses. Across the road, some guy who has done a few Harry Potter films is starring in a play about the psychology behind poking the eyes out of horses. He appears completely naked and it is playing to packed houses. I gather the only impressive thing about the play is the six-story billboard outside the theatre... Although the publicity shots look a bit smashing... Go figure...

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