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You can’t stop the boats: Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea @ParkTheatre

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Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea by Italian playwright Emanuele Aldrovandi and translated by Marco Young, has made a topical return to London at the Park Theatre after playing earlier this summer at the Seven Dials Playhouse. In a week when leaders and leaders in waiting were talking about illegal immigration, it seemed like a topical choice . It also has one hell of an evocative title. The piece opens with Adriano Celantano’s Prisencolinensinainciusol , which sets the scene for what we are about to see. After all, a song about communication barriers seems perfect for a play about people trafficking and illegal immigration. One side doesn’t understand why they happen, and the other still comes regardless of the latest government announcement / slogan .  However, the twist here is that the crossing is undertaken the other way. People are fleeing Europe instead of escaping war or poverty in Africa or the Middle East. It’s set sometime in the not-too-distant future. There is a crisis causing p

Last Look: An Ideal Husband


Normally I catch a show just as it has opened (or started previews), but for a change this week I caught An Ideal Husband, which ends its run at the Vaudeville Theatre on Saturday.

It is a great production, and I gained a new appreciation for Wilde and his work watching the performers in this production. It highlighted to me (at least) that everything hinges on the performances in making this show amusing or ordinary. The laughs are totally dependent on the actors' delivery, timing and emphasis. For the most part they got it right.

Watching this production is like eating a tub of good vanilla ice cream. Awfully satisfying and enjoyable. It also helps having a drink at the circle bar in the Vaudeville Theatre amongst all the newly restored Victorian splendour. You will feel somewhat civilised and reminded that this is what going to see a play in the West End should be all about. A jolly good sense of occasion.

Next up at the Vaudeville is Neil LaBute's new play, In a Forest Dark and Deep from 3 March.

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