Featured Post

Bear with me: Sun Bear @ParkTheatre

Image
If The Light House is an uplifting tale of survival, Sarah Richardson’s Sun Bear gives a contrasting take on this. Sarah plays Katy. We’re introduced to Katy as she runs through a list of pet office peeves with her endlessly perky coworkers, particularly about coworkers stealing her pens. It’s a hilarious opening monologue that would have you wishing you had her as a coworker to help relieve you from the boredom of petty office politics.  But something is not quite right in the perfect petty office, where people work together well. And that is her. And despite her protesting that she is fine, the pet peeves and the outbursts are becoming more frequent. As the piece progresses, maybe the problem lies in a past relationship, where Katy had to be home by a particular hour, not stay out late with office colleagues and not be drunk enough not to answer his calls. Perhaps the perky office colleagues are trying to help, and perhaps Katy is trying to reach out for help. It has simple staging

Curious and sweet: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time


It was an exciting and enjoyable opening night of the West End transfer of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time earlier this week. Not just because of the various well-known faces and fans of the cast in the audience, but this is an intelligent and emotional play that is hard to resist. While I missed its run at The National Theatre, you are swept up in the sensitive story of a boy with behavioural problems and his impact on the family. And there is a star performance from Luke Treadaway as 15-year-old Christopher Boone, a maths genius with Asperger's Syndrome.

Treadaway inhabits the character and draws out his sensitivities and his vulnerabilities. At times it is exhausting to watch. And as he is a bit of a star (alongside his twin brother), his female fans in the audience were quite excited when he takes his shirt off. The character may be fifteen, but the demands on the role require a pretty fit actor, so be prepared for audience members enjoying the sight of a well toned physique that may distract you from the story momentarily...


Adapted from Mark Haddon's bestselling novel of the same name, the story begins with Christopher's discovery of a neighbours dead dog. It had been speared with a garden fork and as he is nearby, he is under suspicion. In order to prove to others that he did not kill the dog he decides to become a detective, recording each fact he uncovers in a book as he gets closer and closer to the truth. In doing so he turns his world upside down. It is a simple story that is intelligently handled as it explores the impact Christopher has made on his family and also how the best intentions and actions from his family and neighbours lead him on his journey.

A simple black box set and a series of projections transform the stage into Christopher's room, his neighbourhood, the workings of his mind or his physical journey from Swindon to London. Other theatrical flourishes through dance, movement and lighting transport you to the seaside of years past or Christopher's struggle coping with everyday tasks that most people take for granted.

There are quite a few nods to the audience along the way, such as the teacher reads his book, tells him they have turned his book into a play, or interrupts the drama to remind him that the audience does not  need to hear all the details about how he solves his A level maths exam during the play, but that they could find out how he solved it after the curtain call (which he does so don't run off straight away)...

If there is one problem with this piece, it is that by updating it to the present day without mentioning social media, email and the like makes some of the story seem anachronistic. Still there is so much to enjoy about this play - from the acting, the staging, a very realistic looking dead dog with a pitchfork through it - it all makes for a remarkable night at the theatre. And (mild spoiler) there is a live rat and an adorable puppy to tug at the heartstrings... The warm fuzziness runs through to August. Note that Bristol Old Vic Theatre School graduate Johnny Gibbon plays the role of Christopher on Monday and Tuesday evenings... Not sure if he has a crazy fan base yet but no doubt there is time for that to develop during the run...



Photo credit: West End transfer production photo Brinkhoff/Mogenburg

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial security
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...