Featured Post

Ruthless People: Ruthless - Arches Lane Theatre

Image
What is it about the Madoff’s that writers can’t resist writing about? Sure, it may have been the largest Ponzi scheme to collapse (so far), but there isn’t much more to explore. Or is there? In Ruthless by writer Roger Steinmann, Ruth Madoff is imagined as a wronged, gun-toting woman anchored in the past while trying to move on with her life. It’s not entirely successful but a fascinating look at life and wig choices, It’s currently playing at the theatre now known as the Arches Lane Theatre in Battersea. Ruth Madoff, played by Emily Swain, is here wearing a wig. I thought it was an odd look until I reviewed how closely it matched the photo of her interview in  The New York Times .  Typically, it’s the sort of wig you might see worn by Ladies on a night out in central London, not someone who once had over $80m in assets. With Bernie in Jail and both her sons now dead - one by suicide and one due to cancer, she is setting a table for the men who have left her. And ordering p...

Blowing off steam: One of Those @TristanBates


It all happens on the mid-morning train to Cornwall in One of Those, in this funny and fresh piece of new writing by Tom Ward-Thomas.

A train ride to Cornwall is full of connections, and not just of the rail kind.

The play's title comes from the false assumptions that people make at first meeting and how this influences how they behave.




There is a man on his way to Penzance to see his daughter. A young woman is on her way to meet her older partner. And a couple heading off for a dirty weekend only to discover the man's wife is also on the train.

The writing feels so naturalistic that the comedy that follows seems perfectly normal. The intricate details of domestic life, past and future life choices are laid bare in this brisk 75 minute piece directed by Amy Ewbank.

The performances from the cast are believable and funny. Amy Newton as the curious yet easily offended Laura is playful in her sparring with James (played by Ward-Thomas). Louise Bangay as the wife pieces together everything in just a few glances. Emma Kelly as the mistress is hilarious, particularly as the two women bond over art and sculpture. Martin Ball as the philandering husband is just as funny attempting to explain why his Kent business trip was moved to Cornwall.


It is a simple set, with a few tatty looking train seats and some luggage racks. There are frequent announcements from the conductor or man in the buffet car (complete with noisy feedback). It all evokes the dreariness of railway travel in this country.

But what you will remember most is how sharp and insightful this piece of new writing actually is.
⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

One of Those plays at the Tristan Bates Theatre until 13 February. A trip worth taking. First impressions with @johnnyfoxlondon follow.



And going to see this piece turned out to be a comedy-drama in itself. Moments before the play was to start, I felt overcome by a warm feeling down my back that started spreading. I wondered if I was having a hot flush. Only when I sensed commotion behind me, and that the hot thing on my back was also wet... Did I realise the man behind me had spilled his coffee over me. While it was a relief I was not having a medical emergency, visitors to the Tristam Bates Theatre should be wary of its cramped confines. And that anything can happen at the theatre...

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 ...
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...