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Ruthless People: Ruthless - Arches Lane Theatre

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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...

Kafka-ish: Kafka @Finborough


In offering proof that Kafka is everything to everyone - writer-performer Jack Klaff plays various roles, including the man himself in what is a part tour, part immersion and part legend of Franz Kafka. He is a writer who achieved fame after his life was cut short due to succumbing to tuberculosis at the age of forty. He is probably better known for his reputation and the Kafkaesque style attributed to his writing than his life. But after this piece, you’re left curious to learn more about the man and his works. And that has to be the best theatrical tribute you could give a writer, even for a writer who stipulated that his works be destroyed upon his death. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre.

Franz Kafka was born in Prague in 1883. In 1901, he was admitted to a university and began studying law. While studying, he met Max Brod, who would become his best friend and eventual literary executor. Brod would posthumously publish many of his works and writings. Kafka’s life consisted of office-based work with an insurance company interspersed with various affairs with women, prostitutes and pornography. The debates about the meaning behind his writing, his hang-ups and his health continue, but this only makes the man all things to everyone. Naturally, this makes the man ideal for some form of theatrical tribute. 


Klaff first performed this piece to commemorate the centenary of his birth. When your subject has a short but renowned life, it also allows you to play him again forty years later to celebrate the centenary of his death. The passing of time has yielded new insights into man, new technology and futures that he may have predicted. And so, it can all go into the show, making the piece's running time challenging to predict. 

Klaff starts the show by shushing the audience and then moves between various characters through free association, logic, and a dash of bloody-mindedness. It’s never dull, partly because Klaff’s energetic manner and booming voice won’t let your mind wander. 

Directed by Colin Watkeys and devised, written and performed by Jack Klaff, Kafka is at the Finborough Theatre until 6 July.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 



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