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Showing posts with the label Tabard Theatre

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Bear with me: Sun Bear @ParkTheatre

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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
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The Grass Is Always Greener: Next Door's Baby @TheatreAtTabard

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Keeping up appearances is what, at first, it seems at the heart of the story of Next Door's Baby. There's a less-than-friendly rivalry between the comfortably living Hennessys and the struggling O'Briens. But as this self-described musical play unfolds,  a story about two women struggling to break free from the oppressive life of 1950s Dublin emerges. The drama is sometimes more interesting than the music, but some evocative characterisations and an enthusiastic cast make this piece work. First presented at the Orange Tree Theatre some years ago, it's currently having a revival at the Theatre At the Tabard .  The two women at the centre of the story are neighbours. Their mothers, however, are at each other's throats. Mrs O'Brien is a widow struggling to make ends meet, serving only porridge. While Mrs Hennessy lives a life of comfort, wearing her best fur coat even to mail a letter. And while the time and place put more value on keeping up appearances, just bene
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Summer loving: The Lady With A Dog @TabardTheatreUK

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The first flicker of love, marriage and commitment are the subjects of The Lady With a Dog. Chekhov’s summer romance in Yalta is updated to 1920s Britain and France by writer and director Mark Giesser. But the performances and brisk pace capture the fantasy and romance of the story. It’s currently playing at the Tabard Theatre after a successful run at the White Bear Theatre. It opens with the lady and her (imagined) Pomeranian dog being eyed up by Damian Granville (Richard Lynson). He’s a London-based banker on holiday alone in Scotland. His plan is to get her attention by feeding the dog a few biscuits before working his charm on the lady. He’s also married but it’s a thoroughly modern one where his wife allows him to holiday alone in search of other women. But the lady Anne Dennis (Beth Burrows) is also married and holidaying alone due to her husband’s work. Jusxtaposed with their aquaintance are unhappy conversations with their real partners. Soon an attraction develops between th
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