30 October 2010

Design For Living by Noël Coward

Otto - Tom Burke
Grace Torrence - Nancy Crane
Matthew - Edward Dede
Gilda - Lisa Dillon
Photographer - Matthew Gammie
Mr Birkbeck/Henry Carver - John Hollingworth
Miss Hodge - Maggie McCarthy
Leo - Andrew Scott
Helen Carver - Maya Wasowicz
Ernest Friedman - Angus Wright


Director - Anthony Page
Designer - Lez Brotherston

Seen mid-run at the Old Vic.


Bloomin' hilarious & I got in for free!

Once you get past the silly hoity toity stuff, it's so contemporary. The set was incredible and when the drapes revealed the New York skyline the audience gave a round of applause....in a matinee!

In fact, the audience were really good and the cast were sexy.

25 October 2010

Tribes by Nina Raine


Billy - Jacob Casselden
Beth - Kika Markham
Sylvia - Michelle Terry
Christopher - Stanley Townsend
Daniel - Harry Treadaway
Ruth -Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Directed By Roger Michell
Designed by Mark Thomson (no doubt while he wasn't busy carving up the BBC)


Seen towards the end of it's premiere run at the Royal Court in a wonderful seat.

This was a hundred different kinds of awesome but for a more articulate appraisal I see nothing more fruitful than pointing in this direction. I don't wish to appear lazy but this says a lot of what I would say and more.
Unless I missed it, they fail to mention that Harry Treadaway seemed to be wearing the same underpants he sported in Over There. They are no more sexy now than they were then.

19 October 2010

Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett

Krapp - Michael Gambon
Directed by Michael Colgan

A production from The Gate Theatre seen during a short run at The Duchess. Seat was a freebie in row K. As I was entering, I saw Stephen Dillane leaving from the earlier performance.


You could hear a pin drop in the auditorium. You could also hear the man next to me breathing heavily, the woman on the other side of me sobbing, a man in the centre stalls snoring, someone back-stage clanging doors and the man who had to take a break for a pee was in danger of upstaging Mr Gambon.

That would, of course have been impossible. He was wonderful. The script isn't as I had remembered it but who knows, my previous experience may have played fast and loose with it. There were more 'spools' as I recall.

It's not for everyone but if there is no phonebook available for Mr Gambon to read, a Beckett monologue is a fair substitute.