National Theatre Live on YouTube ‘A bumpy and glorious ride’ “Deliberate cruelty is unforgivable,” croons Blanche DuBois, but boy has Tennessee Williams got buckets of the stuff to come. The National’s 2014 production of A Streetcar Named Desire swirls onto the stage in all its southern sweetness and heart-breaking brutality. “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.” All About Eve, ...
National Theatre Live on YouTube Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo grapple with one of history’s most infamous doomed love affairs (not really a spoiler) in the National’s 2018 production of Shakespeare’s classic, Antony and Cleopatra. It’s a little like Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile but with more suicide, bloodshed and war, and fewer mild-mannered English tourists and rotund Belgian detectives. The play ...
Like with chocolate, cocktails or puppies, two for the price of one is a wonderful concept. When both are free it loses none of its magic. Thus the Wilding clan settles down for two nights of the haunting 2011 production of Frankenstein, which saw Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller switch between the roles of monster and creator on alternate days ...
National Theatre Live on YouTube ‘Dancing with humour, energy and life’ William Shakespeare’s was born in April, and it is also the month in which he died, so it seems fitting that our Thursday night theatre-fest looks at a modern version of Twelfth Night. Beaming bawdy revelry into our living rooms, with just an edge of cruelty – this is the ...
National Theatre Live We are back again. This time, the dog and I are joined by my boyfriend – a real family theatre trip. Off we go to Neverland! Well, actually the darker, far bloodier, but still apparently child-friendly version, Treasure Island, based on the book by Peter Pan creator J. M. Barrie’s friend, Robert Louis Stevenson. The story has been adapted lovingly ...
National Theatre Live on YouTube ‘Risk-taking spin on a Brontë classic’ So, this is a new experience! Sat in the royal box (my sofa) with my fellow audience members (my dog) ready for National Theatre Live’s 2017 production of Jane Eyre (on YouTube). Theatre from your couch isn’t all that bad. I tuck into a bag of crisps and a large gin ...
Humour is not an alien concept in the world of dance. Pina Bausch can tickle, Matthew Bourne can produce a chuckle or two, and even Martha Graham occasionally amuses (though not always intentionally). But the silly, self-deprecating, full-body rumble laugh at a Monty Python film? Or a Vine of a cat sneezing? You’d be hard pushed to find that on ...
‘Mesmerising showcase of an extraordinary woman’s legacy’ Reeling in and out of the work and life of the mother of modern dance, Isadora Duncan, the Viviana Durante Company provides a triptych of epic proportions, titled Isadora Now. A passionate evening mirrors the bold existence of this pioneer. Starting with the past, we see The Dance of the Furies, originally choreographed by Isadora ...
Reeling from the death of their mother, Scottish musician Alannah (Natalie Allison) moves to London looking to support her troubled brother Tommy (Ryan Williams). A chance encounter with the idealistic leader of the Liberal Democrats, Christopher (Stephen Ashmore-Blakely) leads to a romance. On the other hand, his loveless marriage to his Lady Macbeth-Esq wife Helen (Stephanie Lane) begins to crumble ...
‘A touching if predictable look at small-town life’ A mixed bag can be both a blessing and a curse, filled with delights (lemon sherberts, for example) and disappointments (liquorice allsorts). James McDermott’s new play, Time and Tide, running at the Park Theatre, is a selection box. The show follows a small, struggling Norfolk community and is set completely in May’s cafe ...