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Post by zuberin0 on Apr 13, 2024 10:23:18 GMT
I generally force myself to stay until the end of pretty much everything I see, although I make an exception maybe once a year. I remember I left The Duchess of Malfi at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the interval about 10 years ago (mainly because, unsurprisingly, I was very uncomfortable, and it reminded me why I hate that particular theatre, and why I generally avoid everything at The Globe.) Recently, I went to see When Winston Went to War with the Wireless at the Donmar, and I really wasn't enjoying it at all. I spent the whole interval toying with the idea of leaving... but, in the end, I went back in to the theatre and, for the next hour, regretted that I hadn't gone home early. I did this last night for the current Malfi at the Wanamaker. Lousy sightlines from upstairs, poor projection by a couple of actors, different cast members talking at completely different paces, tiresome musical ensemble right next to my ears - all in all, it didn't make for a great show.
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Post by zuberin0 on Apr 5, 2024 11:09:16 GMT
We are spoilt of good Brian Friels here in London! There was the NT's Translations and Lughnasa, both absolutely gripping, and now here is Faith Healer back after 8 years or so. I loved this production, and Justine Mitchell and Nick Holder really shone. Rachel O'Riordan continues to do excellent work at the Hamm.
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 27, 2024 17:31:32 GMT
The best Lear I have seen. Better than Jacobi, better than Beale, better than Warner.
(I did miss Glenda Jackson.)
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 22, 2024 22:58:05 GMT
Notes I tapped out on the tube home. What a show this is. ***
Lynette Linton proves, yet again, that she is the best AD in the business. The body of work she's put together at the Bush over the last few years has no parallel in London, so bold, so brilliant and beautiful are the stories we get to see on that tiny stage on an almost weekly basis! Shifters is a love story to buckle your knees, tricksy in its conception, nigh on perfect in its execution, a panoramic exploration of so many facets of the black experience - education and ambition, staying here vs going back, yoruba vs lingala, parents and children, love and loss, food and music, even black skin and black hair - all compressed into 100 tight minutes and impeccably acted by two young phenoms in Cole and Agyepong.
Black drama is going through a very special era right now - you look around at the range of exceptional plays that are showing in town even THIS WEEK - For Black Boys, Lonely Londoners, Red Pitch, Shifters - and you wonder if it can possibly get any better than this! Lynette and the Bush have led this charge from the front, harnessing all that thrilling energy, lighting the fuse behind the wild explosion of creative talent that we see right now. Long may it last.
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 21, 2024 16:24:26 GMT
Coming in late. First show ever was Blackbird by David Harrower, at the old Albery. Early 2006, and a friend who was visiting from the north asked me, so what's to do in town? I was new myself, having moved to London just three months before. So took a punt - and it turned out to be quite an experience. Roger Allam / Jodhi May / grooming / pedophilia. Billington wrote "Not since Festen has the West End offered such a searing theatrical experience." There was some brief nudity, I think, and even a full-sized car driving on to the stage!
Some two thousand shows later, and I still go around three times a week.
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 20, 2024 9:00:38 GMT
Saw Ivano Turco at the Peacock last night, rocking the role of Jamie in the touring production of ETAJ. Whole show was TIGHT!
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 20, 2024 6:58:55 GMT
Any transfer rumours about The Witches that ran at the NT? That show could run as long as Matilda, it was so special.
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 10, 2024 14:34:05 GMT
Samuel Takes a Break - Yard Jab - Finborough Till the Stars Come Down - NT Cable Street - SwkPlay
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 10, 2024 14:30:52 GMT
Thought it was okay. Kinda old-fashioned in its execution. Passed the time well enough. Not sure it'll stick though.
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 10, 2024 14:24:36 GMT
This is the same venue that gave us Jerusalem and That Face not too long ago, for crying out loud. What a privilege it was to be there during the Ian Rickson/Dominic Cooke years.
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 10, 2024 14:13:44 GMT
And perhaps most memorable of all, George Soros at the old Bush Theatre to see a play called 2nd May 1997. It was about the night of the Tony Blair sweep, directly linking the Tories' fall to Soros' bet on the pound a few years earlier.
In the cast was a young Phoebe W-B, who even stripped on stage for a brief scene.
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 10, 2024 14:11:35 GMT
On Wednesday’s first preview of ‘MJ’; Ed Westwick Michaela Coel Kate Moss, a few years ago. Couldnt recognize her for a few minutes. Looks VERY different IRL without makeup. Boris Johnson at the Almeida to see Saoirse Ronan. Ben Kingsley and Derek Jacobi at the Donmar in different shows. Hiddleston and Zawe Ashton, at the Tennant Macbeth also at the Donmar.
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Post by zuberin0 on Mar 4, 2024 14:38:56 GMT
This one sank without a trace? It had such good reviews too. Alas, it's been 5 years already..
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Post by zuberin0 on Dec 23, 2017 21:49:21 GMT
Oslo, and How to Win Against History. Liked JT Rogers when he did his thing at the Tricycle and then the National. Less sure about HTWAH - reviews seem to span the range.
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Post by zuberin0 on Dec 23, 2017 13:11:54 GMT
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Post by zuberin0 on Dec 23, 2017 12:53:53 GMT
I wont get the chance now I don't think to go back, but I wish I had as, having seen it way back in previews, the further away I get from it, the more disappointed I am by it. I can pretty much only remember the set, Tracie and Janie. That's it. The musical itself is blah at best, and the best part of this specific production for me was the design and the two performances mentioned. I can't really remember Imelda that much anymore bar Losing My Mind, and I couldn't even tell you what the two male leads looked like, let alone did in the show. I feel bad saying that because this was set up to be THE show of the year. But whilst I enjoyed it at the time, its just faded from me now, which shouldn't happen so soon to be truly remarkable. Very true. Went last week, fully prepared for a religious experience akin to Merrily We Roll Along. Came away mildly deflated. Also, they REALLY needed to figure out where to put in an interval. That was a brutal decision to run for 135 mins straight.
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Post by zuberin0 on Dec 23, 2017 12:38:52 GMT
Went last night, house was half empty. Half-baked play, waste of all that talent on stage. Nick's programming will have to be much sharper than this if he wants to fill 900 seats on a nightly basis.
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