★★★★★ David Mamet’s 1992 play seems doomed to be perennially relevant. In Lucy Bailey’s clear and pulsating production at the Ustinov it’s clear to see why. Whatever Mr Mamet’s intention at the time of writing the play raises profound questions which do not rely on the, did he/didn’t he? puzzle of the real life drama.
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★★★★★ In place of a traditional fairy-tale style character Briggs’ Santa is a regular proletarian working man who enjoys his tea, dotes on his pets and needs the loo in the morning. This, of course, provides great material for a theatrical version . . .
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★★★★☆ For a while it looked as though this show would have a real ‘live’ audience at the Redgrave, but sadly it was not to be. That is a great shame, for this production of Far From The Madding Crowd is gorgeous to look at and choc-full of excellent performances.
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★★★★☆ Throughout the current crisis, the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School has demonstrated an admirable determination to fulfil the old dictum that the show must go on. Their latest brave riposte to the closure of theatres is this production of Lucy Kirkwood’s Hedda, her updated version of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, streamed live from the Bristol Old Vic.
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In this, my first experience of live theatre since March I could not help thinking of the film Back to the Future. Is this really the way that theatre is going to be staged in the future? Will we be forever either looking longingly over our shoulder at the way things used to be . . .
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★★★★☆ The play could easily be titled Deceit and the multiple betrayals, which pop out like nested Russian dolls ultimately leave little in the way of scar tissue beyond a kind of irritated bafflement that certain things went on or, more irritatingly, were known about by the ‘injured parties’ who kept schtum. It shows a society which has thrown away the moral compass, at least as far as sexual manners is concerned, in light of a new moral landscape where ‘betrayal’ seems to be the norm
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