Noel Coward wrote of his musical Ace of Clubs that “the idea is to do it as simply as humanly possible”. For the first professional London revival since the original 1950 production, Southwark’s Union Theatre draws on its decade of experience of producing loveable, low-budget musicals and takes Coward at his word.
theatre
Thomas Ovans is impressed by Roger Owen’s absorbing and lucid introduction to the work of the Welsh dramatist Gwenlyn Parry
The Donmar Warehouse stages Josie Rourke’s own take on Coriolanus, the Roman general who could not stoop to flatter the public and who pays the highest price for his `arrogance’.
How do we acknowledge the mess that Britain made in 1947 when the Indian subcontinent was carved into two countries? This is the central question underlying Howard Brenton’s caustic new play. Drawing The Line explores the moment when the line between India and Pakistan was made and British rule in India ended.
In 1931, in Alabama, a terrible miscarriage of justice took place. Nine young African-Americans were arrested on a trumped up charge for rape on two young white women. All nine were sentenced to death.
Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons has a sizeable reputation and presumably had a budget to compare for his docu-drama Trashed, on release across the globe to expose how much our society wastes and the damage that results.
The Passion of Pierre Clémenti: European cinema’s christ-devil child. by Helen Donlon. “I hung out in St. Germain. Picking up cigarettes from the street. One day, a guy came up to me and said, ‘Come with me, we need you.’
Lies, lies, lies! They make your head spin – but they make the world go round too… The King’s Head Theatre presents the World Premiere of a new comedy The Truth-Teller by David Crook Director Svetlana Dimcovic Designer Christian Taylor
The Passenger English National Opera (until 25 October) Yes it is shocking to set an opera in Auschwitz. It shouldn’t work. But it does. David Pountney’s startling production of Mieczylaw Weinberg’s 1968 The Passenger breaks new ground.
Barbara Lewis reports on the Sterts Art Centre
Katie Campbell reviews some recent productions on the London stage …
Romeo Castellucci at Brussels’ La Monnaie (De Munt in Dutch) opera house takes a real-life sufferer of locked-in syndrome and turns her into the protagonist of Ophee et Eurydice (adapted by Hector Berlioz from Gluck).
By Barbara Lewis • music, opera, theatre, Year 2014 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, opera, theatre