Adaptations of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol began around 30 years after his death and proliferated during the 1930s and 40s with a wealth of radio productions, notably one featuring Orson Welles and sponsored by Campbell’s Soup.
plays
Ex Machina/Robert Lepage: Needles and Opium Barbican Theatre, 7 – 16 July 2016
Thomas Ovans enjoys an evening at the theatre which recalls a golden age of cinema.
A trawl through an old school year book and the realisation of how many contemporaries had ended their own lives underlined for writer Pearse Elliott the truth that suicide is so prevalent it has acquired the force of the inevitable.
Margaret Hollingsworth finds herself needing to think deeply about an intentionally chaotic modern mystery play devised by the Birmingham based company Stan’s Cafe
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.
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
Either ultra-topical or else historic with contemporary resonance are the smart choices of subject matter for any playwright seeking to thrill an audience. The building of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest structure, falls somewhere in between, given that it opened in 2010 and the maltreatment and suicides of its construction workers are old news.
By Barbara Lewis • plays, theatre, year 2017 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, plays, theatre