This is a gripping novel by a hugely gifted writer and one that is rich on atmosphere and character study. The originality of the work is its investigative story line which focuses on the loving relationship between a twin and her disabled sister.
theatre
This was the UK premiere for the Compagnie Marie Chouinard from Quebec. She started with Soft virtuosity, still humid, on the edge – a title that means nothing in English but perhaps has more resonance in French. Happily the work was far more exciting than the title.
This is a wickedly funny satire on ‘race’ and religion which appears to deliver stereotypes but, at it core, has a deeper interrogation of British society.
Ibsen’s original text, which he never imagined being staged, is a wild poetic fantasy far removed from his naturalistic works. Irina Brook’s version is inspired by her days in New York during the 1980s when she was in love with the rock scene and Iggy Pop. It is a brave production which tries to take this impossible text on a new journey.
This is and is not Ibsen’s text. The huge moral concerns of Ibsen’s 1882 original drama, where Dr Stockmann reveals that the new city baths are poisoned and threaten the whole of his society, are still the core of the plot.
This is a hugely funny spoof on creating a play for the Edinburgh Festival. It is a mixture of boulevard comedy, clowning and absurdism.
The voice of the river in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake adapted, directed and performed by Olwen Fouéré. Nothing can prepare an audience for the shock of this show.
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).
Richard III manages to be at once resounding royal propaganda and an unsettling reminder of the fragility of the status quo given Elizabeth I’s lack of an heir: the Tudors had rescued the kingdom from the murderous House of York, but they hadn’t secured the future for long.
By Barbara Lewis • plays, theatre, year 2017 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, plays, theatre