Hi Everyone,
It's pretty obvious by now that I have been resting from writing SOYP for a couple of months.
This year I started a new job that is incredibly demanding and finding time to invest in my old blog has fallen by the way.
Thank you to all those people who send me invitations to review shows and I'm sorry that I often don't reply and just can't get to your show. Sometimes I get to the show and then don't get time to review it and that comes fraught with guilt.
So in a quick recompense, here are some one line reviews of shows I have seen recently:
Belvoir's 'Mother Courage and Her Children': A 'nice' version of Brecht's gutsy play- sanitised a bit too much, missing the Kurt Weill scruffiness but gets the job done.
Belvoir's 'The Dog and The Cat'- thoroughly enjoyable and even Brendon Cowell's slight penchant for misogynist writing was tempered.
Sport for Jove's 'Of Mice and Men'- seriously one of the best productions I've seen this year and director Iain Sinclair found a beautiful juxtaposition of rustic dreams and brutal reality with an outstanding cast and design.
Griffin's 'The Bleeding Tree'- So many things to enjoy in this stylistic expression of violence and community and although I think it's still got a draft to go to clarify the message of our cultural unwillingness to get involved in the wrongs around us, it creates interesting narratives and relationships in a very contemporary and sometimes powerful way.
Belvoir's 'La Traviata'- sometimes amusing, sometimes confusing and definitely ran out of steam in exploring how art comes at a price.
STC's 'The Present'- Mostly enjoyable and engaging and highlighted the talents of the actors in roles we've all seen them do before with some characters' journeys not quite fleshed out in justifying their final act but not to detract from what was a generally good play.
Belvoir's 'Seventeen'- Another fun experience but how I wish the writer made more of the fact that these 70 year old actors are playing contemporary 17 year olds and what the significance of that is now at 70.
I might crank out the odd review now and then but mostly 2015 will be a quiet one until the rhythm of life settles.
Until then, keep discussing, keep questioning and keep going to the theatre.
I'll definitely look at the 2016 seasons and give you my thoughts in due course.
It's pretty obvious by now that I have been resting from writing SOYP for a couple of months.
This year I started a new job that is incredibly demanding and finding time to invest in my old blog has fallen by the way.
Thank you to all those people who send me invitations to review shows and I'm sorry that I often don't reply and just can't get to your show. Sometimes I get to the show and then don't get time to review it and that comes fraught with guilt.
So in a quick recompense, here are some one line reviews of shows I have seen recently:
Belvoir's 'Mother Courage and Her Children': A 'nice' version of Brecht's gutsy play- sanitised a bit too much, missing the Kurt Weill scruffiness but gets the job done.
Belvoir's 'The Dog and The Cat'- thoroughly enjoyable and even Brendon Cowell's slight penchant for misogynist writing was tempered.
Sport for Jove's 'Of Mice and Men'- seriously one of the best productions I've seen this year and director Iain Sinclair found a beautiful juxtaposition of rustic dreams and brutal reality with an outstanding cast and design.
Griffin's 'The Bleeding Tree'- So many things to enjoy in this stylistic expression of violence and community and although I think it's still got a draft to go to clarify the message of our cultural unwillingness to get involved in the wrongs around us, it creates interesting narratives and relationships in a very contemporary and sometimes powerful way.
Belvoir's 'La Traviata'- sometimes amusing, sometimes confusing and definitely ran out of steam in exploring how art comes at a price.
STC's 'The Present'- Mostly enjoyable and engaging and highlighted the talents of the actors in roles we've all seen them do before with some characters' journeys not quite fleshed out in justifying their final act but not to detract from what was a generally good play.
Belvoir's 'Seventeen'- Another fun experience but how I wish the writer made more of the fact that these 70 year old actors are playing contemporary 17 year olds and what the significance of that is now at 70.
I might crank out the odd review now and then but mostly 2015 will be a quiet one until the rhythm of life settles.
Until then, keep discussing, keep questioning and keep going to the theatre.
I'll definitely look at the 2016 seasons and give you my thoughts in due course.
Largely enjoyable and engaging and also highlighted the talents with the actors in roles we now have all seen them carry out before with some characters' journeys nearly fleshed out in justifying their final act however, not to detract from the thing that was a generally good enjoy.
ReplyDeleteFor what its worth.
ReplyDeleteI once very much enjoyed this blog.
A Batshit Bingo card helped a number of ushers get through certain shows.
I hope you write again..