A Small Mind At The Theatre

While Martin McDonagh is now making quite a name for himself as a screenwriter, director and producer of hit films like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri , he started off a writer for the stage, like this play The Beauty Queen of Leenane , the first of a trilogy set in County Galway. And while McDonagh himself has said he has "respect for the whole history of films and a slight disrespect for theatre", it doesn't stop him writing pretty impressive plays like this one. Having previously seen McDonagh's The Pillowman at The Playhouse, and an excellent version of Hangmen via NT Live, I was well aware of McDonagh's dark humour. Beauty Queen maintains that edge, with its tale of spinster Maureen, and her relationship with her oppressive and demanding mother Mag, ill, but still outwardly manipulative of events. It's dark, not quite as dark as The Pillowman perhaps, but like that play, features one truly disturbing torture scene, so, it's not fo...

I was eight when the Challenger shuttle explosion occurred and more than old enough to remember it, but curiously I have very little memory of it at the time. I have no doubt that my staple then of Newsround covered it, and probably Blue Peter, but no real vivid memory from that very day. Fortunately, director of Defying Gravity, Megan Lucus does, and that love, memory and understanding of the event drives the engine at the heart of this production (and a dedication to allow a childhood toy to get quite a pummeling as well). All theatre productions need energy and time to be put into them, however, here even with just the visual element, it is clear that this show has had so much more time than most put into it. Defying Gravity by Jane Anderson takes six fictional characters, and one real one out of time, and takes us on a journey of what it was like to live through those 1986 events in Florida. Their account while fictional does include Teacher (Bex Fey), a very clear representati...

Remarkably I only saw the classic film It's A Wonderful Life last Christmas, this was thanks to spotting it lurking on my subscription of Netflix. A glorious heartwarming film perfect for Christmas? That must be why I was a blubbering mess at the end of it then. There was hope that in public, The Masque Theatre's performance of the radio version of the story didn't leave me in the same situation. As it happened it did a little as that final scene in the Bailey household played out again, but it didn't matter as there were members of the cast in the same broken state as many of us audience members. Left to right: Jo Molyneux, John Myhill, Lisa Wright, Michael Street, Lisa Shepherd and Jof Davies This was the first radio play that I had seen performed and on the evidence of this, I sure would like to see some more. While not having the drama of standard plays in their creation of moment and places, they do have a rather striking drive towards character creation. The ...

I have a confession to make from the outset here, I have neither read or have any recollection of ever having seen the movie Gone With The Wind. Incredible for sure for such a classic, but I feel certain that if I had watched a four hour film at any point in my life, I might have remembered it. This allowed me to feel the pain of the conscripted screenwriter Ben Hecht (Jof Davies), who hasn't read the book, as producer David O Selznick (Graham Follett) and Victor Fleming (Victor Guse) attempt to bring the novel to life in front of him. There are times that writer Ron Hutchinson perhaps makes Moonlight and Magnolias a little too wordy, however it does make the shear panic of the five day script writing our pain as well as those trapped in this cramped office with no other company than bananas, peanuts and occasional startled visits from Selznick's confused assistant Miss Poppenguhl (a nice performance of descending panic from Kate Ellis). It's a fun and chaotic play base...

What The Butler Saw was my first encounter with the works of Joe Orton, and based on this I very much look forward to seeing more of his work on stage. Frantically insane, saucy and more importantly incredibly funny, this is a wicked little treat of a play. It helps that Masque have created a particularly lively version of it as well on the compact little Playhouse stage. It includes also a few quite lovely performances as well. Although it has to be said that others didn't quite get the best out of some incredibly funny dialogue moments. Butler is a play that you take an open mind to, as even to this day almost fifty years after is debut the content could be considered fruity and a tad controversial. It does however never feel offensive, even when we have Churchill's appendages, rape, golliwogs and near nudity on offer. Quite a night at the theatre there. The six strong cast show no inhibitions, especially the two ladies Lisa Shepherd (Geraldine Barclay), Nicky Osborne (Mr...

Leading up to Christmas there is perhaps no better thing to do than see a play about a family getting together at Christmas and ending up arguing, fighting, threatening each other with knives, offering to marry off their lover to their son, imprisoning their three sons in a dungeon and preparing for a war with a French guy. Yes, that sounds like every bodies average Christmas doesn't it! The family in question in James Goldman's 1966 play The Lion In Winter is Henry II's, featuring his three sons and his sort of wife Queen Eleanor. Throw into the mix Henry's lover Princess Alais and King Philip of France and you have events and family maneuverings that even Eastenders would't go near. Thankfully for this time of year, Goldman's play is a high comedy take on this dysfunctional family, often extremely and indeed surprisingly funny. There is also with the political wranglings and language used, much in common with that fantastic series Yes Minister including a ...

I have never made it a secret of my dislike of Mr Shakespeare's work. It's not so much that I hate the stories or the characters he creates, its just that my ears fail completely to attune to his language and often while watching performances, more than any other play I lean towards the production and visual aspect of the show. Therefore is was once again that during my latest Shakespeare, I watched costumes, sets, lighting and some most glorious make-up work going on. Not to say that I didn't see the actors superb work, there bodies and facial expressions helping me beyond the troublesome language and managing to take me into the story. It helped this time that I was coming at Macbeth as the first of the bards plays that I was seeing for a second time live, having seen the spectacular (and highly physical) feast that the University Of Northampton provided last year ( review here ). I therefore had a little more knowledge of the tale than I normally would. Here the Masque...

Our Town by Thornton Wilder is a very different play from any other I have seen to date. It is also for me a very good play and its nice to know those Pulitzer Prize folk did as well, as they gave it the award for drama in 1938. The play centres around the inhabitants of an average New Hampshire town at the start of the 20th century. Their simple lives and indeed many of their untimely deaths. We are introduced to the play by the stage manager (Ian Spiby), who remains very much a character throughout the whole performance. He gives us a comprehensive tour of the town, pointing out various landmarks, shops and houses, as well as some scenery (I was thankful there were no questions after), and yes I am happy for some scenery. He introduces us to the residents one by one, starting with Mrs Gibbs (April Pardoe) and Mrs Webb (Beverley Webster). It is an inventive approach and makes for an absorbingly interesting play. The set is a very simple affair; a few chairs and a couple of tables ...