A Small Mind At The Theatre

I always approach my first encounter with such well-renowned playwrights with a touch of trepidation, be they Pinter, Miller, Williams or B.G.S, I fear that while I feel I need to like them, simply because, I am concerned that I might not. Fortunately, all of those listed, I have got on with and we don't mention the ones that I haven't. So, anyway, here we are, a few years down the line of aggressive theatre-going, and I come to my very first meeting with the work of Henrik Ibsen. Yes, it's true. This brand new version of Hedda Gabler for the modern age is by Patrick Marber, a playwright I have seriously loved every previous encounter with. Here he and director Ivo van Hove brings the 1890 original bang up to date, with video entry systems and modern dress to Ibsen's words and a collection of other modern tinges. At the heart of Hedda Gabler is, unsurprising, the title character, a nasty, strong, yet also a childlike character in equal measure. I like my own chi...

It must take some doing to make people leave before the end of a forty minute play, however Caryl Churchill's Here We Go managed to achieve this, and it wasn't just one, several left. I wasn't of course one of them as I have made it my decision to never leave under pain of not being able to review. However I could understand why as Churchill's play descends from promise and well written material into no writing and painful viewing. The play itself is three small parts forming the funeral wake, the afterlife and the end of life period of an unnamed "Old Man" played with actual style by Patrick Godfrey. Not that he gets much opportunity to show his performance skills, as he doesn't appear in the first ten minutes and has no lines for the last twenty. It is as I say all very odd. The first part is the best and actually entertaining with an impressive cast of seven gathering at the old mans wake and exchanging clever and witty dialogue in a wonderfully swi...

This year I have seen the chaotic feast that is The Play That Goes Wrong  three times and its safe to say that I haven't seen anything funnier at the theatre this year (hence three times), however last night I saw the National Theatre's  One Man, Two Guvnors'  currently on tour. I shall say now that The Play That Goes Wrong  is still the funniest play I have seen this year. However One Man, Two Guvnors'  gave it quite a close call at times during the blistering two hours plus of high octane entertainment. It is at first a curious mix of music, mirth and outright slapstick that unlike TPTGW , I didn't initially get. I was also having to deal sitting in the circle (a reasonable distance from the stage), with someone who was eating things that rustled and managing to drown quite a few words out. My annoyance level was quite high so I needed some light relief. Thankfully the rustles didn't last forever and once my hearing had been tuned out of them rustle sounds a...