Sunday, 6 September 2009
unblog
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
2008 Year Round Up!
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES - Playhouse Theatre - dir. Terry Johnson
Helium - Barbican Pit - dir. Alan Lane
BRIEF ENCOUNTER - Haymarket Cinema - dir. Emma Rice
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG - Watermill Theatre - dir. John Doyle
[TITLE OF SHOW] - Lyceum Theatre - dir. Michael Berresse
Monday, 17 March 2008
Oops. 2008 so far, then...
I suppose I've been quite busy. Since term began on January 13th, I've somehow managed to struggle my way through the Victorian/Modernism paper and also direct my first play, The Glass Menagerie, at the Corpus Playroom, which finished its run yesterday (March 15th).
The post about the Menagerie will have to wait til another day when I've been able to let all the thoughts and feelings settle. To whet your appetite, though, you could read this fantastic review
by the West End Whingers. A review by the West End Whingers of MY play. What a landmark :-) Nothing really left to look forward to, to be honest...!
I want to go through all the theatre that I've seen so far this year. As I've been in Cambridge since mid-January, almost all of it is student theatre. Every drop I get of professional theatre I gulp liked a man crawling through the desert discovering a not-quite-empty Evian bottle.
The quality of student theatre is pretty variable, as you'd expect. But the good stuff can be really really fantastically good. Of course the bad can get really really bad. I don't want to be too mean about any of the bad stuff, since all student theatre is really just a noble attempt, but, well, I can't bring myself to lie, either.
So here's everything I've seen in 2008 so far, and a little 'review' for everything.
12th January - The Masque of the Red Death. Er, it was the 6th time I'd seen it. Move along, nothing to see here folks.
18th January - Julius Caesar - I didn't love it. Some strong performances, especially Brutus and Mark Antony, but it's never been one of my favourite Shakespeares, and the lukewarm production couldn't help it win me over.
23rd January - Chekhov Double Bill - The Bear/The Night Before the Trial - Enjoyable. Too much shouting, subtlety out the window, but still enjoyable and some nice comic performances.
24th January - Perspectives - Well, I know almost nothing about dance, but the dance pieces in this show, on the whole, were engaging and accomplished enough for me to follow and even enjoy the whole thing.
30th January - The Gnadiges Fraulein - A raucous and unexpected piece of lunacy from Tennessee Williams, with three superb performances and lots of lovely detail, made for a thoroughly absorbing, entertaining, and moving show.
1st February - All the Ordinary Angels - An enjoyable, if slight, play, well-directed, with a few very good performances and a few less so. Pleasant while it lasted but not much of an aftertaste.
6th February - Two Marias - I actually reviewed this one for TCS. I was pleasantly surprised by Bryony Lavery's haunting, elusive play, and the production featured one wonderful performance and several good ones.
8th February - Dinner - Several stunning performances and extremely acute direction made this one of the best Cambridge productions I have seen yet. Gripping and disturbing.
8th February - Follies - A bit of a mess - one or two good performances lost in a sea of strange vagueness. Lovely to hear the score live, but mostly a missed opportunity.
12th Feb - Skates - A surprisingly good piece of new writing. Some spellbinding stagecraft and a strong ensemble contributed to the play's homespun, delightful magic.
13th Feb - The Pirates of Penzance - I'll never be a G&S fan, so I suppose I enjoyed this spirited production as much as I possibly could have.
14th Feb - The White Devil - A very good cast and an impressive set, but the glacial pacing and unconvincing final scenes let the production down.
23rd Feb - Merrily We Roll Along - Professional alert!!! Wonderful Sondheim musical given the John Doyle treatment at the Watermill. As usual, the actor-musician thing worked for me, and I loved it and found it deeply moving.
26th Feb - Conviction - a promising but deeply flawed piece of new writing. Hard for any cast members to shine given the unconvincing dialogue they were forced to spout.
29th Feb - Sweet Charity - Er....I didn't love it.
14th March - Dad - Watched in a state of extreme exhaustion so probably not judged fairly. It seemed promising to me, yet never reached its full comic or emotional potential. Some exceptionally irritating performances didn't help matters.
Saturday, 22 December 2007
2007: The Final Count
(Note: * indicates that the performance was a student production in Cambridge)
1. January 3rd: Much
2. January 3rd: The History Boys – Wyndhams Theatre (evening)
4. January 17th: Coram Boy - Olivier Theatre
5. January 22nd: Happy Days - Lyttelton Theatre
6. January 23rd: Waves - Cottesloe Theatre
7. February 1st : The Man of Mode - Olivier Theatre
8. February 3rd : A Model Girl - Greenwich Theatre
9. February 10th: The Seagull
10. February 14th: Cabaret - Lyric Theatre
11. February 17th: Therese Raquin - Lyttelton Theatre
12. February 24th: Cabaret - Lyric Theatre
13. March 3rd : The Reporter - Cottesloe Theatre
14. March 8th: Faust - 21 Wapping Lane (3rd time)
15. March 17th: The Seagull - Royal Court Theatre (matinee)
16. March 17th: Faust - 21 Wapping Lane
17. March 21st: The Glass Menagerie - Apollo Theatre
18. March 22nd: The Caretaker - Tricycle Theatre
19. March 24th: The Tempest (matinee)
20. March 24th: Faust - 21 Wapping Lane
21. March 26th: The Entertainer - Old Vic Theatre
22. March 30th: Faust - 21 Wapping Lane (the last time ;__;)
23. March 31st: Cabaret - Lyric Theatre
24. April 5th : The Rose Tattoo - Olivier Theatre
25. April 9th: Attempts on Her Life - Lyttelton Theatre
26. April 10th: A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Roundhouse
27. April 18th: The Glass Menagerie - Apollo Theatre
28. April 19th: Little Shop of Horrors - Duke of York's Theatre
29. May 12th: Rafta, Rafta - Lyttelton Theatre
30. May 16th: Cabaret - Lyric Theatre
31. May 17th: The Drowsy Chaperone - Novello Theatre
32. May 26th: King Lear - Courtyard Theatre, Stratford (matinee)
33. May 26th: The Seagull - Courtyard Theatre, Stratford (evening)
34. May 28th: A Matter of Life and Death - Olivier Theatre
35. June 9th: Phillistines - Lyttelton Theatre
36. June 30th: The Drowsy Chaperone - Novello Theatre
37. July 7th: In Celebration - Duke of York's Theatre
38. July 18th: Boeing Boeing - Comedy Theatre
39. July 19th: The Rose Tattoo - Olivier Theatre
40. July 22nd: Angels in
41. July 26th: The Enchantment - Cottesloe Theatre
42. July 31st: The Lord of the Rings - Theatre Royal Drury Lane
43. August 3rd: The Last Five Years - Apollo Theatre
44. August 11th: Saint Joan - Olivier Theatre
45. August 13th: Avenue Q - Noel Coward Theatre
46. August 21st: Fiddler on the Roof - Savoy Theatre
47. August 29th: All About My Mother - Old Vic Theatre
48. September 3rd: Chatroom/Citizenship - Cottesloe Theatre
49. September 6th: The Bacchae - Lyric Hammersmith
50. September 8th: The Emperor Jones - Olivier Theatre
51. September 13th: A Disappearing Number - Barbican
52. September 15th: Parade - Donmar Warehouse
53. September 17th: The Masque of the Red Death - BAC
54. September 20th: Parade - Donmar Warehouse
55. September 27th: Parade - Donmar Warehouse (shut up okay)
56. October 3rd: Cymbeline - Cambridge Arts Theatre * (directed by Trevor Nunn!)
57. October 19th: The Changeling - Cambridge Arts Theatre
60. November 8th: The Collection - Fitzpatrick Hall, Queens' College *
61. November 15th: The After-Dinner Joke - ADC Theatre *
63. November 22nd: Ruddigore - Brickhouse Theatre *
64. November 23rd: Parade - Donmar Warehouse
66. November 28th: Attempts on Her Life - ADC Theatre *
67. November 29th: Once Upon A Time (Footlights Panto) - ADC Theatre *
68. December 1st: The Masque of the Red Death - BAC
Friday, 21 December 2007
good morning blogimore
I'm also planning to use it to chart my first attempt at directing. Help.
The production of The Glass Menagerie that I'm directing should, if all goes well, run from March 11th to 15th at the Corpus Playroom, Cambridge, just off Kings Parade. I'm literally terrified.
Let's hope I can keep this thing updated. :-)