A Matter of Life or Death - TNT
Fans of Powell and Pressburger's 1946 movie might quibble, but I found Kneehigh's idiosyncratic, anti-war version (directed by co-adapter Emma Rice) totally beguiling. WWII RAF pilot Peter Carter is shot down without a parachute, but just before he jumps he makes contact with (and falls for) radio operator June. Amazingly, he survives what should have been a fatal plunge to earth — and meets her when he lands. But there's been a mistake — his guide to heaven lost him in the fog and what follows is a dream-like tug of life between the heavenly forces which need to balance their books, and his newfound sweetheart who can't bear to let him go. It's a whimsical idea in which Douglas Hodge's kindly doctor (enlisted by June to save her beloved) and a balletic ping-pong match set to music are just two of the many highlights.
Lyttelton at the National, South Bank, SE1, 020-7452 3000. Until June 21. Part of the £10 Travelex season
Tuesday 29 May 2007
Terre Haute -TNT
Inspired by American essayist Gore Vidal's correspondence with — and support of — the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh, author Edmund White has imagined a series of conversations between two people (very much like, but not identical to, the originals) conducted during the last days of the mass murderer's life. During these brief encounters, the septuagenarian journalist tries to elicit exactly what was going on in the mind of the intelligent ex-soldier with a fine army record who deliberately cut short the lives of 168 people, including 19 children. Enclosed by wire mesh walls, recent drama school graduate Arthur Darvill is increasingly persuasive as Harrison, stubbornly maintaining that he had to make a stand against the government. And Peter Eyre gives a thoughtful, controlled performance as the cultured elderly writer whose own life is heading, more slowly, towards its end and who finds himself reluctantly attracted to the unrepentant, home-grown, death row terrorist.
Trafalgar Studios 2, Whitehall, SW1, 0870 060 6632. Until June 2
LOUISE KINGSLEY
Inspired by American essayist Gore Vidal's correspondence with — and support of — the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh, author Edmund White has imagined a series of conversations between two people (very much like, but not identical to, the originals) conducted during the last days of the mass murderer's life. During these brief encounters, the septuagenarian journalist tries to elicit exactly what was going on in the mind of the intelligent ex-soldier with a fine army record who deliberately cut short the lives of 168 people, including 19 children. Enclosed by wire mesh walls, recent drama school graduate Arthur Darvill is increasingly persuasive as Harrison, stubbornly maintaining that he had to make a stand against the government. And Peter Eyre gives a thoughtful, controlled performance as the cultured elderly writer whose own life is heading, more slowly, towards its end and who finds himself reluctantly attracted to the unrepentant, home-grown, death row terrorist.
Trafalgar Studios 2, Whitehall, SW1, 0870 060 6632. Until June 2
LOUISE KINGSLEY
Sunday 20 May 2007
My Child - TNT
The main auditorium has been completely transformed into a multifunction London Underground carriage for Mike Bartlett's 40-minute drama which traps you in the unnamed Man's personal, paternal hell for its short, gruelling duration. Initially, it's impossible to distinguish the actors from the audience, until they suddenly emerge (often for only a few, telling moments) in this searing account of one divorcé's struggle to retain access to his son when his ex-wife decides to write him out of their lives completely. Played with a hard-hitting emotional and physical intensity which had my companion in tears, this is a stunning stage debut — thanks in no small measure to Sacha Wares' taut direction, and mesmerising performances from Lia Williams and Ben Miles as the warring parents, Adam James as his richer, tougher replacement, and Adam Arnold as the spoilt Child at the centre of the battlefield and immersed in an adult world with decidedly skewed values.
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Sq, SW1, 020-7565 5000). Until June 2
The main auditorium has been completely transformed into a multifunction London Underground carriage for Mike Bartlett's 40-minute drama which traps you in the unnamed Man's personal, paternal hell for its short, gruelling duration. Initially, it's impossible to distinguish the actors from the audience, until they suddenly emerge (often for only a few, telling moments) in this searing account of one divorcé's struggle to retain access to his son when his ex-wife decides to write him out of their lives completely. Played with a hard-hitting emotional and physical intensity which had my companion in tears, this is a stunning stage debut — thanks in no small measure to Sacha Wares' taut direction, and mesmerising performances from Lia Williams and Ben Miles as the warring parents, Adam James as his richer, tougher replacement, and Adam Arnold as the spoilt Child at the centre of the battlefield and immersed in an adult world with decidedly skewed values.
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Sq, SW1, 020-7565 5000). Until June 2
The Letter - TNT
Not so much a 'whodunnit?' as a 'why did she do it?' and 'will she get away with it?', Somerset Maugham's colonial drama, set in the Malay Peninsula, proves more interesting for what is left unsaid. Written in 1927, it shows its age, but Alan Strachan's revival compensates by subtly revealing the sexual dissatisfaction underlying superficially contented marriages and simultaneously exposes the racial prejudice of the privileged expats. Jenny Seagrove's Leslie Crosbie makes no attempt to conceal that she's in her dressing gown when the house boys discover her with the body of the fellow Brit into whom she's just emptied a barrel of bullets. Anthony Andrews (as her suspicious lawyer) shrinks from her touch yet pockets the hanky with which her husband has wiped his sweaty neck, and Jason Chan is craftily and comically manipulative as his clerk.
Wyndhams, Charing Cross Rd, WC2, 020-950 0925. Until August 11. £16.50-£49.50
LOUISE KINGSLEY
Not so much a 'whodunnit?' as a 'why did she do it?' and 'will she get away with it?', Somerset Maugham's colonial drama, set in the Malay Peninsula, proves more interesting for what is left unsaid. Written in 1927, it shows its age, but Alan Strachan's revival compensates by subtly revealing the sexual dissatisfaction underlying superficially contented marriages and simultaneously exposes the racial prejudice of the privileged expats. Jenny Seagrove's Leslie Crosbie makes no attempt to conceal that she's in her dressing gown when the house boys discover her with the body of the fellow Brit into whom she's just emptied a barrel of bullets. Anthony Andrews (as her suspicious lawyer) shrinks from her touch yet pockets the hanky with which her husband has wiped his sweaty neck, and Jason Chan is craftily and comically manipulative as his clerk.
Wyndhams, Charing Cross Rd, WC2, 020-950 0925. Until August 11. £16.50-£49.50
LOUISE KINGSLEY
Thursday 17 May 2007
Absolute Beginners - TNT
Lizzie Clachan's clever mobile set (a cluster of Mondrian-coloured blocks which open up and slide fluidly around the stage) and Soweto Kinch's jazzy score aren't enough to rescue this soulless adaptation of Colin MacInnes' subversive 1959 cult novel of post-war teenage low-life. Set during the lead up to the Notting Hill race riots, the fragmented narrative follows 18 year-old "Photo Boy" as he works to further a photographic career, argues with his family, and tries to get hold of enough cash to stop his promiscuous girlfriend from sleeping around. But Roy Williams' version of this coming-of-age story fails to engage the heart. The interracial and inter-generational tensions are evident, but rather than electrify, they merely crackle intermittently in this dull, disappointing production.
Lyric Hammersmith, King Street, Hammersmith, W6, 08700-500 511. Until May 26.
Louise Kingsley
Lizzie Clachan's clever mobile set (a cluster of Mondrian-coloured blocks which open up and slide fluidly around the stage) and Soweto Kinch's jazzy score aren't enough to rescue this soulless adaptation of Colin MacInnes' subversive 1959 cult novel of post-war teenage low-life. Set during the lead up to the Notting Hill race riots, the fragmented narrative follows 18 year-old "Photo Boy" as he works to further a photographic career, argues with his family, and tries to get hold of enough cash to stop his promiscuous girlfriend from sleeping around. But Roy Williams' version of this coming-of-age story fails to engage the heart. The interracial and inter-generational tensions are evident, but rather than electrify, they merely crackle intermittently in this dull, disappointing production.
Lyric Hammersmith, King Street, Hammersmith, W6, 08700-500 511. Until May 26.
Louise Kingsley
Sunday 13 May 2007
That Face - TNT
Though she was only 19 when she wrote this, Polly Stenham's first play is unpleasantly compelling right from the start as schoolgirl Mia (Felicity Jones) finds herself way out of her depth in a boarding school initiation ceremony. Her 18 year-old brother isn't faring too well either as he struggles (as he has done for the previous 5 years) to handle their mother's dependency on drink, prescription drugs and on Henry himself. It's a disturbing piece — one can only hope not too rooted in autobiography — and the performances are raw and intense. Lindsay Duncan is cruelly manipulative in her treatment of her children, her unhealthy jealousy and her complete failure to be a mother, And, as Henry, Matt Smith reveals the extent of the damage done when his devotion gives way to howling despair at the endless enormity of the task he took upon himself when his broker father (Julian Wadham, chucking cash at every problem whilst keeping a tight rein on his emotional contribution) decamped to make a comfortable new life in Hong Kong.
Royal Court Theatre Upstairs Sloane Square, SW1, 020-7565 5000. Until 19th May.
Though she was only 19 when she wrote this, Polly Stenham's first play is unpleasantly compelling right from the start as schoolgirl Mia (Felicity Jones) finds herself way out of her depth in a boarding school initiation ceremony. Her 18 year-old brother isn't faring too well either as he struggles (as he has done for the previous 5 years) to handle their mother's dependency on drink, prescription drugs and on Henry himself. It's a disturbing piece — one can only hope not too rooted in autobiography — and the performances are raw and intense. Lindsay Duncan is cruelly manipulative in her treatment of her children, her unhealthy jealousy and her complete failure to be a mother, And, as Henry, Matt Smith reveals the extent of the damage done when his devotion gives way to howling despair at the endless enormity of the task he took upon himself when his broker father (Julian Wadham, chucking cash at every problem whilst keeping a tight rein on his emotional contribution) decamped to make a comfortable new life in Hong Kong.
Royal Court Theatre Upstairs Sloane Square, SW1, 020-7565 5000. Until 19th May.
Rafta, Rafta - TNT
It's more than a decade since actor-turned-playwright Ayub Khan-Din struck gold with the funny East is East. His new project takes Bill Naughton's Bolton-based All in Good Time, updates it to the present, changes the protagonists from working class Northerners to Indian immigrants, and once again focuses on the conflicts that can arise between them. One can't help but sympathise with newlyweds Atul and Vina as they begin married life in the Dutt family home. With barely a wall to separate them from the loo and the in-laws, it's hardly surprising nothing's happening in the bedroom. There's the familiar air of the sitcom about the postnuptial family celebrations but, once Khan-Din scratches the surface, the warm-hearted adaptation reaps rewards, and Bollywood's Harish Patel has moments of supreme comedy and real pathos as Atul's genial but insensitive father.
Lyttelton at the National South Bank, SE1 020-7452 3000. Until June 23. £39.50-£10
Louise kingsley
It's more than a decade since actor-turned-playwright Ayub Khan-Din struck gold with the funny East is East. His new project takes Bill Naughton's Bolton-based All in Good Time, updates it to the present, changes the protagonists from working class Northerners to Indian immigrants, and once again focuses on the conflicts that can arise between them. One can't help but sympathise with newlyweds Atul and Vina as they begin married life in the Dutt family home. With barely a wall to separate them from the loo and the in-laws, it's hardly surprising nothing's happening in the bedroom. There's the familiar air of the sitcom about the postnuptial family celebrations but, once Khan-Din scratches the surface, the warm-hearted adaptation reaps rewards, and Bollywood's Harish Patel has moments of supreme comedy and real pathos as Atul's genial but insensitive father.
Lyttelton at the National South Bank, SE1 020-7452 3000. Until June 23. £39.50-£10
Louise kingsley
Tuesday 8 May 2007
The Hound of the Baskervilles - TNT
Sherlock Holmes with a thick-as-sludge Spanish accent? Yes, that's what you get in Peepolykus's spoof on one of the detective's most popular murder mysteries. It's clever, it's exhausting (for the trio of talented performers, at least) and, with some amusing backtracking, it delivers the crucial elements of the already pretty preposterous story. Yet somehow, for all its skill and energy, this wackily enjoyable show can't quite match the impact of the currently showing tongue-in cheek version of The 39 Steps. That said, it's hard not to warm to Jason Thorpe (whether losing his clothes as the hound's next intended victim or playing a straw-sucking yokel), to co-adaptor John Nicholson's Watson (ineptly trying to solve the crime before the super-sleuth arrives), or to Javier Marzan's swift costume changes as he switches from Holmes to a suspect, his sister, the butler and his wife.
Duchess, Catherine St, WC2. 0870-890 1103. Until July 21
LOUISE KINGSLEY
Sherlock Holmes with a thick-as-sludge Spanish accent? Yes, that's what you get in Peepolykus's spoof on one of the detective's most popular murder mysteries. It's clever, it's exhausting (for the trio of talented performers, at least) and, with some amusing backtracking, it delivers the crucial elements of the already pretty preposterous story. Yet somehow, for all its skill and energy, this wackily enjoyable show can't quite match the impact of the currently showing tongue-in cheek version of The 39 Steps. That said, it's hard not to warm to Jason Thorpe (whether losing his clothes as the hound's next intended victim or playing a straw-sucking yokel), to co-adaptor John Nicholson's Watson (ineptly trying to solve the crime before the super-sleuth arrives), or to Javier Marzan's swift costume changes as he switches from Holmes to a suspect, his sister, the butler and his wife.
Duchess, Catherine St, WC2. 0870-890 1103. Until July 21
LOUISE KINGSLEY
Called to account - TNT
Subtitled The indictment of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair for the crime of aggression against Iraq — a Hearing.Since 1994, director Nicholas Kent and editor Richard Norton Taylor have culled evidence from transcripts of such high-profile cases as the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and the Hutton Inquiry to create dramatised tribunals of hotly debated topics. This time it's the turn of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to come under scrutiny, though the procedure has been somewhat different and the script has been distilled from various interviews which took place earlier this year. Cross-examining witnesses (including politicians, UN officials, a Kurdish academic living in exile and a weapons inspector) the lawyers for the defence and prosecution attempt to elicit the reasons for the Attorney General's changing point of view just prior to the commencement of war, and to determine whether the PM truly believed that the threat of WMDs was only 45 minutes away. It's not an easy evening, but it's certainly an interesting and very well-acted investigation into a decision which has had far-reaching and ongoing consequences.
Tricycle Kilburn High Road, NW6. 020-7328 1000. Until June 9
LOUISE KINGSLEY
Subtitled The indictment of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair for the crime of aggression against Iraq — a Hearing.Since 1994, director Nicholas Kent and editor Richard Norton Taylor have culled evidence from transcripts of such high-profile cases as the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and the Hutton Inquiry to create dramatised tribunals of hotly debated topics. This time it's the turn of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to come under scrutiny, though the procedure has been somewhat different and the script has been distilled from various interviews which took place earlier this year. Cross-examining witnesses (including politicians, UN officials, a Kurdish academic living in exile and a weapons inspector) the lawyers for the defence and prosecution attempt to elicit the reasons for the Attorney General's changing point of view just prior to the commencement of war, and to determine whether the PM truly believed that the threat of WMDs was only 45 minutes away. It's not an easy evening, but it's certainly an interesting and very well-acted investigation into a decision which has had far-reaching and ongoing consequences.
Tricycle Kilburn High Road, NW6. 020-7328 1000. Until June 9
LOUISE KINGSLEY
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