Sunday 30 September 2012

Anton’s Uncles


Greenwich Theatre
29 September

Here is the flying samovar
and vodka bottles lined up for the fray;
here’s heavy, stifling air and men
desperate for change.

Chekhov would be surprised
by so much song and dance,
laughter and lunacy, that pours like oil
on his stark and careful play.
 

Anton's UNcles is currently on a UK tour until 6 October

 

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Twelfth Night



Shakespeare's Globe
22 September

Here is a perfect sky that quickly turns to velvet and to black.
Here is an oval wreathed in thatch and keen, expectant faces
circling the stage. Tonight this wooden O
is made of shrill high hope and expectation, clamour and acclaim,
as after ten year’s wait one man, one play, returns to play again.
He comes burnished with fame and white with make-up,
guarded, tremulous; and in the face of high sea crowds
he dares to be as delicate and tempered as a skittish foal,
a princess sure as heaven of her jewel case.
He takes the stage and holds it easily
as if it were a pebble in his palm. He barely sighs
but in that sigh there is the squeak and dab of character,
the weight of water and the ocean’s depth.
He wears the dress, the face, the woman in his every breath.



Twelfth Night runs until 14 October at the Globe.



Saturday 1 September 2012

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time


National Theatre
30 August
 
2    Light boxes,
      loops of railway track,
      circles of chalk.

3    Computers,
      puzzles, patterns.
      No touching.

5    Maths A-level:
      A*

7    Rat-love,
      train sets,
      red food dye.

11  Dogs: one heart-melting,
       one dead – the mystery
       that starts it all.

13  The way he sees the world:
       one-way
       and shadow-less.

17  The end.
       I know its theatre but still
       I am half-overcome –

19  Heartbreak.
       Sheer joy.


 
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time runs until 27 October at the National Theatre