theatre

PUDDLES INTO RAINBOWS

Isabel Lloyd — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:17:53 +0000

A show not to miss: Isabel Lloyd picks ballet star Adam Cooper in "Singin' in the Rain" ... read more »

THE 60-YEAR JOB: SIR PETER HALL

Charles Nevin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:22:32 +0000

On February 6th, Queen Elizabeth II reaches her diamond jubilee – 60 years in the same job. Charles Nevin tracks down six others who have lasted as long ... read more »

FUNNY LOOKS LIKE THIS

Robert Butler — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:29:27 +0000

~ Posted by Robert Butler, December 19th 2011

Alan Ayckbourn's 75th play, "Neighbourhood Watch", which runs Off Broadway till January 1st, is directed by Ayckbourn himself. Plenty of playwrights make a hash of directing their own work, but on BBC Radio 4 yesterday Ayckbourn passed on some tips about his successful lesser-known career as a director.

Quite a lot of decent directing is counterpoint. So you've got something happening, which is the speech end, but something else physically happening, which counterpoints it. I use the plumber-in-the-cupboard analogy. The wife lets in the plumber in the morning. He goes into the pantry and shuts the door, and he's busy working on some pipes in there and she conveniently forgets about him. The husband comes in and she and the husband then have one of those awful rows that only married couples can have.

As Ayckbourn describes the row, the couple almost destroy one another. If you read the dialogue on the page, he points out, it's a hair-raising experience, but when you see it on stage, you see the plumber in the pantry not knowing whether or not to come out before the argument gets any worse. Ayckbourn says,

The audience is then balanced on two sides. Half of them are laughing at the plumber. And the other half are gasping at the row that's going on. read more »

JOHN WOOD, AN ELECTRIC PERFORMER

Irving Wardle — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:43:06 +0000

Irving Wardle remembers a British actor who made others look half alive ... read more »

OF MICE, MEN AND A GOOD TENOR

Robert Milliken — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:25:19 +0000

Bruce Beresford brings to Sydney an operatic adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novella ... read more »

OF MONSTERS AND MEN

James C. Taylor — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:23:11 +0000

Danny Boyle's sold-out production of "Frankenstein" is a thrilling theatrical take on Shelley's classic. James Taylor talks to the two actors breathing life into this dark parable ... read more »

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1979 WITH MIKE LEIGH

Isabel Lloyd — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:24:45 +0000

For the first time, Mike Leigh is reviving one of his own plays. Isabel Lloyd talks to him about the highs, and lows, of “Ecstasy” ... read more »

THE DRAMA OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Robert Butler — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:42:50 +0000

Climate science is a tricky subject for the stage, as two new plays in London make plain. Robert Butler puts his finger on the problem ... read more »

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH BROADWAY?

Kimberly Kaye — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 05:00:30 +0000

A record number of shows are closing, with producers millions in the hole. Kimberly Kaye considers what went wrong ... read more »

TWO YEARS WITH RALPH FIENNES

Julie Kavanagh — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:13:06 +0000

Ralph Fiennes has spent much of the past two years battling to direct his first film. Julie Kavanagh followed him through that time, and interviewed his friends and his sisters, to track down the source of his gifts—and his demons ... read more »