Issue 5, 2010
Prompt Corner
Ah. I hadn’t realised there were quite so many Olivier Awards to fit on to this page (and these are only the theatrical awards, with those for dance and opera omitted). Consequently, little room to apologise for recycling the inaccurate “knight” pun first seen on the cover of Issue 23 last year, nor to remark on Tim Walker rewriting history once again, this time regarding his length of tenure as the SundayTelegraph’s theatre critic, or at least in the theatre critic’s job.
There’s scarcely space even to do more than remark on the upset at the Oliviers recorded below and remarked upon by Charlie Spencer in the item reprinted opposite. Of course, opinions differ: to see just how much they differ, you need look no further than the reviews of Love Never Dies. Our policy of not reprinting star ratings means that you can’t easily compare these, but I can report that it ran the entire gamut from one star (Sam Marlowe in Time Out) to five (Paul Taylor in the Independent), and the reviews themselves read as such. This show may also represent the global breakthrough of bloggers the West End Whingers, who coined the oft-noted alias Paint Never Dries.
Elsewhere, there were further differences of opinion regarding the two plays about the British National Part which opened on successive evenings. I felt that Anders Lustgarten’s A Day At The Racists at the Finborough got to grips with the subject much more directly than Philip Ridley’s Moonfleece at Rich Mix, but less satisfyingly. Lustgarten has written a textbook example of an Issue Play. It is far from stupid, but it is immensely simplistic, whilst imagining itself to be the opposite. There is a fascinating subtext in director Ryan McBryde’s choice of pre-show and interval music: we hear a succession of punk classics, as if to suggest that the Rock Against Racism generation of the 1970s must now either re-interrogate or reaffirm their old principles. I would love to see that play, but this is a long way from it. Ridley, in many ways, has written his standard play, a story about the power of stories to transport us amid urban grimness. However, the fantastical can also illuminate our immediate circumstances. And of the two shows, it is David Mercatali’s solid production of the Ridley which has drawn protests from the real BNP; they, like Ridley, recognise that in politics as in so much of life, what counts is control of the narrative.
Ian Shuttleworth | ian@theatrerecord.com
At the Back
At the Back doe not appear this issue
London |
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| Production | Venue | Opened | Closed | Page |
| THE CATASTROPHE TRILOGY Revivals and a new play by Lone Twin | Pit | 6 Mar | 13 Mar | 236 |
| CIRCA Circus show | Barbican | 10 Mar | 14 Mar | 237 |
| A DAY AT THE RACISTS New play by Anders Lustgarten | Finborough | 4 Mar | 27 Mar | 229 |
| THE DOUBLE New adaptation by Kate McGregor from Fyodor Dostoevsky (Theatre 6) | White Bear | 11 Mar | 3 Apr | 220 |
| THE FEVER CHART New plays by Naomi Wallace (York Th Royal) | Trafalgar Studio 2 | 11 Mar | 3 Apr | 251 |
| FITZROVIA RADIO HOUR ALERT Series of short plays | Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe | 16 Feb | 6 Mar | 222 |
| GHOST STORIES New play by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman | Lyric Hammersmith | 1 Mar | 17 Apr | 216 |
| HENRY V Revival of play by Shakespeare | Southwark Playhouse | 26 Feb | 20 Mar | 237 |
| LONDON ASSURANCE Revival of play by Dion Boucicault (NT) | Olivier | 10 Mar | 247 |
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| THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY New adaptation by Carl Miller from novel by Siobhan Dowd | Unicorn SE1 | 10 Mar | 18 Apr | 239 |
| LOVE NEVER DIES New musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Glenn Slater, Ben Elton, Frederick Forsyth | Adelphi | 9 Mar | 240 |
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| MOONFLEECE Revival of play by Philip Ridley | Rich Mix | 3 Mar | 13 Mar | 221 |
| ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE ADELPHI London première of musical by Phil Willmott | Union SE1 | 5 Mar | 27 Mar | 230 |
| PARTY New play by Tom Basden (Invisible Dot) | Arts | 2 Mar | 13 Mar | 219 |
| PETER AND VANDY UK première of play by Jay DiPietro | Theatre 503 | 5 Mar | 27 Mar | 228 |
| THE POOF DOWNSTAIRS New piece by Jon Haynes | BAC | 4 Mar | 20 Mar | 228 |
| PRIVATE LIVES Revival of play by Noël Coward | Vaudeville | 3 Mar | 223 |
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| RANDOM Revival of play by debbie tucker green (Royal Court) | Elephant & Castle Shop. Ctr. | 8 Mar | 27 Mar | 238 |
| RETURN New piece by Polarbear | BAC | 4 Mar | 20 Mar | 228 |
| A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY New musical by Adam Rolston | Wilton's Music Hall | 11 Mar | 4 Apr | 253 |
| SOAP Dance/theatre/circus/cabaret piece by Markus Pabst (Circle Of Eleven) | Riverside | 8 Mar | 25 Mar | 252 |
| SWEET NOTHINGS Revival of play by Arthur Schnitzler (Liebelei) in new version by David Harrower | Young Vic | 4 Mar | 10 Apr | 233 |
Regions |
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| THE CANTERBURY TALES Revival of adaptation by Mike Poulton from Chaucer (Northern Broadsides) | Newcastle-under-Lyme, New Vic | 2 Mar | 20 Mar | 261 |
| EQUUS Revival of play by Peter Shaffer | Dundee Rep | 3 Mar | 20 Mar | 268 |
| EURYDICE New play by Sarah Ruhl (T R Plymouth / ATC / Young Vic) | Plymouth, Drum / touring | 1 Mar | 13 Mar | 259 |
| THE GLASS MENAGERIE Revival of play by Tennessee Williams | Salisbury Playhouse | 5 Mar | 20 Mar | 265 |
| HAMLET Revival of play by Shakespeare (Rapture Th / Greenwich Th) | Stirling, Tolbooth / touring | 26 Feb | 26 Feb | 267 |
| HEDDA GABLER Revival of play by Henrik Ibsen | Bath, Theatre Royal / touring | 4 Mar | 6 Mar | 263 |
| HONEST / MY ZINC BED New play by D C Moore / Revival of play by David Hare | Northampton, Mailcoach / Royal | 2 Mar | 13 Mar | 262 |
| HORMONAL HOUSEWIVES New play by Julie Coombe and John MacIsaac | Glasgow, King’s / touring | 1 Mar | 6 Mar | 268 |
| JANE EYRE revival of adaptation by Polly Teale from novel by Charlotte Brontë | Perth | 5 Mar | 20 Mar | 271 |
| KING LEAR Revival of play by Shakespeare (RSC) | Stratford-upon-Avon, Courtyard | 2 Mar | 26 Aug | 254 |
| THE LONG WAY HOME New play by Charles Way (Eastern Angles) | Brentwood / touring | 26 Feb | 27 Feb | 259 |
| MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE Revival of adaptation by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner | Glasgow, Citizens | 4 Mar | 20 Mar | 270 |
| 1984 New adaptation by Matthew Dunster from novel by George Orwell | Manchester, Royal Exchange | 1 Mar | 27 Mar | 260 |
| OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR Revival of musical entertainment by Joan Littlewood | Newcastle-u-Tyne, Northern Stage | 10 Mar | 27 Mar | 266 |
| POBBY AND DINGAN New adaptation by Rob Evans from novella by Ben Rice (Catherine Wheels) | Brunton, Musselburgh / touring | 27 Feb | 27 Feb | 267 |
| RUM AND COCA COLA Revival of play by Mustapha Matura (WYP / Talawa / Eng Touring Th) | Leeds, WYP Quarry | 10 Mar | 3 Apr | 266 |
