family relationships
Hush/ Awakenings/ Cardoon Club, Rambert Dance, Sadler's WellsWednesday, 10 November 2010
“Nice is different from good,” sings one of Stephen Sondheim’s characters. And mostly, it is different, “nice” rarely being “good”. Christopher Bruce, however, blows that theory right out of the water, because Hush, his 2006 piece which opens... Read more... |
Peter Kay, O2Sunday, 07 November 2010
Only part-way through a mammoth stadium tour that began last April and continues until next autumn (and which he insists will end on 15 October at the MEN Arena in Manchester, where he once worked as an usher), Peter Kay is still having to add dates... Read more... |
The Price of Everything, Stephen Joseph TheatreTuesday, 02 November 2010
The TMA regional theatre awards are about to be announced, which makes it perfect timing to visit a nominee - one of the UK’s most influential venues, the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The SJT was the country’s first... Read more... |
Iphigenie auf Tauris, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Sadler's WellsFriday, 29 October 2010
Iphigenia is an abandoned child, almost murdered by her father, lost in bewilderment, captured and indoctrinated in an artificial existence. It hardly matters that her father was the legendary Greek hero Agamemnon, her mother the notorious... Read more... |
The Kids Are All RightFriday, 29 October 2010
Americans are chastised, often wrongly, for possessing a scant sense of irony, so I mean it as no criticism whatsoever of The Kids Are All Right to point out that the title of Lisa Cholodenko's wonderful film is altogether un-ironic. In less caring... Read more... |
Men Should Weep, National TheatreTuesday, 26 October 2010
“It seems to me there’s nae end tae trouble. Nae end tae havin’ the heart torn out of you.” That’s the gut-wrenching cry of despair voiced by Maggie Morrison, the worn-down woman who is herself the heart of Ena Lamont Stewart’s vivid, sprawling 1947... Read more... |
Greg Davies, Bloomsbury TheatreFriday, 22 October 2010
Greg Davies is a comedian who laughs along to his own material. A conspiratorial look glints in his eye, a hint of fruity mischief plays on his lips. The adage that you should never be amused by your own punchlines is, of course, a tall tower of... Read more... |
Tribes, Royal Court TheatreThursday, 21 October 2010
t's a nice historical twist that the Royal Court in London, a theatre once known for its kitchen-sink dramas, is having such a great run with plays about the middle classes; following the joys of Posh, Wanderlust and Clybourne Park comes Nina Raine’... Read more... |
Russell Kane, TouringMonday, 11 October 2010
Russell Kane, a thoroughly deserving nominee, was the surprise winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Award (ECA) - the bookies’ money was on young American Bo Burnham - with a show that explores his troubled relationship with his late father, a man with... Read more... |
Single Father, BBC One/ Thorne: Sleepyhead, Sky1Monday, 11 October 2010
The American networks have so far been able to resist the stick-insectish charms of David Tennant, but the BBC would probably start up a new channel just for him if he asked them. In this new four-parter, his comeback appearance after handing over... Read more... |
The Company Man, Orange Tree TheatreSunday, 10 October 2010
Why ironic? Because this is one fella whose bad temper risks isolating him altogether from human company - except that misery, we're told, loves companionship, in which case William's entire family is going down with the ship. Whether audiences will... Read more... |
Enlightenment, Hampstead TheatreWednesday, 06 October 2010
When, earlier this year, Edward Hall took the reins at the Hampstead Theatre, some eyebrows were raised. It’s meant to be a new-writing theatre and Hall has had much more experience directing Shakespeare than in tackling new plays. On the other hand... Read more... |
