play
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Top Ten Ghost Plays for Halloween!
10. Ghost Stories by Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman I wanted to like this more than I did. Ticks the box for scares and I loved the frame narrative. The actual ghost stories it contained were a little underwhelming and ultimately relied on a tired trope which could do with some revision. 09. Macbeth by Continue reading
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“This entire story about who you are may remain intact”: The Nether by Jennifer Haley
With a greater distance of time, Jennifer Haley’s 2013 play The Nether can live a little more freely than when it debuted. I think there is a tendency when a work of science fiction first appears (particularly those that are set, like The Nether, “soon”) to judge it on its short term predictive abilities and Continue reading
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The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
First time that I’ve read a play by Martin McDonagh. Having seen several of his films I had a sense of what to expect – dark humour, bursts of wince inducing violence and distinctive, intelligently drawn characters who speak with linguistic fire and flair. And The Pillowman certainly delivers these elements with gusto. The play’s Continue reading
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The Stepmother by Githa Sowerby
This was a relief. Sowerby’s first play, Rutherford and Son placed a small but firm dent in the canonically male bastions of early 20th century British drama. Despite writing another six plays, the discouragement of a female talent by the theatrical establishment left her work neglected and under produced. Revivals of Rutherford and Son have Continue reading
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This Week’s Read: The History Boys by Alan Bennett.
I’d always had a bit of an aversion to Alan Bennett, based on a host of preconceived notions – too cosy, too middle class, too middle aged, all a bit safe – but The History Boys has quite the reputation as a modern classic. So did it dispel my prejudices? To some extent. The play Continue reading
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This Week’s Reads: Boys by Ella Hickson; Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart
Boys by Ella Hickson (2012) Achieving an authentic and believable depiction of young students being young is a difficult task. As the sex, drugs and bin bags full of rubbish built up in the squalid shared kitchen setting I was prepared to have my inner Daily Mail reader harrumph and eye roll while muttering about Continue reading
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Apparently I have to apologise: Giant by Mark Rosenblatt
How can art tackle the huge, intractable and infinitely complex issues that bedevil history, politics and society? Often taking a macro lens to one facet of something that feels vast and impossible to express in two hours of stage traffic can forge a story that feels both manageable and illuminating, using the personal as one Continue reading
The Read Through 