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TV Review: The Capture

Lia Williams is all kinds of caustic brilliance in conspiracy thriller The Capture

“Accepting you can rarely see the whole picture is part of the job”

I’m working my way through the TV shows I can watch on my free trials on various services, which has lead me to The Capture which aired on BBC1 in late 2019 and somehow completely passed me by. This is particularly egregious since it features Lia Williams the kind of amazing top boss role that makes you wonder why she isn’t better known.

Created, written and directed by Ben Chanan, The Capture takes place in a surveillance state that not too long ago would have been described as a near-future dystopia but now, is just London on a Tuesday. In a society that closely monitors CCTV, so much of justice depends on the reliability of those camera image. But what happens when that confidence is eroded? Continue reading “TV Review: The Capture”

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News: 72-strong cast announced for Jermyn Street’s 12-hour Odyssey

Dame Janet Suzman, Miranda Raison, Michael Pennington, Jamael Westman and Kirsty Bushell among the 72 actors performing The Odyssey over 12 hours

In this digital theatrical first, Jermyn Street Theatre joins forces with The London Review Bookshop and publishers WW Norton to stage a live performance of all twenty-four books of Homer’s masterpiece Continue reading “News: 72-strong cast announced for Jermyn Street’s 12-hour Odyssey”

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News: Samuel Barnett, Janie Dee, Emma Williams and more join Bard From The Barn Series 3

The Barn Theatre’s third and final series of Bard From The Barn reveals a cast that includes Samuel Barnett, Janie Dee, Emma Williams, Seraphina Beh, Maanuv Thiara and more 

The Barn Theatre and Aaron Sidwell have announced the cast and creatives for the third and final series of their re-imagined Shakespeare series, Bard From The Barn.

The digital theatre series will return for a five-week series which reimagines William Shakespeare’s work to a modern-day setting. Continue reading “News: Samuel Barnett, Janie Dee, Emma Williams and more join Bard From The Barn Series 3”

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News: Bard from the Barn announced

The Barn Theatre in Cirencester have announced a new Shakespeare series which sees the Bard’s beloved monologues reimagined to fit into modern day lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic. The series will release a new monologue every weekday to the Barn Theatre’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts, beginning 20th April 2020.

The series, which is co-produced by actor Aaron Sidwell, director Hal Chambers and the Barn Theatre, forms part of the Barn Theatre’s free Behind The Barn Door streaming service, which airs on their Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts. The series is production co-ordinated by company stage manager Emma Smith. Continue reading “News: Bard from the Barn announced”

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Review: The Dog Beneath The Skin, Jermyn Street Theatre

Who knew that fascists could rhyme? WH Auden and Christopher Isherwood tackle inter-war Europe in The Dog Beneath The Skin at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London.

“Places sometimes look different when one comes back to them”

Proud Haddock’s production of Mrs Orwell was quite the success last year, earning a deserved transfer from the Old Red Lion to the Southwark Playhouse. And they continue their ethos of celebrating “unearthed stories from classical playwrights” with this revival of WH Auden and Christopher Isherwood’s 1935 play The Dog Beneath The Skin which rounds off the Jermyn Street Theatre’s Scandal season.

Mixing an almost fairytale-like quest with a stark warning to guard for the rise of fascism, it’s a fascinatingly drawn play. And Jimmy Walters’ production leans heavily into its curiosity with voiceover segments, drag cabarets and multiple songs (by Jeremy Warmsley) accompanying the lyrical twist of the rhyming couplets threaded throughout the script. With cleverly expressive movement work from Ste Clough, all this strangeness has a compelling quality to it. Continue reading “Review: The Dog Beneath The Skin, Jermyn Street Theatre”

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Review: Sunny Afternoon, Harold Pinter Theatre

To the tune of ‘Waterloo Sunset’

“First on in Hampstead, now Harold Pinter, this is a musical
‘Bout how The Kinks did, become a huge band, back catalogue got full
So a show, it got wrote
Joe Penhall’s book and, Ray Davies’ music, tell us their ups and down
Brothers Ray and Dave and their friends Mick and Pete, oh
They really, really wrote some good music though, lots of it sounds the same

Stalls in the theatre, have regular seating, apart from front and rear
Where seats are nailed down, round cabaret tables, chairs that don’t move are weird

But the show, it is strong
Three hours fly by, telling the story, most entertainingly
John Dagleish is good as Ray, George Maguire’s Dave too
But really, really Ed Hall’s cast is all fine, Dominic Tighe is mineWent with my friend Chris, liked it but I wish, I could have brought my dad
Music is more of, his generation, would have made him feel glad
But I will, see him soon
And maybe I’ll take him, one day to this show, it’s bound to run and run

Sunny Afternoon’s fine.”

Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes (with interval)
Booking until 23rd May
Photo: Kevin Cummins
NB: in all seriousness it is most enjoyable, even for someone who still can only really recognise 4 songs by The Kinks even though this is the second time I’ve seen the show. The accapella rendition of ‘Days’ is a spellbinding moment (pictured below) and I suppose it would have been nice to have had a little more of that musical invention though I’m just being extremely picky now. The soundtrack has been recorded by the cast and is available to buy here, feel free to buy me a copy 😉

 
 
 
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Short Film Review #43

Expectation Management – Episode 1

 

 

A blokey sitcom of sorts – episode 1 of Tupaq Felber’s Expectation Management has a great comic energy that centres on Owen’s inability to hold down a relationship with a girl. The advice he gets from his friends isn’t necessarily the most constructive though but highly entertaining to watch.

 

 

Supermarket Girl

 

Directed by Matt Greenhalgh and written by Alex Walker, Supermarket Girl is a delicately moving love story between two solitary misfits working in a large supermarket somewhere in the north. Andy and Michelle share more than they realise as their loneliness manifests itself in self-destructive behaviour but slowly, they edge towards a better place. Matthew Beard and Nichola Burley are both excellent as the sweet pair and it makes for a lovely film. 

Continue reading “Short Film Review #43”

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Review: Sunny Afternoon, Hampstead Theatre

“I am so lazy, I don’t want to wander, I stay at home at night”

I am the wrong age for a Kinks musical to make me particularly excited, nor were they really a part of my family’s soundtrack whilst growing up so there was little reason for me to get too excited about Sunny Afternoon at the Hampstead Theatre. Indeed, even my personal alert service notifying me that Dominic Tighe appears in a police uniform (albeit briefly) scarcely raised my attention which is most unlike me. But with the end of the run fast approaching, a rumoured transfer as yet unconfirmed and someone willing to queue, I found myself at the final show.

Where I enjoyed myself mostly. Aiming itself above the jukebox format but still coming across as a luxury version thereof, it is paper-thin stuff, clearly far too in reverence of its still-living protagonists (one imagines Joe Penhall writing the book with Ray Davies hovering over his shoulder). The focus is far too much on Ray rather than the band as a whole or even the excitement of 60s Britain and so one is left waiting for the songs, which are undoubtedly extremely well done. Miriam Buether enjoys the chance to reconfigure the auditorium once again with her design and Ed Hall keeps a pulsing energy about the piece although it would be nice to see a show like this that doesn’t force the jollity quite so much at the end… 

So whilst glad I caught it, my instinct that it was missable was on the nose. And for my money, ‘Waterloo Sunset’ is a Cathy Dennis song (and I had the cassingle to prove it).

Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes (with interval)
Booking until 24th May

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TV Review: WPC 56, Series 1

“Never forget your sole responsibility is to help the men”

I somehow managed to let the first series of WPC 56 pass me by last year. It may have played in the afternoons on BBC1 but anything starring Kieran Bew ought to have been much more firmly on my radar. So in advance of the new series starting, I was pleased to see a rerun which I was able to catch on the good old iPlayer. Created by Dominique Moloney, it tells the story of Gina Dawson, the first Woman Police Constable to join Brinford Constabulary in the West Midlands.

The show managed a great balance between following Dawson’s struggles to be accepted in such a male-orientated work environment – battling not only misogynistic colleagues but also an uncomprehending family and partner – and the series-long narrative about a potential serial killer and the disappearance of two local boys. Over five episodes of 45 minutes, I have to say I really enjoyed it, and not only for Bew’s DI Burns (although that was something of a boon). Continue reading “TV Review: WPC 56, Series 1”