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Film Review: Cordelia (2019)

Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Johnny Flynn lead psychological thriller Cordelia through its uneasy relationship with reality

“You’re tortured by guilt”

There’s a lot of double duty going on in Cordelia, with writers Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Adrian Shergold also taking on the roles of leading actor and director respectively. Not only that, Campbell-Hughes plays twin sisters Cordelia and Caroline in a quirkily, dark movie that lurks somewhere close to psychological horror. Rather randomly, it also marks the debut of Sally Hawkins as an executive producer. 

After a traumatic event some 12 years ago, Cordelia has retreated from the world. A RADA-trained actress, she has now scored a part in the company of a production of King Lear at the Donmar and so can no longer remain holed up in the basement flat she shares with her sister in London. Over the course of a weekend when Caroline is away, Cordelia’s dalliances with the outside world are shaped, for better or worse, by her growing connection with the handsome cellist who lives upstairs. Continue reading “Film Review: Cordelia (2019)”

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News: Audible to release new readings of Virginia Woolf

Vanessa Kirby, Kristin Scott Thomas, Samuel Barnett and more star in Audible’s Virginia Woolf Collection

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2021, Audible has released a new version of Virginia Woolf’s iconic collection with an all-star cast.

The Virginia Woolf Collection stars Oscar winner Tilda Swinton; five-time BAFTA Award winner and Olivier Award nominee Kristin Scott Thomas; award-winning actress Jessie Buckley; BAFTA winning Vanessa Kirby; Adetomiwa Edun, Johnny Flynn; Juliet Stevenson, Andrea Riseborough, Tracy Ifeachor and Samuel Barnett. Continue reading “News: Audible to release new readings of Virginia Woolf”

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Review: Good Grief, Platform Presents

Straddling the line between theatre and film, Good Grief is a two-hander with moments of searing insight

“I’m going to put it back in the Sad Room”

Rehearsed on Zoom, filmed in a studio, released in lockdown, this production of Lorien Haynes’ Good Grief finds that this might actually be the right time for this play. At 45 minutes, it would be tricky to programme in a theatre but for our online viewing attention spans, it feels just about right.

After the death of a young woman, the play tracks the grieving process for her husband and best friend at various intervals over several months. From late night chats to arguments in IKEA car parks, debates over what to do with her possessions and what to put on her headstone, it’s a deeply felt exploration of what it is like to live with the constant reverberations of grief. Continue reading “Review: Good Grief, Platform Presents”

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Film Review: The Dig (2021)

Simon Stone creates a beautifully warm Britflick in the gentle Sutton Hoo drama The Dig

“Don’t let Ipswich Museum take your glory”

If you had to guess which particular avant-garde theatre director was responsible for The Dig, I’m pretty sure no-one would plump for Simon Stone. But after blistering takes on the likes of Medea, Yerma and The Wild Duck, UK historico-fiction is where we’ve ended up and what a rather lovely thing it is.

Written by Moira Buffini from John Preston’s novel, The Dig takes the true story of the Sutton Hoo excavation, when a self-taught archaeologist unearthed an Anglo-Saxon burial mound, and builds a world of classic English emotional restraint around it, even as amazing treasure is revealed. Continue reading “Film Review: The Dig (2021)”

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Book review: Time To Act – Simon Annand

Simon Annand’s Time To Act is a beautiful book of photos capturing actors in the minutes before they go on stage

Tackling the constraints of the pandemic in its own way, Simon Annand’s fantastic new book of photos Time To Act has launched a virtual exhibition of some of the photographs which has now been extended to until Christmas. It’s an ingenious way of sharing some of the hundreds of images from the book and should surely whet the appetite for either just buying it now or putting on your list for Santa to collect soon.

Continue reading “Book review: Time To Act – Simon Annand”

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Lockdown film review: Emma. (2020)

Autumn de Wilder offers an Emma. with a contemporary sensibility but not much sense

“Mother, you MUST sample the tart!”

You don’t see Jane Austen much at the theatre. Her situation notwithstanding, over the years I think I’ve only seen a single Pride and Prejudice and a vibrant Persuasion (plus countless Austentatious inventions), adaptations of her work just don’t seem to pop up in theatres with much regularity at all. I wonder why that is for there’s certainly no lack of them on our screens.

I wasn’t much of a fan of the Gwyneth Paltrow-starring film but loved both the TV versions I’ve seen with Kate Beckinsdale and particularly with Romola Garai. This latest iteration of Emma., directed by Autumn de Wilde and adapted by Eleanor Catton, only hit cinemas recently but due to coronavirus restrictions, found its way pleasingly quickly onto on-demand services. Continue reading “Lockdown film review: Emma. (2020)”

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Theatre World Awards 2017-2018

Anthony Boyle – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Jamie Brewer – Amy and the Orphans
Noma Dumezweni – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Johnny Flynn – Hangmen
Denise Gough – Angels in America
Harry Hadden-Paton – My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore – Once on This Island
James McArdle – Angels in America
Lauren Ridloff – Children of a Lesser God
Ethan Slater – SpongeBob SquarePants
Charlie Stemp – Hello, Dolly!
Katy Sullivan – Cost of Living

Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater: Ben Edelman, Admissions

John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre: Victor Garber

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Nominations for the 2018 Drama Desk Awards

Outstanding Play
Admissions, by Joshua Harmon, Lincoln Center Theater
Mary Jane, by Amy Herzog, New York Theatre Workshop
Miles for Mary, by The Mad Ones, Playwrights Horizons
People, Places & Things, by Duncan Macmillan, National Theatre/St. Ann’s Warehouse/Bryan Singer Productions/Headlong
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, by Jocelyn Bioh, MCC Theater

Outstanding Musical
Desperate Measures, The York Theatre Company
KPOP, Ars Nova/Ma-Yi Theatre Company/Woodshed Collective
Mean Girls
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, 2b Theatre Company/59E59
SpongeBob SquarePants Continue reading “Nominations for the 2018 Drama Desk Awards”

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Nominations for 2017-2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards

John Gassner Playwriting Award
Kate Benson, [PORTO]
Jocelyn Bioh, School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play
Lindsey Ferrentino, Army and the Orphans
Meghan Kennedy, Napoli, Brooklyn
Dominique Morisseau, Pipeline

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Carousel
David M. Lutken, Woody Sez
Conor Ryan, Desperate Measures
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants
Continue reading “Nominations for 2017-2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards”