Posted on

Radio review: Constellations / Elegy / The Meaning of Zong

Less reviews, more notifications that a wonderful radio version of Nick Payne’s Constellations is now available to listen to on Radio 3, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and George Mackay. It’s well worth your time but be warned, it could well lead to expensive splurges to see the four forthcoming West End casts of Sheila Atim and Ivanno Jeremiah, Peter Capaldi and Zoë Wanamaker, Omari Douglas and Russell Tovey, and Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O’Dowd.

Sasha Yevtushenko also directs a production of Elegy as part of this double bill, a play which I don’t remember half as fondly, despite a strong cast at the Donmar Warehouse. Here again, Juliet Stevenson, Deborah Findlay and Marilyn Nnadebe elevate the production to must-listen levels but it just isn’t as gut-wrenchingly affecting a piece of writing in the end.

Last up is Giles Terera’s The Meaning of Zong, the debut play for this talented performer which is now receiving its premiere on radio. It’s an extraordinary dramatisation of a shocking piece of British history that very few of us will know about, one which is vital to add to the discourse that has emerged since last summer and a play that must be put on major stages as soon as we can.

Posted on

Graduates at Cadogan Hall concert #1

The first concert in the Graduates at Cadogan Hall offers a fantastic online showcase for 13 fresh musical theatre graduates

COVID-19 hasn’t been a great time for many people but it has been particularly cruel on those who would have graduated during this time, robbing them of those rites of passage but also for theatre grads, the more valuable opportunity to showcase their talents. Graduates at Cadogan Hall is the brainchild of Ameena Hamid Productions and The Grad Fest, offering an online showcase for 40 2020 and 2021 graduates, who got to sing at Cadogan Hall with the brilliant Sam Young accompanying them, whilst also supporting the Acting for Others charity.

The programme is divided into three separate hour-long concerts and this first one has a whole raft of special guests, introduced as it is by Grace Mouat and sprinkled with gorgeous messages of support from those who know exactly what the struggles are, from the fabulous Anika Noni Rose, Alexia McIntosh, Gary Wilmot and Juliet Stevenson too. And since the concert is about celebrating all of these performers, I’ve opted to do things a little differently with this posts, giving everyone their moment to shine. So click on an image, read little mini reviews of their performances and get connected with them on socials to get their careers kickstarted in this different way. Continue reading “Graduates at Cadogan Hall concert #1”

Posted on

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”

Posted on

Review: Little Wars

A fabulous cast make this rehearsed reading of Steven Carl McCasland’s play Little Wars an interesting choice to stream

“What happens next?”

Raising money in aid of Women For Refugee Women, Ginger Quiff Media in collaboration with the Union Theatre have brought together a stellar cast of some of our finest actors for a rehearsed reading of Steven Carl McCasland’s play Little Wars. It is a weighty and wordy play but streaming passes last for 24 hours so you can always give yourself the interval(s) you need.

The drama imagines a dinner party between six women of considerable note. Its the early 1940s and Gertrude Stein and her girlfriend Alice Toklas are hosting an intimate soirée at their salon in the French Alps. Writers Lillian Hellman and Agatha Christie are expected but when the bell rings, it is anti-fascist freedom fighter Muriel Gardiner at the door. Continue reading “Review: Little Wars”

Posted on

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”

Posted on

News: top casting for Little Wars revival

Linda Bassett, Juliet Stevenson and Sophie Thompson are among the cast for a digital revival of Little Wars

The marvellous Juliet Stevenson leads an all-star female cast in the online revival of US creative Steven Carl McCasland’s dinner party drama, Little Wars. Joining Stevenson will be Linda Bassett (Call The Midwife; East is East), Debbie Chazen (The Smoking Room; The Girls, West End), Natasha Karp (Rags, Park Theatre; The Kite Runner, West End), Catherine Russell (Holby City; What The Butler Saw, Curve Theatre), Sarah Solemani (Him & Her; Bad Education), and Sophie Thompson (Feel Good; Present Laughter, Old Vic). Continue reading “News: top casting for Little Wars revival”

Posted on

Lockdown film review: Departure (2015)

Not even Juliet Stevenson and gay French holiday romances can really make this Departure land in a satisfying way

“We’re in France, French people talk about these things”

Near the top of my list of films to finally get around to watching, where it has been for a while, is Departure, written and directed by Andrew Steggall. His is a name that is familiar to me from the days when I regularly reviewed short films, as The Door was one of the more moodily memorable of those. Departure marked his feature film debut and with its heady mixture of gay boys on French holidays and Juliet Stevenson, it’s a wonder it has taken me this long to get round to watching it.

In some ways it does live up to that anticipation. Alex Lawther plays Elliott, a moody teenager marooned in the Languedoc village where his mother is packing up their family holiday home. His attention is far more focused on the strapping Clément who ends up helping with the move  and in turn, offering something for Stevenson’s Beatrice to also be swayed by. Lawther plays the hypersensitive Elliott with a neatly sharp edge of self-absorption and what a joy it must be to have Stevenson in your cast – you can just write *cries in car* and she delivers heartbreaking work. Continue reading “Lockdown film review: Departure (2015)”