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News: National Theatre adds new productions to streaming platform NT at Home

The National Theatre has announced the latest productions to be made available on its National Theatre at Home streaming platform. Launching today, the Young Vic and Joshua Andrews’ production of Tennessee Williams’ timeless masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire featuring Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois, Ben Foster as Stanley and Vanessa Kirby as Stella, the NT’s recent production of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood with Michael Sheen and Nadia Fall’s verbatim play Home that explores homelessness in the UK featuring Michaela Coel. New productions are added each month and since launching in December 2020, there are now 31 productions available to stream on the platform.

It is also announced today some of the productions that audiences can expect to see on the platform in the coming months. Those productions are confirmed to include Antony & Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo in the title roles; Hedda Gabler with Ruth Wilson in the title role; Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls in the Lyttelton theatre from 2019; Sally Cookson’s 2017 production of Peter Pan; Yaël Farber’s Salomé and James Graham’s political drama This House, alongside current NT productions; Kae Tempest’s Paradise with Lesley Sharp and Winsome Pinnock’s Rockets and Blue Lights. Ian McKellen on Stage will also join the platform this autumn for audiences outside the UK and Ireland. It is currently available in the UK and Ireland for Amazon Prime subscribers. Continue reading “News: National Theatre adds new productions to streaming platform NT at Home”

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Reviews: Constellations, Vaudeville Theatre

The Donmar West End production of Constellations launches its first two casts in Sheila Atim & Ivanno Jeremiah and Peter Capaldi & Zoë Wanamaker at the Vaudeville Theatre

“One drink. And if you never want to see me again you never have to see me again.”

With the Donmar currently getting a lick of paint, Michael Longhurst has decided to revive his production of Nick Payne’s Constellations with a pandemic-friendly attention-grabbing model that fits neatly with Payne’s exploration of the multiverse. Four different casts take on the two-hander over the run, pushing it variously in terms of age, sexuality and race.

As if there was any doubting this is a show I like, you can read my reviews from upstairs at the Royal Court to its West End transfer to its bow on Broadway to the UK tour which also popped into the West End. And it is a real pleasure to be able to delve back into its playful structure which tracks the infinite possibilities of the relationship between quantum physicist Marianne and beekeeper Roland. Continue reading “Reviews: Constellations, Vaudeville Theatre”

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News: Constellations returns to the West End and how!

Constellations returns to the West End and how! One of my favourite plays, with four different casts?!  Amazing stuff.

“One drink. And if you never want to see me again you never have to see me again.”

This summer Nick Payne’s beautiful and heartbreaking romance Constellations is revived in the West End with a twist: four different casts take turns to journey through the multiverse exploring the infinite possibilities of a relationship; each refracting the play afresh. Starring Sheila Atim and Ivanno Jeremiah (18th June – 1st August), Peter Capaldi and Zoë Wanamaker (23rd June – 24th July), Omari Douglas and Russell Tovey (30th July – 11th September), and Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O’Dowd (6th August – 12th September).

It’s a play I’ve followed as much as I can since it premiered upstairs at the Royal Court. From its West End transfer to its bow on Broadway, from the UK tour which also popped into the West End to the Southwark Playhouse production which never happened (very in keeping with the play!), plus there’s the new radio production which I’ve got lined up to listen to very soon. Safe to say I am handling my expectations very well and am in no way over-excited and chomping at the bit to book in to see the same show at least 4 times in less than 3 months…! See you there?

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News: November news aplenty

An unnecessary amount of theatre news exploded forth today, maybe everyone was just too busy watching CNN all of last week…  I’m just going to rattle through it all quickly to save everyone time.

Jason Robert Brown’s Songs From A New World will play the Vaudeville Theatre for a month from 5th February. David Hunter, Rachel John, Cedric Neal , Rachel Tucker and Shem Omari James, who all reprise their roles from the London Palladium gigs in October.

The previously announced Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent’s A Christmas Carol has revealed its supporting cast around Brian Conley’s Scrooge. Lucie Jones, Sandra Marvin, Martyn Ellis, Cedric Neal, Jeremy Secomb, Matt Jay-Willis and Jacqueline Jossa will join him at the Dominion Theatre from 7th December. Continue reading “News: November news aplenty”

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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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News: Jennifer Lunn wins The Popcorn Writing Award 2020

Jennifer Lunn has been awarded the The Popcorn Writing Award 2020 for her play Es and Flo, and receives a cash prize of £2,500.  The other Finalists are Matilda Ibini (awarded £1,500) and Chris Thompson (£1,000) with Camilla Whitehill receiving a Special Mention (£500).

The Popcorn Writing Award, with a prize fund of £5,500, was established in 2019 to champion fearless work at the annual Edinburgh Fringe festival which playfully and artistically questions and addresses current affairs, societal trends and contributes positively to public debate. Continue reading “News: Jennifer Lunn wins The Popcorn Writing Award 2020”

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Lockdown treat: Taika Waititi and friends read James and the Giant Peach

Join Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Taika Waititi as he reads James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, in full across 10 episodes, to raise money for @Partners In Health.

Over the series, Taika will be joined by Utkarsh Ambudkar, Cate Blanchett, Jamie Cullum, Benedict Cumberbatch, Roman Griffin Davis, Cara Delevingne, Cynthia Erivo, Beanie Feldstein, Josh Gad, Chris Hemsworth, Liam Hemsworth, Mindy Kaling, Nick Kroll, Kumail Nanjiani, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Billy Porter, Gordon Ramsay, Eddie Redmayne, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Schwartz, Meryl Streep, Tessa Thompson, Olivia Wilde, Ruth Wilson and Archie Yates, with a select number of celebrities still to be announced.

If you can, please visit http://www.pih.org/giantpeach to donate NOW. The Roald Dahl Story Company and their partners will be matching every single donation. New episodes released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6pm BST / 1pm EST / 10 PST. Continue reading “Lockdown treat: Taika Waititi and friends read James and the Giant Peach”

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News: how much Ruth Wilson is too much Ruth Wilson?

Ruth Wilson to star in the UK premiere of The Second Woman at the Young Vic, a co-production with LIFT Festival

This is a trick question obviously, since you can never have too much Ruth Wilson. That said, this assumption will be tested by The Second Woman, in which she plays the exact same scene over and over with 100 different men, a production which thus lasts for a full 24 hours.

Taking inspiration from the 1977 John Cassavetes film Opening Night, the show “sits at the intersection of performance, video and film” and it really is a unique opportunity to see the two-time Olivier award-winner, Golden Globe winner, and Tony and BAFTA nominated Wilson. It’ll be quite the feat of endurance to watch it all too, so naturally yours truly will be at the Young Vic fighting the battle to stay awake for the whole damn thing! Continue reading “News: how much Ruth Wilson is too much Ruth Wilson?”

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10 of my top moments of the decade

Ever behind the curve, I present 10 of my top moments in a theatre over the last ten years (plus a few bonus extra ones because whittling down this list was hard, and it will probably be different tomorrow anyway!)

© James Bellorini

Extraordinary Public Acts for a National Theatre

The establishment of the Public Acts programme at the National Theatre offered up something sensational in Pericles, an initiative designed to connect grassroot community organisations with major theatres, resulting in a production that swept over 200 non-professional performers onto the stage of the Olivier to create something that moved me more than 99% of professional productions.  A truly joyous and momentous occasion. 

Honourable mention: this year’s musical take on As You Like It proved just as heart-swellingly beautiful over at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch. Continue reading “10 of my top moments of the decade”