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Review: Royal Court’s Living Newspaper #6

Moments of dark humour are scattered throughout Edition #6 of the Royal Court’s Living Newspaper but elsewhere it is a bit more hit and miss

“I loved every minute of it, yeah, fuck it, why not, five stars!”

Originally planned as a six-edition run, the Royal Court’s Living Newspaper will actually be gaining a bonus seventh instalment with pieces written by writers aged 14-21. But Edition #6 is now live with its intention of  exploring “the strange and contradictory relationship between a closed theatre building and the world outside; asking questions about why we gather together and who we might have lost when we do so again”.

There are some short, sharp stabs of real brilliance here. Stacey Gregg picking through the minefield that is talking about Northern Ireland whether in English, ISL or BSL; Rory Mullarkey raking theatre critics over the coals in the highly amusing This Play (Louisa Harland, Sule Rimi and Micllicent Wong clearly having lots of fun); Amy Bethan Evans’ scabrously funny take on the agony aunt in Neurodiverge-Aunt, delivered beautifully by Cian Binchy. Continue reading “Review: Royal Court’s Living Newspaper #6”

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News: writers and cast for Living Newspaper #6

The cast and writers of Edition 6 of Living Newspaper have been announced. It will be written by Pamela Carter, Hester Chillingworth, Tim Crouch, Molly Davies, Amy Bethan Evans, Robert Alan Evans, Stacey Gregg, Rose Lewenstein, Simon Longman, Rory Mullarkey, Lettie Precious, Pavel Pryazhko, Testament, Joe Ward Munrow, Kit Withington and Rachael Young. Pavel Pryazhko’s contribution will be translated by Sasha Dugdale.

Edition 6 explores the strange and contradictory relationship between a closed theatre building and the world outside; asking questions about why we gather together and who we might have lost when we do so again. It takes us on a journey from the familiarity of an old English pub, down the streets of Belarus, into the heady territory of global financial markets, stop briefly on a quiet park bench before bringing us back into the heart of the Royal Court itself. Continue reading “News: writers and cast for Living Newspaper #6”

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Review: Gundog, Royal Court

“Just make them shag each other and sell all the littluns to rich people who want pets of something”

There’s something unremittingly bleak about Simon Longman’s Gundog that makes it a real challenge. It’s an impressively bold depiction of the complete decline of a way of life, the kind of rural farming that the Common Agricultural Policy hasn’t managed to reach and protect. None of the loneliness or impoverished desperation is spared in what can feel a tad like punishment by the end. 

After the death of their parents, and with their grandfather’s illness and their brother’s listlessness, sisters Anna and Becky find themselves landed with the thankless task of looking after the remotest of farms in an area that can’t even sustain a local pub. The arrival of a foreigner with a nifty line in knitwear is a rare harkening of the potential of change but we’re never allowed to forget that times really are tough.   Continue reading “Review: Gundog, Royal Court”

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News: Paines Plough announces their 2018 programme

As Paines Plough’s 2017 Roundabout season of Brad Birch’s Black Mountain, Elinor Cook’s Out Of Love and Sarah McDonald-Hughes’ How To Be A Kid – co-produced with the Orange Tree Theatre and Theatr Clwyd – arrives in London (running until 3rd March), news of their 2018 programme has now been announced.

Roundabout 2018 features world premieres from Georgia Christou (How To Spot An Alien), Simon Longman (Island Town) and Vinay Patel (Sticks and Stones) in co-production with Theatr Clywd and after opening there in Wales, will tour to  touring to The Lowry (Salford), Brewery Arts Centre (Kendal), Lighthouse (Poole), Theatre Royal Margate, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, Appetite (Stoke-on-Trent), Darlington Theatre Town and Luton Culture. Continue reading “News: Paines Plough announces their 2018 programme”