Category: History
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Small Island at the National Theatre review *****
Small Island National Theatre Olivier If you know Andrea Levy’s Small Island either from the original 2004 book, (not me I confess), or the 2009 Two part BBC adaptation with script from Sarah Williams and Paula Milne and starring the inimitable Ruth Wilson and Naomie Harris then you will know…
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A German Life at the Bridge Theatre review ****
A German Life Bridge Theatre, 15th April 2019 It is pretty easy when you spend as much time consuming theatre as the Tourist to go full on luvvie and get well carried away with the “genius” of playwrights, directors, creatives and, especially, actors. So you would probably be wise to…
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Blood Knot at the Orange Tree Theatre review ***
Blood Knot Orange Tree Theatre, 19th March 2019 To date I have only seen two plays by Athol Fugard. Both bravely examine racial politics in a South Africa divided by apartheid. Both are two-handers examining the relationship between two men, John and Winston, two prisoners on Robben Island practicing for…
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Shipwreck at the Almeida Theatre review *****
Shipwreck Almeida Theatre, 18th March 2019 The Tourist, as this blog shows, is a nice bloke given to giving creatives the benefit of the doubt. Hence the string of positive reviews on these pages. He likes to think that he is wise in his choice of entertainment. The reality is…
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Richard III at the Alexandra Park Theatre review ***
Richard III Headlong, Alexandra Park Theatre, 17th March 2019 Right. Let’s get the gripe out of the way. Maybe in the smaller venues where this production will tour it might creep up to a 4* but Alexandra Park Theatre, whilst an undeniably superb space after the refurbishment, is just a…
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I Am Ashurbanipal exhibition at the British Museum review ****
I Am Ashurbanipal King of the World, King of Assyria British Museum, 15th February 2019 Crikey. Those Assyrians had a way with reliefs carved in gypsum/alabaster. Even if it was primarily all in the service of terrifying aggrandisement. The King hunting, the King and his soldiers slaying his enemies, the…
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The American Clock at the Old Vic review ***
The American Clock Old Vic Theatre, 11th February 2019 All the reviews will tell you the same thing. This was not one of Arthur Miller’s finest moments. Mind you his finest moments are amongst the greatest in theatrical history so the bar is set pretty high. A series of vignettes,…
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Rosenbaum’s Rescue at the Park Theatre review ***
Rosenbaum’s Rescue Park Theatre 200, 29th January 2018 Not quite sure why this didn’t entirely work for me. Alexander Bodin Sophir takes an intriguing story, the escape of 7500 Jews by boat from Copenhagen to Sweden in 1943 just before the Nazis were about to round them up, and puts…
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Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields at King’s Place review *****
Bang on a Can All Stars, BBC Singers, Tecwyn Evans (conductor) Kings Place Hall One, 19th January 2019 I had heard a few snippets of Julia Wolfe’s compositions but freely admit this was a bit of a leap into the unknown. Still what I had heard seemed interesting, I was keen…
At Home He Feels Like A Tourist 