At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Tag: Anton Chekhov

• Acting Adventure Age Beauty Charity Classics Comedy Concert Culture Film Italy London Narcissism Opera Passion Physical Theatre Politics Power Shakespeare Technology Theatre Tragedy

  Catching up (Part 4)

  January 2021 to April 2021 The novelty of digital entertainment by now very much worn off but, fortunately, there were plenty of other worthwhile distractions (the return of birdwatching after four decades perhaps the most surprising) for the Tourist to mask the lack of live cultural stimulation. (And travel, which…

  November 10, 2021
• Colonialism Culture Family London Nationhood Nigeria Theatre War

  Three Sisters at the National Theatre review ***

  Three Sisters National Theatre Lyttleton, 9th December 2019 Opportunity partially missed I am afraid. Inua Ellams has come up with a brilliant idea by transporting Chekhov to 1960s Nigeria, specifically during the Biafaran Civil War. Yet his urge to educate and contextualise leaves the dialogue heavy on exposition. And, in…

  January 29, 2020
• Culture Fiction London Love Naturalism Relationship Sweden Theatre

  Creditors at the Jermyn Street Theatre review ****

  Creditors Jermyn Street Theatre, 27th April 2019 I am still tiptoeing my way into Strindberg. A long history of ignoring him after an early dismissal many years ago was corrected with the companion piece to this, a version of Miss Julie, also translated by Howard Brenton, also directed by JST…

  May 10, 2019
• Culture Family London Russia Theatre Time

  Three Sisters at the Almeida Theatre review ****

  Three Sisters Almeida Theatre, 25th April 2019 It creeps up on you this Three Sisters. As with her feted take on Tennessee Williams’s neglected Summer and Smoke last year, Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall is unafraid of letting the play take its time to unfold and delivers a similar, dreamy…

  May 8, 2019
• Capitalism Culture Germany London Politics Power Russia Theatre

  The Good Person of Szechwan at the Barbican Theatre review ****

  The Good Person of Szechwan Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre, Barbican Theatre, 9th February 2019 I am a sucker for these Russian theatre companies. Despite the fact that I can’t say I was bowled over by the last visits of the Maly Drama Theatre of St Petersburg and the Vakhtangov State…

  February 27, 2019
• Culture London Theatre

  The best theatre coming up in London

  It’s been a little while since the Tourist set out his favourite theatre opportunities either on now (in the case of Nine Night), or coming up over the year in London. Nothing too obscure or fringe-y here. Tried and trusted in terms of writer, director, cast and/or venue. The first…

  February 14, 2019
• Culture London Politics Theatre

  I’m Not Running at the National Theatre review ***

  I’m Not Running National Theatre Lyttleton, 22nd January 2019 If you have a moment one day take a look at the writing credits of David Hare, both for stage and screen. There are a lot, including some of the finest dramas written in the English language over the past four…

  February 12, 2019
• Culture London Russia Theatre

  Uncle Vanya at the Hampstead Theatre review ****

  Uncle Vanya Hampstead Theatre, 12th January 2019 Should you be tempted to follow the Tourist into a life of excess …. theatre-going … then I have a warning. These luvvies do put on a lot of Shakespeare. No surprise there I guess. But they also really, really love their Chekhov.…

  January 23, 2019
• Culture Ireland London Russia Theatre

  Chekhov’s First Play at the Battersea Arts Centre review ***

  Chekhov’s First Play Battersea Arts Centre, 5th November 2018 Some venerable theatre grandees have had a crack a knocking Anton Chekhov’s first play into shape. The venerable Lev Dodin and The Maly Theatre presented a version based on Chekhov’s own text, albeit with nine characters chopped out and a jazz…

  November 16, 2018
• Culture History Ireland London Religion Theatre

  Aristocrats at the Donmar Warehouse review ****

  Aristocrats Donmar Warehouse, 20th September 2018 Brian Friel, like his own dramatist hero Chekhov, can take a bit of time to get going. Faith Healer, at this theatre a couple of years ago, exerted a vice like grip on me from the open, though that may have been because it…

  October 2, 2018