At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Tag: National Theatre

  • Pericles at the National Theatre review *****

    Pericles National Theatre Olivier, 26th August 2018 So how do you like your theatre? Or more particularly how do your like your Shakespeare? Utterly faithful to the First Folio? Set in the time and place that big Will intended (however baffling)? All blokes in tights? Performed by elite, public school…

  • Exit the King at the National Theatre review ****

    Exit the King National Theatre Olivier, 15th August 2018 My first Ionesco play, albeit in a version adapted by ubiquitous wunderkind Patrick Marber, (one day the image of Peter O’Hanraha-hanrahan that pops up at the mention of his name will pass), and, all things considered I liked what I saw…

  • Julie at the National Theatre review ***

    Julie National Theatre Lyttleton, 9th June 2018 I am not sure if I like Strindberg’s play Miss Julie. The programme notes for this adaptation of the story by Polly Stenham explicitly deals with Strindberg’s rampant misogyny and class hatred. Whilst setting, plot and, to a certain extent, the bare bones…

  • Translations at the National Theatre review ****

    Translations National Theatre Olivier, 6th June 2018 At the end of the day it is all about the words. That’s theatre. The power of language. Which is exactly what Brian Friel’s play is all about. A modern classic, first seen in 1980, in Derry (with Stephen Rea, Liam Neeson and…

  • Nine Night at the National Theatre review *****

    Nine Night National Theatre Dorfman, 3rd May 2018 You never quite know what you are going to get at the National Theatre. Mind you the Dorfman has turned into a pretty safe bet. After a painful 90 minutes, (it seemed much longer), sitting through the first half of Absolute Hell…

  • Macbeth at the National Theatre review ***

    Macbeth National Theatre Olivier, 14th April 2018 Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more This was frustrating. No way of hiding it. It promised so much. A Macbeth. With Rory Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff,…

  • The Great Wave at the National Theatre review ****

    The Great Wave National Theatre, 24th Mar 2018 Now theatre can do a lot of things. Delve deep into the psychology of characters and shed light on the human condition. Convey a passionate and heartfelt message. Put poetry into the mouths of actors. Dispense shock and awe through sound, light…

  • A (flawed) guide to London theatres

    When I was a young teenager I took to making up some very odd games. I wasn’t lonely, with a handful of very good friends as I remember, and my very earliest encounters with the ladies were amongst my most successful, since my true nature, an awkward mix of the…

  • Network at the National Theatre review *****

    Network National Theatre Lyttleton, 9th March 2018 Right then. Finally got to see Network. Booked early but this was the first date that BUD, KCK and the Blonde Bombshells could collectively make. A bit nervous because the last time we wheeled the Bombshells out to an Ivo van Hove entertainment…

  • John at the National Theatre review *****

    John National Theatre (Dorfman), 6th February 2018 I would be very wary of playwright Annie Baker if I were you. She will bewitch you. Magical powers. That is the only way to explain John. Nothing really dramatic happens, the setting doesn’t change and the words, initially at least, seem quite…