Tezza's Theatre Place

King Charles III by Mike Bartlett Imagine that you have been waiting for something your entire life. That you knew, no matter what else happened in the world, your destiny was preordained and nothing could be done to change it. Then suddenly, you are catapulted into that position and you are in charge. That’s what happens to the main character in Mike Bartlett’s play  King Charles III  which has just opened at the Tower Theatre. The Queen is dead and, in accordance with tradition, the country has a new monarch in the shape of her eldest son King Charles III (Martin South). After a lifetime of waiting, the new king, supported by his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (Jo Nevin) is ready to take up the reins of monarchy and rule until it he is no more and the succession is handed on to the next generation in the shape of his eldest son Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (Dan Draper) and his popular wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Helen McGill). One of the first t...

Tyler Luke Cunningham (Lee) credit – Idil Sukan. Hercule Poirot once said that “ It is a profound belief of mine that if you can induce a person to talk to you for long enough, on any subject whatever! Sooner or later they will give themselves away. ” And, in his various cases, this has often proved to be the case. Conversations are a potentially dangerous thing, particularly when two people don’t know each other very well, because no matter how hard someone may try to conceal themselves, the longer they talk the more they are likely to give away. And conversations are at the heart of Gabriel Gbadamosi’s new play  Stop and Search  which has just opened at the Arcola Theatre. In fact, three separate but linked conversations make up this 90-minute one-act production. The first takes place in a car under the driving through a road tunnel under the alps. Driver Tel (Shaun Mason ) has picked up a hitchhiker Akim (Munashe Chirisa) and is taking him through the tunnel with him. ...

It’s always good to see a production transfer from the fringe into the West End, so I was really pleased to be invited along to review Kevin Elyot’s  Coming Clean  which following a successful revival at the King’s Head Theatre in July 2017, has now opened at the Trafalgar Studios. Tony (Lee Knight) and Greg (Stanton Plummer-Cambridge) have been together for five years and seem to be happy in their relationship. Although they are a couple, they are open, which leaves Tony free to hit the discos with his best friend and total ‘scene queen’ William (Elliot Hadley) in search of a bit of ‘trade’. Tony is a frustrated writer and Greg is an author and teacher, which leaves little room for domesticity in their Kilburn flat. In an effort to restore harmony, Tony hires a cleaner, Robert (Tom Lambert) a young resting actor. Whilst young and apparently fairly naive, Robert is erudite and educated and, although Greg initially, doesn’t seem keen on him, he fits in well with the househ...

The War of the Worlds at the New Diorama Theatre In 1938, The Mercury Theatre on the Air theatre company created radio history with a performance of an adaptation of H. G. Wells 1898 novel about a Martian attack on the planet Earth. The effect of the broadcast was profound and has entered the history books creating a story of its own. Fast forward to 2019 and Rhum & Clay have taken the original radio production as their base for a new version of  The War of the Worlds  at the New Diorama Theatre. This 80-minute play, devised by the company writing with Isley Lynn, starts with the infamous broadcast and the wonderful opening monologue from Orson Wells (Mona Goodwin, Julian Spooner, Amalia Vitale and Matthew Wells) themselves. I have to say, speaking as someone that has a copy of the original broadcast, the cast have done extremely well to recreate the sound and feel of 1938 as they go through the start of the Mercury Theatre production. The play is not just a recreation...