Tezza's Theatre Place

Ciarán Hinds (Hugh), Colin Morgan (Owen), Adetomiwa Edun (Lieutenant Yolland). Image by Catherine Ashmore Love it or loathe it, the British Empire is a rich source of material that is ready-made for novels or plays – usually suggesting the English were bad while everyone else good. However, some writers have approached the subject in less obvious ways and one of those is Irish playwright Brian Friel, whose 1980 play  Translations  has recently been revived at the National Theatre. 1833 and in the quiet community of Baile Beag, life continues much as it always has. The inhabitants are an insular lot who speak Irish, Greek and Latin – thanks to a knowledge of the classics and the teachings of the Catholic church – but who don’t speak English, the language of their rulers. In the local ‘hedge’ school, aspiring teacher Manus (Seamus O’Hara) is working with Sarah (Michelle Fox) a local girl with a severe speech impediment. His father, schoolmaster Hugh (Ciarán Hinds) has not ye...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/185485/review-a-day-by-the-sea-southwark-playhouse/ Alix Dunmore as Frances Farrar, John Sackville as Julian Anson and Susan Tracy as Laura Anson in “A Day By The Sea” by NC Hunter If you look back there seems to be a halcyon period between the end of the Second World War and the hedonistic time of the 1960s when the British hadn’t realised that the days of empire were over and they were no longer the force to be reckoned with that they once were. This is especially true amongst the middle classes who tried to turn back the clock and take the country back to how it was pre-1939. A fine example of this mentality is on now at the Southwark Playhouse where N C Hunter’s play  A Day By The Sea  has returned to London after over 50 years absence. In a delightful seaside house Laura Anson (Susan Tracy) is holding court. She currently has a full house with not only the normal resident’s brother-in-law David (David Whitworth) and Doctor Farley (...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/167339/twelfth-night-the-national-theatre-review/ Twelfth Night –  image by Marc Brenner Directors love playing around with Shakespeare. There is something in the stories he wrote and the language he used which gives so many of his plays the flexibility to be staged in weird and wonderful ways. I’ve seen Othello set in the world of corporate banking,  Romeo and Juliet , played out amid the background of the miners’ strike and  A Midsummer Night’s Dream  moved to a voodoo influenced New Orleans. So, when I was offered the chance to see the new production of  Twelfth Night  at the National, I leapt at it. Off the coast of ancient Illyria a boat is floundering. Aboard the ship are fraternal twins Viola (Tamara Lawrance) and Sebastian (Daniel Ezra) who, get separated as the ship goes down. Each is rescued by a member of the crew, Viola by the Captain (James Wallace) and Sebastian by Antonio (Adam Best). Separately, they...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/167288/sorry-i-killed-your-cat-lost-fragments-productions-review/ There are two things in theatre that are very difficult to get right. The first is farce, defined as a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. And the second is acting drunk which is full of pitfalls for the young actor. If you would like to see an example of both of these done extremely well then get yourself down to the Courtyard Theatre in Hoxton to see Lost Fragments new production  Sorry, I Killed Your Cat . In a fairly nice apartment on the fifteenth floor of a North London tower block, James (Tré Curran) is chilling out on the sofa. The apartment is nicely furnished but there is one slightly incongruous part of the decoration, a plethora of post-its on virtually every surface. James’ peach is rudely interrupted by the loud arrival of his partner Charlotte (Katherine Harts...