Tezza's Theatre Place

A scene from My Brilliant Friend Part 1 centre Catherine McCormack – image by Marc Brenner. Some stories cannot be told in a single sitting. Think Harry Potter. The last book was made into two films and the ‘The Cursed Child’ is two plays. The reason I’m mentioning this is because after seeing  My Brilliant Friend Parts 1 and 2 , at the National Theatre, it struck me that making one book into two plays is hard enough but April De Angelis must have really had their work cut out in converting the four books in Elena Ferrante’s ‘Neapolitan Novels’ into two individual shows. My Brilliant Friend  concerns the friendship of two ladies. When we first meet them Lenù Greco (Niamh Cusack) and Lila Cerullo (Catherine McCormack) are 8-years-old and living in a run-down area of Naples where poverty and small-time crime families are the name of the game. They bond over an incident where they swap dolls and then toss them through a grille into a cellar belonging to the local loan shark. S...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/179910/review-trouble-with-men-the-kings-head-theatre/ Sometimes a show can start a conversation just by its title. And this is particularly true of the latest addition to the King’s Head Theatre Queer Festival 2017 –  Trouble with Men . This 45-minute production consists of three gay plays, all written and directed by playwright Nick Myles and performed by a company of three outstanding actors. The evening opened with ‘The Farce’  Three Men and Some Baggage . In a regular flat, Fin (Freddie Wintrip) is getting ready for the arrival of his new boyfriend (William McGeough) but before he arrives, Fin is joined by his best friend Ray (Reece Matthews) and not to put too fine a point on it, stereotypical ‘twink about town’. Fin really wants Ray to leave before the boyfriend turns up but Ray wants to stay and check out the new guy in Fin’s life. When he does arrive, complete with a large bulging suitcase, Ray is instantly, and possibly unfai...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/172465/5-guys-chillin-kings-head-theatre-review-2/ 5 Guys Chillin’ (c) Laura Marie Linck Chemsex is apparently prevalent in the gay community, and every week, there are lots of gay men attending chillin’ sessions where drugs and sex are the order of the day and hang the consequences. Unfortunately, the consequences can be quite dramatic and there has been a large rise in STDs and a lot of broken dreams as the pursuit of hedonism at any price takes its toll. There have been various books and plays written about chemsex parties and one of the most powerful is Peter Darney’s award-winning verbatim play 5 Guys Chillin’ which is back at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington. There isn’t really a story to speak of in reality as there is no clear narrative, just five men (David Palmstrom, Gareth Watkins, George Bull, George Fletcher and Tom Ratcliffe) meeting in an apartment with the intention of taking drugs and having sex with each other. Over the co...

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...