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...

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/197762/review-macbeth-olivier-theatre-national-theatre/ Macbeth: Royal National Theatre London – Credit Brinkhoff/Mögenburg Once again Shakespeare has come into my life. This time it is the turn of ‘The Scottish Play’ to be given a makeover and presented in a new format to the theatregoing public. So, off I go to the South Bank and the National Theatre to see  Macbeth . In the wilds of Scotland, three witches (Hannah Hutch, Anna-Maria Nabirye and Beatrice Scirocchi) are preparing mischief. They meet with Macbeth (Rory Kinnear), Thane (Duke) of Glamis and his bosom friend Banquo (Kevin Harvey). Hailing Macbeth first they tell him that he shall be “Thane of Cawdor,” and “be King hereafter”. When Banquo asks for a prophecy for himself, the witches answer “that he will be less than Macbeth, yet happier, less successful, yet more. He will father a line of kings though he himself will not be one.” the witches disappear and another Thane runs in d...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/173546/review-common-olivier-theatre-national-theatre/ Anne-Marie Duff (Mary) in Common at the National Theatre (c) Johan Persson Enclosure may be something you haven’t heard of before. Okay, you will have heard the word but if you go back in history, enclosure had a different meaning than today. This was a time when wealthy landowners decided to change the way their property was farmed. Instead of all the locals individually working on a plot, the landowner created a proper farm by putting a fence around his property. He would then employ locals to work the farm for him. Of course, not everyone was required to work on the new farm, so those that couldn’t find work started migrating towards the towns fuelling the industrial revolution. This is the backdrop for DC Moore’s new play Common at the National Theatre Rural England in 1809 and the peasants are revolting – literally as it happens. The local Lord (Tim McMullan) has decided to enclose al...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/171838/review-yael-farbers-salome-olivier-theatre/ Isabella Nefar in Salomé a new play by Yaël Farber. Photo by Johan Persson Most people who have been brought up in some form of Christian society know certain stories from the bible. However, supposing those stories were not just wrong but in fact virtually the opposite of everything you thought you knew. If it was Adam that tempted Eve with the apple, or Samson tricking Delilah into cutting his hair, or Lot deliberately turning his wife around so she turned into a pillar of salt. Why these biblical musings you may wonder? Well last night, at the National Theatre, I saw Yaël Farber’s version of  Salomé  and, believe me, that really turned my knowledge of the story on its head. The story opens with Nameless (Olwen Fouéré) on the day of her death being questioned by Pontius Pilate (Lloyd Hutchinson), prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, who has been summoned back to Rome to explain ...

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...