Tag Archives: Anna Fleischle

Writer: Eugène Ionesco Director: Laurence Boswell Reviewer: Claire Hayes   King Berenger I has lived for over 400 years, yet still he’s not ready to die. He’s been too busy inventing the tractor, mastering nuclear fusion and attending an endless round of charity balls with his glamorous young second wife, Queen Marie. Now it all boils down to the last ...

Artistic Director: Lloyd Newson Choreography: Lloyd Newson with the performers Reviewer: Peter Jacobs Liverpool Playhouse, as part of the Homotopia Festival, is the first venue in the UK to show DV8 Physical Theatre's new production before a run at the National Theatre and a UK tour in 2015. As with his two previous shows To Be Straight With You - ...

Writer: Simon Stephens Director: Sarah Frankcom Reviewer: May Mellstrom Playwright Simon Stephens may have enjoyed huge West End success with his recent adaptations of A Dolls House and A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but he has still found the time to bring the world premiere of Blindsided to the Royal Exchange stage. This is Stephens’ fourth ...

Writer: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Adaptor/Director: Matthew Dunster Reviewer: Christopher Hong [rating:2] Bravely taking on this play for its first production in London in over 30 years, director and adaptor Michael Dunster has a tough task at hand. The original version requires a cast of 50 and this pared down version is reduced to 16 which is still substantial for a fringe ...

Writer: Rodney Ackland Director: Matthew Dunster Reviewer: Natalie Barker [rating:3] Plays in which the action bookends a party were obviously all the rage in the thirties and forties. Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance was revived a few years ago at the National with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead rôle and Rodney Ackland’s Before the Party now comes to the Almeida. ...

Writer: Carol Ann Duffy Adaptor/Director: Melly Still Reviewer: Dave Cunningham [Rating:4] The Royal Exchange has an enviable reputation for providing quirky festive entertainment that comes as a blessed relief after the bland fare we usually get at this time of year. But you can’t help feel they might have pushed their luck with ‘Rats’ Tales’. After all, some people actually ...

Writer: Somerset Maugham Director: Matthew Dunster Reviewer: David Noble [rating:2] How to describe The Sacred Flame? Unlike the majority of Somerset Maugham’s plays, it occupies the rare ground of murder mystery cum romantic comedy (yes indeed), and follows the circumstances surrounding the death of paralysed ex-pilot Maurice Tabret, with a far too short lived rôle for the generally excellent Jamie ...

Writer: W Somerset Maugham Director: Matthew Dunster Reviewer: Glen Pearce [rating:2.5] Sometimes if a playhasn'tbeen staged in 45 years there’s a reason. Tastes and styles change and, while there is sometimes a discovery of a ‘lost gem’, there’s also sometimes just the curiosity value. W Somerset Maugham is particularly tricky – his writing evokes a period now long gone that ...