Tag Archives: Birmingham REP

Writer: David Edgar Director: Christopher Haydon Reviewer: Selwyn Knight David Edgar is 70 this year. Simple subtraction shows that he was 20 in 1968, the year known for student unrest and demonstrations across the world. And while Edgar didn’t take part in demonstrations, he was nevertheless beating the socialist drum as chair of the Socialist Society (or “SocSoc”) at Manchester ...

Writer: Timberlake Wertenbaker Director: Fiona Buffini Reviewer: John Kennedy Looking for possibly the definitive antecedent of The Dirty Dozen trope? The maverick junior officer who puts his career on the line to take on a disparate, desperate cohort of the meanest scum on the planet and, up against all the odds, the disbelief of his seniors, and especially said scum ...

Creator and Director: Calixto Bieito Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Creator and Director, Calixto Bieito, says that he has suffered from an anxiety disorder since childhood but didn’t know until 20 years ago, explaining the choice of subject matter in The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety. In creating the piece, he’s taken writing from a range of writers from Robert ...

Writer: Sukh Ojla Director: Pravesh Kumar  Reviewer: James Garrington Polly has a good life, all things considered. She has a good husband, a good job, children. It’s not the life she used to dream of, but who gets to do that? Then out of the blue, she is contacted by an old flame, Bali. He is a successful businessman now living in ...

Writer: James Graham Director: Jeremy Herrin Reviewer: Selwyn Knight The mid-to-late 1970s was a turbulent time for British politics. The Conservative Government under Ted Heath had already had a torrid time with two miners’ strikes, power blackouts and the Three-Day week; in 1974 Heath called a snap election to get a new mandate. It was a miscalculation: the result was ...

Writer: Bryony Lavery, from the book by Graham Greene Director: Esther Richardson Reviewer: Selwyn Knight There’s a power vacuum in Brighton’s underworld. Gangleader Kite is dead and the remains of his gang are in thrall to Pinkie. Just 17, Pinkie is a natural leader for the gang, ruthless and cunning, but can he win over Kite’s protection clients or will they ...

Writer: Dennis Kelly Director: Tom Saunders Reviewer: John Kennedy A disparate cohort of teenagers participates in a danger-dare game that goes fatally wrong for Adam. The enigmatic Phil contrives a collective alibi that works desperately too well when an innocent man is charged with Adam’s abduction. He is doomed by DNA: complicit 'evidence' one of them inventively plants on his ...

Writer: Told By An Idiot, based on the book by Simon Leys Director: Kathryn Hunter Reviewer: John Kennedy Told by an Idiot theatre company invites its audience to enter into a conspiratorial ‘Just what if?’ hypothetical premise where historical givens are given a severely anachronistic anarchical shaking up. What if Bonaparte was not alone in his part of an elaborate escape hoax? Escape from St ...