Tag Archives: Drama

Writer: Vasiliy Shukshin  Director: Alvis Hermanis Reviewer: Gus Mitchell Russia is not a country primarily known for its humour. Even its most famous ‘comic’ playwright (Chekhov) wrote primarily of wasted and frustrated lives, lost, lonely individuals, and the universal pity of our self-delusions. It was with great interest and a slight wariness, then, that I sat down for Shukshin’s Stories, ...

Writer: Bruce Norris Director: Michael Emans Reviewer: Dominic Corr The world never really changes, does it? The balance of offence, acceptance and hate simply shifts - given time, it will no doubt shift back. In a turbulent time, opinions which lay dormant are now unearthing themselves. Shifting from a culture in which the first black man was sitting in the ...

Writers: Matthieu Delaporte & Alexandre de la Patellière’s Adapter, Translator & Director: Jeremy Sams Designer: Francis O’Connor Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière’s 2010 play Le Prénom was a hit of such magnitude it spawned not only a big screen French version in 2012 but a German film incarnation in 2018. Jeremy Sam’s translation, What’s in ...

Writer: Melanie Blake Adaptation: Melanie Blake & Fiona Looney Director: Joyce Branagh Reviewer: Matt Forrest There is a trend in popular music these days for bands of yesteryear to come out of the woodwork for a couple of big paydays and then disappear like thieves in the night. Of course, they make a huge wedge of cash at the end ...

Writer: Jackie Kay Adaptor: Tanika Gupta Director: Dawn Walton Reviewer: Dave Cunningham The life of poet Jackie Kay (Sasha Frost) has strong dramatic potential. Illegitimate, Gay, of mixed race and adopted by a Scots Communist couple Kay endures a wide variety of racist and homophobic abuse. Yet the journey to trace her birth parents does not provide the cathartic relief ...

Writer: Martyn Hesford Director: Adrian Noble Reviewer: Dave Cunningham It is surprising that it has taken so long for the life of artist L S Lowry to be dramatised on the cinema screen. After all, his story has inspired a ballet, stage and radio plays and a number of documentaries. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Martyn Hesford’s script for ...

Writer: Michael Morpurgo Adaptor: Nick Stafford Directors: Marianne Elliot and Tom Morris Touring Director: Katie Henry Reviewer: Matt Forrest 12 years on from its premiere at the National Theatre, residencies on the West End, Broadway and numerous national and international tours it would be no exaggeration to say that War Horse has become a theatrical institution, and on the basis ...

Writers: James Yeatman and Lauren Mooney Director: James Yeatman Reviewer: Dave Cunningham The challenging nature of There Is a Light That Never Goes Out at The Royal Exchange is made clear in the tag line: Scenes from the Luddite Rebellion.  The play does not attempt to give an exhaustive examination of the disruptive events during the industrial revolution when workers, fearing ...