Tag Archives: Laurence Fox

Writer and Director: Dictynna Hood Reviewer: Maryam Philpott A dysfunctional family gather for a birthday party to finally reveal all the dark secrets that for reasons no one can fathom have never been revealed before at any number of parties the family have previously attended together. So goes the oh so standard narrative treatment which Dictynna Hood applies to her ...

Now only a few days away, the sheer volume of films available at the BFI London Film Festival can seem pretty overwhelming. There are Strands which categorise movies by genre including “Thrill,” “Dare” and “Love,” there are glitzy Gala premieres of major international releases where members of the public can walk the red carpet with the stars, and there are ...

Writer: Tom Stoppard Director: Stephen Unwin Reviewer: Steve Turner Written and first performed in 1982 Tom Stoppard’s study of love, deception and infidelity retains its raw edge and soft underside and still feels very contemporary. Perhaps as a reflection of how little change there is in our feelings about love and friendship, the only things in the script which date ...

Writer: Tom Stoppard Director: Stephen Unwin Reviewer: Gareth Davies In 1982, when Tom Stoppard’s play was first staged, Ronald Reagan had made the perhaps unlikely journey from film star to commander in chief, transitioning from an acting career to become President of the United States. Thirty years later, in the era of ‘fake news’, the question of truth, authenticity and ...

Writer: Tom Stoppard Director: Stephen Unwin Reviewer: Claire Hayes Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing dazzled when it was first produced in 1982, both for the intelligence and precision of his writing and the performances of Felicity Kendal and Roger Rees in the leading roles. Thought to be one of his most autobiographical plays, its themes of marital infidelity and the pursuit of ...

Writer / Director: Jonathan Lynn Reviewer: James Bartholomeusz On 15 August 1945, Marshal Philippe Pétain was sentenced to exile on the Île d’Yeu. From across the English Channel, the erstwhile president of Vichy France appeared – as he does to this day – a cartoonish figure of unscrupulous cowardice and vanity, the man who had opened the gates of the ...

Writer: Craig Warner Director: Robert Allan Ackerman Reviewer: Samuel Hopkins [rating: 4] Could this new stage production of ‘Strangers on a Train’ mark the return of a commercially successful thriller in London? The last time we saw an Alfred Hitchcock movie make a West End debut was ‘The 39 Steps’ which rejected its original style and transformed the piece into ...

Writer: Jonathan Lewis Director: David Grindley Reviewer: Ian Foster [rating:4] Director David Grindley’s first London job was as an ASM on the original 1993 award-winning production of Jonathan Lewis’ army hospital-based Our Boys; so there is a pleasing circularity to him being the director of the play’s first West End revival. Set in Ward 9 Bay 4 of the Queen ...