Tag Archives: National Theatre

Writer: Ben Weatherill Director: Tim Hoare Reviewer: Scott Matthewman While the Dorfman Theatre is much the smallest of the National’s three stages, it can still be a struggle to make it seem as intimate as some of London’s smaller theatres. For a story of deeply personal relationships as Ben Weatherill’s Jellyfish, it means the cast – and the rest of ...

Writer: David Hare (after Henrik Ibsen) Director: Jonathan Kent Reviewer: Maryam Philpott The search for self may seem like a post-1960s obsession as the rise of individualism dominates society in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, but Ibsen’s 1867 verse-play Peer Gynt was way ahead of the curve, creating a protagonist who wanders the earth living by his own rules. ...

Writer: Githa Sowerby Director: Polly Findlay   Reviewer:  Richard Maguire After being instrumental in the rediscovery of Githa Sowerby in 1994, The National Theatre included her 1912 play Rutherford and Son on its list of the most influential plays of the 20thCentury. These credentials are at first hard to see in this new production directed by Polly Findlay, but a slow ...

Writer: Inua Ellams Director: Bijan Sheibani Designer: Rae Smith Reviewer: Charlotte Broadbent Inua Ellams was inspired to write Barber Shop Chronicles after being handed a flyer in 2010 which detailed a pilot project aiming to teach barbers the rudiments of counselling. He went on to consider the cultural and historical significance of the local barbershop. Whether it be in south ...

Writer: Ella Hickson Director: Natalie Abrahami Reviewer: Scott Matthewman Hollywood versions of East Berlin at the height of the Cold War would suggest that it was a slum city, a crumbling ghetto ruled by jackboot. In Anna, a creation of writer Ella Hickson and sound designers Ben and Max Ringham, we see a very different version of the city. Set ...

Writer: Helen Edmundson Direction: Rufus Norris Reviewer: Maryam Philpott With further indignities heaped on the Windrush generation on the very day that The National Theatre’s new production of Small Island faced the press, this adaptation of the late Andrea Levy’s 2004 multi-award-winning novel couldn’t be more timely. With uncertainty over their UK status still unresolved, Helen Edmundson’s adaptation, directed by Rufus ...

Writer: Caryl Churchill Director: Lyndsey Turner Reviewer: Maryam Philpott On the surface, the 1980s seemed like a huge breakthrough for women and for anyone growing-up in that decade there were gutsy female role models everywhere; the holders of the two pre-eminent governmental roles, the Prime Minister and the monarch, were women and on television the likes of Joan Collins and ...

God walks onto the stage and instantly the audience erupts into deafening applause and the ovation continues. The sold-out Olivier Theatre is filled with his greatest fans and admirers, all of whom snapped up tickets within hours of the interview being announced only three days before. God subtly pushes at the air with his downward-facing palms and an excited hush ...