Tag Archives: The HOUSE

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: 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: Matthew Spangler, from the book by Khaled Hosseini Director: Giles Croft Reviewer: John Kennedy ‘I came what I am today at the age of twelve on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.’ Hassan, friend and family servant to narrator, Amir, was the best kite runner in Kabul. It was that day, through fear and cowardice Amir watched neighbourhood bully, Assef, ...

Writer: Ronald Harwood Director: Peter Rowe Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Growing older is compulsory – or at least, better than the alternative, most would agree. What Writer, Ronald Harwood, seems to be suggesting is that what matters isn’t the physical fact of ageing, but how we cope mentally with the changes it inevitably brings. He tells his story through the eyes ...

Writer: Terence Rattigan Director: Rachel Kavanaugh Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Ostensibly based on a true story about a naval cadet accused of stealing a postal order from a friend, The Winslow Boy also looks at the changing world just over a hundred years ago: Britain was living under the threat of a splintering Europe, women were fighting for equality with men, ...

Writer: Debbie Isitt from the book by Dodie Smith Director: Tessa Walker Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Although Dodie Smith was already a successful playwright and novelist, it was probably the Disney adaptation of her 1956 children’s novel, The Hundred and One Dalmatians that brought her work to the wider public eye. The story of the evil Cruella de Vil stealing Dalmatian ...