Monthly Archives: June 2011

Michael Grandage, who has had a big success with Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart and Don Carlos, now directs Luise Miller, which Schiller wrote in 1784 when he was only 24 and which is probably better known as Love and Intrigue. … Continue reading →

Harold Pinter’s most accessible play, based on his 7-year affair with TV presenter Joan Blakewell and written after his marriage had broken down, is regularly revived but difficult to get right; with the wrong actors it can easily seem bland … Continue reading →

Nikolai Gogol warned his actors in 1836 to guard against caricature and so I don’t suppose he would have been too happy with what director Richard Jones has done with his classic comedy of mistaken identity, an unforgettable satire on … Continue reading →

Can the musical repeat the success of the film, a witty spoof of practically every fairy tale you have ever heard, and do better business than it did in New York? Perhaps; it’s a show for family audiences. Nigel Lindsay’s … Continue reading →

Ken Ludwig’s American bedroom farce, set in the 1930’s, has been turned into a musical. The songs tend to holds things up, absolutely fatal in farce. Still, the production has its funny moments and funny performances, the best being Sophie-Louise … Continue reading →

Four guys in black kilts: they’re not Russian, they don’t fly and they’re not brothers. The humour is childish and often, as in the ballet item, very unfunny. But the juggling in syncopated rhythm is superb, especially in a dazzling … Continue reading →

Tennessee Williams’ A Cavalier for Milady, a one-act play, written two years before he died and never performed before, is revived to celebrate his centenary (1911-1983) and is of interest only because it is by Williams. A woman, dressed as … Continue reading →

Lindsay Posner’s London revival of Simon Gray’s best known play is its first in 40 years. The deeply embittered university lecturer, a mischievous bisexual, outrageously provocative, who no longer bothers to teach his students, is forever identified with Alan Bates; … Continue reading →