Monthly Archives: October 2012

Indhu Rubasingham, the new artistic director of the Tricycle Theatre, has chosen Lolita Chakrabarti’s play about the famous African-American actor, Ira Aldridge (1807-1867) for her opening production. When the great Edmund Kean collapsed in the middle of a performance of … Continue reading →

Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), the most popular farceur of his day, established himself as a serious dramatist with The Second Mrs Tanqueray in 1893. Much admired for its philosophical insights and craftsmanship, it was a huge commercial success and as … Continue reading →

Jules Feiffer, one of America’s finest cartoonists, now in his eighties, revolutionised the strip-cartoons with his witty and cynical social commentaries on the garrulous and the neurotic and their relationships. His political thriller was written in 1970 but set forty … Continue reading →

Elliot Davis and James Bourne’s musical, which began life at the West Yorkshire Playhouse earlier this year and has now rashly transferred to the West End, is strenuously robotic. The story is set in an American High School in 1971 … Continue reading →

Eugene O’Neill’s ferocious story of lust, greed, incest and murder, set on a farm in New England in 1850, is both realistic and mythical. A 76-year-old, stony-hearted farmer (Finbar Lynch) gets married to a 36-year-old gold-digger (Denise Gough). He is … Continue reading →

The theatre has been transformed into the Houses of Parliament chamber with theatregoers sharing the green leather benches with the actors playing the MPs. James Graham’s very entertaining docudrama begins in 1974 with a hung parliament; and with a majority … Continue reading →

A saintly hermit is told by the devil (disguised as an angel) that if he wants to get into heaven he must match a notorious gangster in evil. He is so paranoid about his salvation that he believes him. Audiences … Continue reading →

Samuel Beckett refused Ingmar Bergman and Laurence Olivier permission to stage his 1957 radio play, saying “it was written to come out of the dark.” Trevor Nunn was also refused and the Beckett Estate only relented when he said he … Continue reading →