Monthly Archives: March 2014

Some people, who are born on the wrong side of the tracks, stay there and never ever get out. David Lindsay-Abaire’s much praised American play is about class and social mobility in South Boston during the present financial crisis. Well … Continue reading →

Mrs P was Phyllis Pearsall (1906-1990), a Bohemian artist, who mapped London in the late 1930’s. The story goes that Pearsall got lost on her way to friends for dinner and arrived when they were serving the dessert. The incident … Continue reading →

Six unemployed Sheffield steelworkers decided that a way to make some quick cash would be to imitate the Chippendales and go one strip further and be totally naked. The film was one of the most successful British films ever made … Continue reading →

The Sleeping Beauty re-opened the Royal Opera House in 1946 after World War 2. Margot Fonteyn and Robert Helpmann starred in a sumptuous revival, designed by Oliver Messel, which was a real treat for audiences in the austerity years which … Continue reading →

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Francis Beaumont’s comedy, written when he was 23, wasn’t a success at its premiere in 1607. I have seen it twice and been bored to tears on both occasions. So, Adele Thomas’s production was … Continue reading →

18-year-old Shelagh Delaney saw Terence Rattigan’s Variation on a Theme in Manchester, when it was on its pre-London tour, and thought “I can do better than that.” She sent her play, a slice of squalid, working class, Northern life, to … Continue reading →

Big Brother Is Watching You. “If you want a picture of the future,” said George Orwell, “imagine a boot on a human face – for ever.” Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, who have created and directed this stage adaptation, think … Continue reading →

A middle-aged American, a former 1960’s radical and draft-dodger, runs a ramshackle donut shop in Uptown Chicago. Business is terrible. Starbucks is across the road. No one wants donuts any more. The shop has been damaged by vandals. He employs … Continue reading →