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September 2024

October 2024

Review: Oedipus, Wyndham's Theatre - gripping family tragedy

Oedipus Wyndhams theatre poster'This is dreadful,' the old man sat next to me said rudely during Oedipus at the Wyndhams Theatre.

I vigorously ignored him. It wasn't dreadful, far from it. In fact, I was gripped by Robert Icke’s production, which stars Mark Strong as the eponymous character and Lesley Manville as his wife, Jocasta.

Writer/director Robert Icke has a knack for turning grand, classic stories into family-focused dramas, placing them in a contemporary setting with modern references that make them all the more familiar. And there is power in that.

Oedipus is a politician rather than a king, and the story is set on polling day, on what is expected to be his landslide victory.

We first see video footage of him talking to supporters and making two promises if elected: He will reveal his birth certificate to silence debate about his background, and he will also investigate the death of his wife's first husband, Laias.

His brother-in-law Creon (Michael Gould) isn't happy that he has gone off script during the televised address, and if you know the source material, you'll understand that both of those promises are threads that do not need to be pulled.

The stage is dressed as Oedipus' campaign office, complete with a digital clock counting down to when the polls close and the final exit poll is revealed. The clock is also a subliminal countdown to revelations that even the uninitiated will have an inkling are coming.

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Review: Richard Bean's new play Reykjavik, Hampstead Theatre

The Reykjavik company_credit Mark Douet
Reykjavik, Hampstead Theatre. Photo: Mark Douet

Richard Bean's new play Reykjavik at the Hampstead Theatre is set in the 1970s among a community of Hull-based trawler fishing men.

It is hard and dangerous work, taking the men away for three weeks at a time as they head further and further into potentially dangerous waters to find fish.

Boats returning without a good catch risk big losses for the owner of the company, Donald Claxton (John Hollingworth), and potentially the sack for the skipper.

But tragedy strikes and one of Claxton's boats sinks in freezing seas off Iceland, resulting in the death of 15 crew. Donald goes from being the disliked "capitalist" boss to being hated by those he employs and their families.

The first half is set in Donald Claxton's dim, solid, dark wood-furnished warehouse office (set design by Anna Reid), where interactions with a string of visitors reveal more of the boss and life in the community.

While Claxton is a businessman, he isn't without heart and respects the traditions built up around tragedies of this sort.

The community is like any other in its mix of relationships and gossip, and long stretches away at sea suit some families and workers more than others. Their's is an inherent practicality in their approach to life and work, but it is wrapped in a thin veil of superstition and myth. 

This is something that gets explored in the second half of the play, which is set in a hotel in Reykjavik where four survivors from the sunken ship are holed up before they get a boat home.

Claxton flies out to meet them, and with visible tensions, they settle in for a night of drinking and storytelling to pass the time.

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Review: The War of the Worlds, Wilton's Music Hall - spirited whirlwind of a play that packs a lot in

NYT REP Company members performing The War of the Worlds (credit Johan Persson)).jpg
NYT REP Company, The War of the Worlds, Wilton's Music Hall. Photo: Johan Persson

On 30 October 1938, the broadcast of Orson Wells' radio play version of H G Wells's sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds caused panic. Its realistic news programme style led some to believe a real alien invasion was happening.

In this National Youth Theatre production, created by Rhum + Clay and written with Isley Lynn, people's reaction to the radio play becomes the topic of a podcast by fledgling British podcast journalist Meena (Talitha Christina).

She comes across the story of a New Jersey family who apparently took fright and left their daughter at home to fend for herself. With the 2016 election campaign in full flow, Meena travels to the US to try and find the truth but unearths a bigger story.

The play is injected with snippets of stylised movement that add a quirky edge to the narrative. It mixes the tone and style of 1930s radio drama with a more contemporary feel, which cements the play's themes.

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Review: Waiting For Godot, Theatre Royal Haymarket starring Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati

Waiting for Godot Theatre Royal Haymarket Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw

Waiting For Godot is a play I love; I studied it for A-level, so I'd buy tickets regardless of the casting, but the combo of Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati was definitely an added draw.

It is a play that tends to attract starry casts - I've seen productions with Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Hugo Weaving - I suppose it helps sell tickets for a surrealist play that isn't going to be for everyone.

Waiting For Godot is essentially a play in which nothing happens. Twice. But it's also a play in which everything happens and that's one of the reasons I like it.

Estragon/Gogo (Lucian Msamati) and Vladimir/Didi (Ben Whishaw) are waiting for someone called Godot. Who Godot is and why they are waiting for him is open for interpretation, which is another reason I love the play. 

"Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!" says Gogo at one point. But that isn't strictly true, Pozzo (Jonathan Slinger) and his servant Lucky (Tom Edden) come along. Twice.

What passes during the encounter is, again, open for interpretation.

It might not seem like it on paper, but Waiting For Godot is a funny play, and this is a funny production. It is not rolling around in the aisles funny, but it draws out the amusing absurdity and its inherent truth. It's irony and silliness.

There are bubbles of laughter, particularly during the second half when Didi and Gogo's routine becomes familiar.

The play's subtle layers require a lot of the actors to deliver, and Ben Whishaw and Lucian Msamati didn't disappoint.

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Review: Foreverland, Southwark Playhouse Borough

Antwi  McDonald  York (c)Charlie Lyne
Valerie Antwi, Emma McDonald and Christopher York in Foreverland, Southwark Playhouse Photo: Charlie Lyne

If medical science made it possible to live forever, frozen at the age you have the procedure, would you do it? The ability to stay young and live way beyond what is normal is the premise of Emma Hemingford's play Foreverland at the Southwark Playhouse Borough.

The idea is explored through the life of teacher Alice (Emma McDonald) and her entrepreneur husband Jay (Christopher York), who pass the criteria and, crucially, have the money to undertake the procedure.

Attracted by the idea of fulfilling their dreams and leading the perfect life where time is on their side, they put last-minute nerves to one side and go ahead.

The future world in which this play is set is kept mostly at arm's length in the first half of the play as it focuses on Alice and Jay's relationship. Given that they don't age, it is difficult to tell how much time is passing as the narrative cycles through snippets of their daily lives until the arrival of their daughter Annie (Emily Butler).

It seems like they are indeed living their dream life, except there are hints that all is not content; time doesn't erase the past, it seems. And Annie grows up (Una Byrne) and sees things differently from her parents.

The adult Annie brings the outside world into their 'fulfilling' lives and shines a different light on the procedure and its implications for society. However this comes quite late in the story to generate much of a debate.

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