Have seen, will see, want to see, will want but fail to see. Please be under no illusion that these count as ‘Reviews’. More just a summing up of what’s caught my eye.
Have seen:
Alan Ayckbourn’s Norman Conquests at the Old Vic:
Not all three, but Round And Round The Garden. I’m not your traditional Ayckbourn audience and never had an urge to see an Ayckbourn before, but was interested to see the Old Vic stage in the round and thought it was about time I gave the Scarborough institution a shot. It was a very easygoing, amusing and fast moving couple of hours, and I’m sure if you saw all three, the way that the trilogy jigsaws to portray events from three locations over one evening would be a darned clever thing. But I didnt, so I can only imagine. It was brilliantly directed, but the kind of theatre that seems as if it would be just as good on TV.
Fin Kennedy’s How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found at the Southwark Playhouse:
Love the Southwark Playhouse. The tatty bar area is almost as homely and kooky as the Union’s, and their Secrets programme looks fun (yet to catch any of it). This was a great play. Perhaps ever so slightly over-written but you can tell Fin is going to be brilliant very soon. Absolutely full of imagination and pace and memorable characters. Ellie Jones directs it with a light touch and it feels very fresh. The set is genius, all twisted lines and hidden doors and clever lighting.
Will see:
Complicite’s A Disappearing Number at the Barbican. Tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Am I the only person left in London not to have seen it the first time?
Want to see:
This Child by Joel Pommerat as part of the Theatre Cafe Festival 2008. Read the script and loved it- simple collection of monologues and duologues that are truly universal.
Will want and fail to see:
In The Red and Brown Water by Tarell Alvin McCraney at the Young Vic. Looks like a good antidote to the coming cold snap- looks like heat on stage, in all senses of the word. Will fail to see it because it closes soon and Im currently jinxed at catching YV shows. Perhaps ill break the spell for the Xmas YV show. Which is always the best in town in my humble opinion.
Sam Howey Nunn
