12 Thursday Apr 2018
And if I thought that after “my” Oedipus I was done with Greek Tragedy for the moment, it seems that I was very much mistaken.
Yes, we are already working quite hard on other things a-plenty – but, for one thing, there’s talk of reviving the Oedipus next August, in a lovely place; and for another, there’s the school play. Continue reading
08 Thursday Mar 2018
We’ve finished reading Sheridan’s The Critic with Il Palcoscenico di Carta, the other day. It’s been a good reading, with several new faces, a lot of enthusiasm and quite a few good laughs.
Also, among the new faces, we’ve had a… rather peculiar character.
Let me begin with the beginning – the very first reading, indeed. We were happily Sheridaning away, when I heard a strange squeaking sound coming from my right… I couldn’t tell what produced it, and was rather busy with the reading anyway. The bookshop people carting books around on something with squeaky wheels, I decided – and wouldn’t have given it a second thought – except it happened again. And again. And again. And not only there was nary a cart in sight – squeaky or otherwise – but the more it happened, the more it sounded like… mewling. Continue reading
18 Thursday Jan 2018
Posted in Theatre
Last night, a friend asked me what do I think of the Globe’s new policy of letting the audience choose the play they’ll see…
My friend says I perked up, all hare-like – which is a gross exaggeration, but still I won’t deny I was fascinated and perplexed in equal measure: “What? The Globe? Have they announced the new season? Did the new artistic director say that? But how are they going to do that? What does it mean, letting the audience choose? In advance? By voting? And what if the audiences always choose the same play? And what of those who wanted to see something else? What if there’s a tie?” Continue reading
04 Thursday Jan 2018
So on New Year’s Eve Canterville went very well – or so I believe, because I spent a good chunk of it in the green room, discussing Emma Rice’s tenure at the Globe with Nina and her husband… From there we could hear the audience laughing heartily through the intercom, though, and there were no funny stories afterwards, so I’m pretty sure that all went well… Continue reading
09 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in Theatre
And just in case you wonder, no: Sir Simon is most definitely NOT appeased.
I went to see Canterville again last night, and things kept happening. First, Mr. Otis had to croak his way through, thanks to a gigantic throat-ache. Then the points keeping Sir Simon’s cloak in place gave, so the cloak dropped to the floor and mingled with the chains, very nearly sending our poor Ghost a-tripping. And finally, we suffered (very much, believe me!) through two and a half missed entries.. Continue reading
07 Thursday Dec 2017
Posted in Theatre
So, the Canterville Ghost’s second first night came and went – and it was… interesting.
You wouldn’t believe the amount of things that saw it fit to happen. missed cues, blanks, last minutes flying rescues (because the Company is made up of fast thinkers), hitches, mixed-up lines, missteps, misplaced props, a wobbly wing… and the most egregious of them all: our Duke of Cheshire wandering onstage during a scene where not only he didn’t belong – but the Otis Twins were commenting his absence in detail – much to their harried mother’s despair… Continue reading
23 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in Theatre
Because I’m going to the dentist this afternoon, for my first ever canal root therapy, I’m wallowing in abject terror – and all I can think of is dentist-related.
Therefore, from the first act of George Bernard Shaw’s You Never Can Tell:
In a dentist’s operating room on a fine August morning in 1896. Not the usual tiny London den, but the best sitting room of a furnished lodging in a terrace on the sea front at a fashionable watering place. Continue reading
16 Thursday Nov 2017
They were making my children’s play into a movie.
Perhaps it was a slightly peculiar choice, but after all, what do I know?
Big production, too.
It was to be out next July.
Is July a good month for movies? No idea, really. Continue reading
14 Saturday Oct 2017
Tags
Or at least Charles Arrowby – the protagonist and narrator of Iris Murdoch’s novel The Sea, The Sea. And Charles, a retired director, playwright, and sometime actor, has a lot to say about the theatre… Continue reading
12 Thursday Oct 2017
Posted in Theatre
I’m late – sorry, sorry, sorry! It’s not that I forgot to post, but…
Frantic days, hectic week. We’re debuting Carlo Emilio Gadda’s Quer Pasticciaccio Brutto de Via Merulana (That Awful Mess on Via Merulana) on Saturday, and we have dress rehearsal in little more than an hour, and everything – but everything – has happened, ranging from the hilarious to the highly depressing, so much so that we weren’t even quite sure we could début at all until the other day, and is this ever a run-on sentence! Continue reading
