Category Archives: 2018

The Woods

Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, London ***
Review: by Carole Woddis of performance seen Sept 21, 2018:

© Manuel Harlan, Tom Mothersdale (Wolf), Lesley Sharp as Woman aka a mother suffering from severe post natal depression

© Manuel Harlan, Tom Mothersdale (Wolf), the great Lesley Sharp as Woman aka a mother suffering from severe post natal depression

The woods and a character called Wolf. Well, you’re into the land of fairy-tales, aren’t you. And in this instance, grim ones, as if there are any others! Continue reading

Foxfinder

Ambassadors Theatre, London ***

Review by Carole Woddis of performance seen Sept 14, 2018:

© Pamela Raith, Iwan Rheon as the young ideologue, and foxfinder, William Bloor

© Pamela Raith, Iwan Rheon as the young ideologue, and foxfinder, William Bloor

Timing is everything. When Foxfinder opened at the Finborough in December 2011, it was hailed as `darkly thrilling’ new voice and subsequently earned its writer, Dawn King a glutful of awards from the Royal National Theatre Foundation Playwright scheme to a Pearson Award Playwright-in-Residence bursary. Continue reading

Misty

Trafalgar Studios, Studio 1, London *****
Review of performance seen Sept 13, 2018:

© Helen Murray, Mya-Napolean as his young sister, Arinze-Kené writing, being an artist - ain't easy...

© Helen Murray, Mya-Napolean as his young sister, Arinze-Kené writing, being an artist – ain’t easy…

Sometimes you just know you’ve seen the future. I missed seeing Misty at the Bush. I can only imagine that for once, the transfer has settled it into an even better, more appropriate venue. For this mostly solo tour de force and `force of nature’ as he has already been dubbed expands to fill the larger Trafalgar Studios space as if built for it. Continue reading

Missing

Battersea Arts Centre, (BAC), London ****

© Robert Golden, Anna Finkel (mother)  as remembered by her daughter, Lily.

© Robert Golden, Anna Finkel (mother) as remembered by her daughter, Lily.

I have a recollection of first seeing Gecko and Taylor’s Dummies, their first show, originally in Edinburgh. But then again, I may be mistaken because my memory of that performance, nearly 15 years ago, contains images of masks and a sense of seeing something so original the echo of it stayed with me a very long time. Continue reading

Midsummer

The Hub, Edinburgh International Festival 2018 ***
Review of performance seen Aug 22, 2018:

© Peter Dibdin, L to R Benny Young, Eileen Nicholas, Sarah Higgins, Henry Pettingrew

© Peter Dibdin, L to R Benny Young, Eileen Nicholas, Sarah Higgins, Henry Pettingrew

I love the work of David Greig. I’ve seen a few by now, all shapes and sizes from the historic – Dunsinane, his reworking of Macbeth – to Damascus, his moving account of western confusion in and about the Middle East. Continue reading

McMafia – Misha Glenny

Misha Glenny – McMafia – Seriously Organised Crime
Assembly Checkpoint, Edinburgh
Performance seen Aug 21, 2018   ****

McMafia book cover, pub by the Bodley Head, 2008

McMafia book cover, pub by the Bodley Head, 2008

It’s hard to know what to call Misha Glenny’s McMafia. Lecture-demo? Performance? What you can be sure of is that Glenny, a specialist in organised crime, the Balkans and author of the best selling book, McMafia on which the drama tv series was based, tells a grim story. Continue reading