Tag Archives: Polly Findlay

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Donmar Warehouse, London ****

© Manuel Harlan, Lia Williams as Jean Brodie with her girls, the Brodie set...

© Manuel Harlan, Lia Williams as Jean Brodie with her girls, the Brodie set…

It’s interesting how Maggie Smith’s iconic 1969 performance as Edinburg teacher Jean Brodie has so stuck in people’s minds. Definitive in many ways, it was therefore brave of Josie Rourke to programme a revival.

Polly Findlay’s fine production, in David Harrower’s new adaptation, certainly justifies her decision. Continue reading

Beginning

Dorfman, National Theatre, London ****

© Johan Persson, Justine Mitchell (Laura), Sam Troughton (Danny), mutual attraction but can they get it together...too many obstacles to overcome...

© Johan Persson, Justine Mitchell (Laura), Sam Troughton (Danny), mutual attraction but can they get it together…too many obstacles to overcome…

It’s funny the way plays go in batches.

A couple of years ago, the Young Vic revived a couple of two-hander stormers – Conor McPherson’s version of Franz Xaver Kroetz’s The Nest and Marguerite Duras’s La Musica, translated by Barbara Bray. Continue reading

Limehouse

Donmar Warehouse, London (****)

© Jack Sain, the Gang of Four - Bill Rodgers (Paul Chahidi), Roy Jenkins (Roger Allam), Shirley Williams (Debra Gillet), David Owen (Tom Goodman-Hill)

© Jack Sain, the Gang of Four – Bill Rodgers (Paul Chahidi), Roy Jenkins (Roger Allam), Shirley Williams (Debra Gillet), David Owen (Tom Goodman-Hill)

Spoiler for Marxists and Trots! You won’t like this apologia for those `traitors’ behind the setting up of the SDP, the Gang of Four. Continue reading

The Alchemist

RSC Barbican Theatre, London (****)

© Helen Maybanks, Mark Lockyer as 1the alchemist', Subtle

© Helen Maybanks, Mark Lockyer as the `alchemist’, Subtle

It’s one of the abiding marks of our age, the con. Whether it’s flashy as in The Hustle, aspirational as in the Lottery, or sophisticated as in The Sting, the con runs through our lives. At any one moment, we’re only a hair’s breadth away from being taken for a ride. These days, it’s more likely to be an online or phone scam offering thousands of pounds at the press of a button or a computer to be saved from a terminal virus or even secondary glazing! Continue reading

As You Like It

Olivier, National Theatre, London (****)

© Johan Persson

© Johan Persson

One normally imagines As You Like It as a rustic rom-com. Polly Findlay hasn’t exactly ignored its usual romantic setting so much as, taking her cue from the characters in the play – and one or two other hints such as comedy routines, a bit of a music hall, a bit of high tech there – has given it a transformative make-over. Continue reading