Tag Archives: Gate Notting Hill

Medea – after Euripides

Gate, Notting Hill, London (****)

© Ikin Yum

© Ikin Yum

Two Medeas closely allied in time – the Almeida’s last month with Kate Fleetwood in Rachel Cusk’s über-feminist version, now the Australian Kate Mulvany with director Anne-Louise Sarks in another radical re-appraisal. Before that last year, we had Helen McCrory in Ben Power’s updated version at the National Theatre. Continue reading

Image of an Unknown Young Woman

Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London

© Iona Firouzabadi

© Iona Firouzabadi

Did Elinor Cook have in mind that famous iconic picture of the little Vietnamese girl screaming in the road when she entitled her latest play, Image of an Unknown Young Woman kicking off Christopher Haydon’s intriguing new Gate season of Icons and Idols. Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut’s photo that went round the world came to symbolise the horror of the Vietnam war for a generation and beyond. Continue reading

The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco

Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London

copy; Michael Shelford

copy; Michael Shelford

Andrew Whaley’s The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco wears its satire on its sleeve in no uncertain terms. What is surprising however is how deeply African Whaley, a white Zimbabwean, expresses the disillusionment that has followed Zimbabwe’s Marxist post-colonial independence and without ever actually mentioning the man most responsible.  Continue reading