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Lyn Gardner fully expects to be replaced by Katie Price
1st March | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
The national newspapers' habit of replacing their retired head theatre critics with columnists and political sketchwriters is pretty worrying for those of us on the bottom rungs of the theatre criticism career ladder, as I pointed out in January, when The Times announced Libby Purves would be replacing Benedict Nightingale in their top spot.
Well, it turns out up-and-comers like me aren't the only ones concerned by the trend: some of... -
“I’d rather be in the pub” is not an excuse
19th February | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
It's understandable that a lot of people would rather spend their evening in the pub than at the theatre. Who cares if the tickets are more affordable than you might think? Theatres are stuffy and elitist, plays are boring, and you can't even fortify yourself beforehand or commiserate properly afterwards because the beer is expensive and the wine is expensive and nasty...
...all right, you've caught me; that was a test. ... -
Olivier Audience Award shortlist: four musicals and a horse
9th February | 2 comments | 1 person likes this
I promised you a reminder to vote in the second round of the Olivier Awards' brand-new category, the Audience Award - so here it is.
The winner of the Audience Award for Most Popular Long-Running Show of 2009 is determined by the votes of the general public - the first time an Olivier Award winner has been decided by anyone outside the Society of London Theatre. The first round of voting... -
Excuse me, you’re standing in my dead men’s shoes
28th January | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Theatre reviewing is a dead men's shoes business. One someone lands a chief critic position at a national newspaper, they'll traditionally hold onto that position until they're buried or senile. So for all the deputies and second-stream critics, and for all us up-and-comers watching hawklike for new deputy or second-stream opportunities, the voluntary retirement of two chief critics within a year of one another should have been a cause for...
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The Noughties according to Theatre503
22nd January | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
What do you remember about the Noughties? (Yes, it turns out that is what we're calling them.) Theatre503 asked that question to ten playwrights - five established, five as-yet unproduced - and the result is Decade, a collection of ten ten-minute plays, each one representing a single year. So what do the Decade writers remember about the Noughties?
First and foremost, they remember global catastrophes. Summing up a whole year in... -
New Olivier Award celebrates the power of you
21st January | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
This year's Laurence Olivier Awards will include a brand new category, the Audience Award, introduced to celebrate the nation's favourite long-running production of 2009. Notice that I say 'the nation's favourite', not 'the Society of London Theatre's favourite'. The nominees and eventual winner of the Audience Award will be decided by a public vote.
Public opinion polls aren't exactly news, especially in Theatreland; Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group make their... -
No excuses: theatre is affordable
14th January | 3 comments | 2 people like this
Hey, did you see Avatar? Did you see it in 3D? What about IMAX 3D? What did you pay? I paid £12.50, plus online booking fee, to see it in IMAX 3D (at the Odeon in Wimbledon, if anyone's asking), and I was just one of millions: millions of people who have proven themselves willing to spend £12.50 or thereabouts on an evening's entertainment.
If you're one of those millions, you... -
Review: Lady Julia, Hen & Chickens Theatre
14th December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Written by James and Ben Kenward after August Strindberg
Hen & Chickens Theatre, until Saturday 19th December, £12.00 (book tickets)In The Lamplight's Lady Julia brings August Strindberg's seminal Miss Julie<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--> bang up to date, throwing together high-born Julia (Annabel Topham) and her father's valet John (James Kenward) on New Year's Eve 2008. It's possible the company are hoping to replicate the...
Directed by Gabriella Santinelli
Starring James Kenward, Amy Rhodes, Annabel Topham -
Review: The Stefan Golaszewski Plays, Bush Theatre
14th December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Written and performed by Stefan Golaszewski
Bush Theatre, until Saturday 9th January 2009, £15.00/£13.00 (book tickets)Two one-act plays back to back don't usually make a successful two-act play. Right? Which suggests it's probably no coincidence that Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved and Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower work so well as a double bill; it seems likely they were always meant to be performed...
Directed by Phillip Breen -
Bush Theatre re-opens to unsolicited script submissions
7th December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
The moment the Bush Theatre axed its script reading team, citing a lack of funds, was the moment the recession became real for me. Beforehand I'd been taking my usual naïve/optimistic view of the situation, confident that it couldn't be as bad as the media made it out to be, and that it would soon blow over with no major consequences. The discontinuation of script reading at one of London's...
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Matt Boothman
Arts journalist Matt Boothman talks performance, playwriting and criticism from London's fringe, where theatre is both challenging and affordable.
