I would have thought everyone was rushing to adjust their best of the year lists now the matchless Steppenwolf ensemble has opened in London with August:Osage County at the National.

But apparently not. Objections I’ve heard so far include “too Gothic” and “too implausible,” which suggests we’ve become immune to the power of the hyper theatrical and would rather settle for the slight, the trivial, the earnestly discreet in our acting.

It’s as if the guardians of theatrical practice were saying, please keep the noise down, we’re trying to get a good sleep in here.

Ways of looking at acting have shrivelled along with, for most of the time, the acting itself. Royal Court naturalism is something to do with this, but I think we’ve also allowed ourselves to be duped for too long by RSC style shouting as opposed to the genuine rage, pain and sideswipe of American realism at its very best.

(more…)

[Show as slideshow]

Despite all kinds of transport problems and closures, last night’s Outing to In a Dark Dark House at the Almeida Theatre was a great success, with everyone on our sell-out Outing enjoying a top-price seat and a free drink at our post show reception.

Contoroversial but highly celebrated playwright Neil LaBute has enjoyed success recently with his play Fat Pig, which is currently appearing at the Comedy Theatre in London’s West End. This explosive new drama, directed by Michael Attenborough, stars David Morrissey and Steven Mackintosh as two brothers who have never seen eye to eye, but who suddenly find that in order to have a future, they must first take up their past. Whatsonstage.com were happy to take 100 Theatregoers to the European premiere of this dark and emotional play. (more…)

The untimely death of top conductor Richard Hickox is a terrible blow to English music-making in general and Fiona Shaw’s imminent ENO production of Vaughan Williams’s setting of J M Synge’s Riders to the Sea at the ENO in particular.

The performances later this week will be dedicated to Hickox’s memory. I heard this melancholy news on my car radio at lunchtime yesterday as I was driving down the M1 from Leeds.

I should have been at the Evening Standard drama awards, sharing a table with Alex Jennings, Lia Williams, Gawn Grainger and Arcola director Mehmet Ergen. Instead, I was paying a high price for an act of stupidity exceptional even when measured against my own high standards of practical incompetence.

Setting off from Leeds after a weekend-long family function on Sunday afternoon, I had inadvertently filled the petrol tank with diesel. Easily done, but I’d never done it before, and I’ve ticked most boxes on the fully paid up idiot’s malfunctioning check sheet.

(more…)

Two lively London lads are in the news this week: Clive Barnes, the dance and drama critic, who died in New York on Wednesday; and Anthony Newley whose songs and shows are celebrated in a new musical, The Fool Who Dared to Dream, in a Highgate pub.

They were both fairly basic fellows, and Barnes was always proud of the fact that he alone championed Newley’s signature work, Stop the World — I Want to Get Off, when it opened in 1961.

Newley sent him a note when his review appeared: “I only hope you’re right.” And he was. But he changed his mind when Sammy Davis Jr led a disastrously updated Broadway revival in 1978: “This is a musical that would have been far better kept in the archives.”

Barnes was renowned in his days as drama critic on the New York Times for always championing British writers on Broadway, though he must have done something to upset Alan Bennett. When Barnes was given the CBE for services to drama in 1975, Bennett wryly commented that this was akin to decorating Goering with the DSO for his contribution to the war effort.

(more…)

[Show as slideshow]

Theatregoers on our Whatsonstage.com Outing to see Hollywood heartthrob Josh Hartnett make his West End début opposite Olivier-nominated British actor Adam Godley at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End last night were in for a real treat.

Not only were they seated in top price seats, they were also given a free programme and show poster on arrival at the theatre and were invited to stay on after the show for an exclusive Question and Answer session for which we were very excited to be joined by the full cast, including Josh Hartnett, Adam Godley, Mary Stockley, Tilly Blackwood and Charles Daish. (more…)

I’m increasingly drawn to the songs of ancient troubadors who can’t really sing all that well these days, and I had Leonard Cohen placed third in my personal line behind Tom Waites and Randy Newman.

I still think Waites is the greatest and Newman the funniest, but Cohen’s current concert tour must be one of the most remarkable in the history of popular music making. His three-hour gig at the Albert Hall was simpy the most beautiful, gracious concert I’ve ever seen, and one of the most moving summations of a creative life you could imagine.

Cohen hasn’t been in London in fourteen years. “I was sixty back then, ” he says, “just a kid with a crazy dream.” Still slim, stylish, trilby-hatted and clear-skinned, the man’s a marvel, and he drew us to him in a manner I’ve only seen rivalled by Frank Sinatra in this same venue.

(more…)

Running over the brow of Primrose Hill and down into Regent’s Park this mild and wintry sunshine morning — London laid out before me like a special gift — was the unrivalled highlight of my extra-curricular week.

But visiting the new Westfield shopping mall — the largest of its kind in the world — at Shepherd’s Bush last night was a close second. For the wrong reasons. Capital FM’s Johnny Vaughan flicked the switch on the Christmas lights and a few dull white columns and fake trees were suddenly illumined with a myriad small cheap bulbs. Not the Rockefeller Centre, exactly.

I was on my way to the Bush, a venue where the lights have been out for some time, and not much sign of renaissance judging by the sad little import from Eastern Angles touring company, I Caught Crabs in Walberswick.

Mind you, I nearly caught cold in Westfield. As I rolled up, the sky suddenly filled with fake snow that fell to the ground like blobs of detergent.

Two blonde ice maidens held on to the reins of two sullen looking Alaskan huskies. One of the huskies had just dropped the biggest canine number twos I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen lots tripping daintily over Hampstead Heath.

(more…)

Interesting that the Guardian puts Michael Billington’s rave review of the new David Hare play Gethsemane on its front page today. The minute the political and cultural life of the country comes under proper scrutiny in the theatre, the media takes the theatre more seriously.

How rarely the theatre these days deals with public issues in a serious, challenging and highly intelligent manner may be judged by this very phenomenon. And the Cottesloe was packed with political as well as arts journalists last night.

Peter Riddell, genial political commentator on The Times, greeted me with a cry of “I’m one of you lot tonight!” David Aaranovitch of the same paper barged in on a conversation I was having with John Wilson, radio producer and son of former Arsenal goalkeepr Bob Wilson, on the renewed fortunes of our soccer team Tottenham Hotspur.

And Dame Liz Forgan confirmed that she has indeed applied for the chair of the Arts Council but doubts she’ll get it. I do hope she does. I don’t much like “the great and the good” in the arts world, but I do make an exception for Liz.

(more…)

You might think that playwright David Hare and Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre would not be on the same side about anything, but both seem to agree that public figures deserve all the opprobrium that gets dumped on them from the sidelines.

Dacre, who’s sixty this Friday, sharing the same date of birth as Prince Charles, has delivered a thunderous speech to the Society of Editors defending the Press exposure of the motor racing mogul Max Mosley’s “sexual depravity.”

Mosley won a case against the News of the World under the privacy clause of the Human Rights Act and Dacre sees this as the start of a sinister campaign by the establishment against freedom of information in the public interest.

Advance reports of the new David Hare play, Gethsemane at the National Theatre, suggest that characters invoked include the Labour Party fundraiser Lord Levy, who faced police questions over the “cash for honours” scandal; and Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister, who separated from her husband, David Mills, after he was involved in a financial scandal emanating from Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.

(more…)

80 of our theatregoers enjoyed a fantastic outing to the Vaudeville theatre last nigtht (6 November 2008) to see the Donmar production of Pam Gems’ Piaf in its West End incarnation.

The show, which has been widely heralded by critics and audiences alike, did not disappoint, with leading lady Elena Roger’s rousing finale rendition of “Je ne Regrette Rien” bringing many to their feet.

After the show, our theatregoers headed en masse to the Vaudeville’s ornate circle bar, where cast members including Elena Roger, Shane Attwooll, Taylor James, Luke Evans, Katherine Kingsley and Phillip Browne were on hand to meet our members and chat about the show. Roger admitted to being “shattered” (she only had a week off between the Donmar and West End productions), but thoroughly enjoying her time in the role.

All members taking part in the post-show event were able to take advantage of a free drink voucher, and we were all hugely appreciative of the time given by the cast to share their insights on the production. A huge thankyou to all involved!

Please feel free to email your comments and thoughts about the show and the evening through to feedback@whatsonstage.com, or why not contribute your own review of Piaf?

Also, don’t forget to check the homepage for details of upcoming Outings and events.

See you next time!

Theo Bosanquet

FDA Men’s Health approved medications. Buy Cialis Online products including Viagra, Tramadol, Cialis, Propecia and many more. Pharmacy Online is an online Canadian pharmacy that provides Canadian pharmacy drugs to patients at discount prices. Pharmacy Online is proud to have the highest Canada Pharmacy rating from Pharmacy Checker. com who reports credential and customer Muscle Relaxant offers prescription drugs online. Injectable HGH Humatrope Erectile Dysfunction Pill Saizen. Watch Buy cheap Cialis for Cheap CialisPharmacyOnline. mobi Pharmacy Online Toll free: Allergies &nbs.Save on your Prescription Drugs. Buy Online or Call 18669203784. Buy your prescriptions Viagra Order for less at Anti Depressants our Canada pharmacy. Fast shipping. Save up to 70% on on line Viagra cheap pharmacy. Free Nurse Consultation w/ Order. Compare our prices. Save up to 70%. Free shipping on all orders. We will beat any competitors price from Xenical. Order online or tollfree. Shop for Buy Avodart prescription drugs, health & beauty, green & natural, pet products, food & gourmet, toys & games and more at drugstore. com. CVS Cheap Casodex provides you with access to prescription drugs, health information and medical care from a pharmacy and Buy Effexor drug store brand name you know ED Trial Pack and trust. Quick Cialis Professional online tips and warnings for consumers buying prescription and overthecounter drugs on the Web. From the U. Acomplia S. Food and Drug Administration. How can you tell which sites are legitimate online pharmacies? Excerpts from the Florinef Medical College of Wisconsin. National retail pharmacy chain. ..Buy cheap Cialis Soft No prior prescription needed! FREE Online Consultation U. S Licensed Physicians. Complete privacy FedEx Next day delivery. Weight Loss Order Tramadol Fioricet Soma Viagra and Sexual Health Buy Drugs from Cialis Order an Bestsellers. Buy Caverta Order from an Eulexin. Online Kamagra Pharmacy Meds. Order High Quality ED generic tabs such as Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Kamagra. Lowest price + BONUS. NO Prescription required Buy Cialis Super Active. Discreet Unmarked Packing WorldwideUse keywords to find the product you are looking for. Advanced SearchAcidity. Online drugstore. Aciphex Buy Buy Zantac, buy Prevacid, buy Prilosec, cheap Zantac, Buy Cheap Zithromax Online cheap Prevacid, cheap Prilosec, buy online Zantac, buy online Prevacid, buy online PrilosecAustralias largest Cheap Effexor and Health information Website 1000’s of pages of very useful free info and links The Aciphex Only OnLinePharmacy with Pharmacies in Each StateSince about the year 2000 [citation needed], hundreds of pharmacies have begun operating over the internet. Many such pharmacies are, in some ways, similar to community pharmaciesThanks for the excellent Zithromax service,I got my Cheap Zithromax parcel fast Buy Viagra and Effexor discreetly JackPharmacy Online is Pain Relief an online Canadian pharmacy that provides Canadian pharmacy drugs to patients at discount prices.