Category Archives: Theatre

THEATRE REVIEW: Simon Gray’s ‘Holy Terror’

Posted on April 27, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – “The Holy Terror” is neither holy nor a terror although it is wholly terrible, being partly a satirical blast at book publishing that misfires on all cylinders and partly a dissection of a man’s descent … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged 'Holy Terror', 'Melon', Duke of York's Theatre, Laurence Boswell, Simon Callow, Simon Gray | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: David Mamet’s ‘Oleanna’

Posted on April 23, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – David Mamet seems like he would be the kind of scholarly poker player who, when someone hauls in a big pot through intuition and luck, chides the player for staying in with that hand. Mamet … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged 'Oleanna', Aron Eckhart, David Mamet, Julia Stiles, Lindsay Posner | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: Jonathan Pryce in Albee’s ‘The Goat’

Posted on April 16, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett Following a much publicized Broadway run, it is testament to the power of Edward Albee’s play “The Goat, or, Who is Sylvia?” and the conviction of this Almeida Theatre staging of it that the central character’s declaration … Continue reading →

Posted in Previews, Theatre | Tagged 'The Goat, Almeida Theatre, Anthony Page, Eddie Redmayne, Edward Albee, Jonathan Pryce, Kate Fahy, Matthew Marsh, or, Who is Sylvia?' | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: Samuel Becket’s ‘Endgame’

Posted on March 11, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – John Fowles, author of “The Magus” and “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”, once pictured Samuel Beckett as he goes home to Mrs. Beckett after a long day spent writing. He puts on his slippers and sits … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged 'Endgame', Albery Theatre, Gary Yershon, Geoffrey Hutchings, Lee Evans, Liz Smith, Matthew Warchus, Michael Gambon, Samuel Beckett | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Calico’ by Michael Hastings

Posted on March 4, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – In the moving and brilliantly acted new play “Calico” by Michael Hastings, James Joyce’s daughter Lucia (Romola Garai, pictured above) falls in love with Samuel Beckett. She is caught, therefore, between a father who uses words too … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged 'Calico', Daniel Weyman, Dermot Crowley, Duke of York's Theatre, Edward Hall, Imelda Staunton, James Joyce, Michael Hastings, Romola Garai, Samuel Beckett, Sonia Friedman Productions | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: Paul Lucas’ ‘The Dice House’

Posted on February 24, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – The inmates are definitely in charge of the asylum in Paul Lucas’s lively variation on the theme created by Luke Rhinehart in his 1970s American novel, “The Dice Man,” in which fate is handed entirely … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘His Dark Materials Parts 1 & 2’

Posted on February 10, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – For kids and adults who like to read children’s books, Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy of fantasy novels are second in popularity only to the Harry Potter stories. They are rich with colorful characters … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged 'His Dark Materials', Anna Maxwell Martin, Ben Wright, Dominic Cooper, National Theatre, Niamh Cusack, Nicholas Hytner, Nicholas Wright, Patricia Hodge, Philip Pullman, Russell Tovey, Samuel Barnett, Tim McMullan, Timothy Dalton | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: David Hare’s ‘The Permanent Way’

Posted on January 27, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – When successive Conservative governments under Margaret Thatcher and John Major sold off most of the nationalised British rail system to private industry, former Tory prime minister Harold Macmillan described it as “selling off the family … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged 'The Permanent Way', David Hare, Max Stafford-Clark, National Theatre, Out of Town | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: R. C. Sherriff’s ‘Journey’s End’

Posted on January 22, 2004 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – That war is hell is not a new theme in the theatre, or anywhere else. That World War I was an especially foul kind of hell is also not new but in R. C. Sherriff’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged 'Journey's End', Ben Meyges, Christian Coulson, Comedy Theatre, David Grindley, David Haig, Geoffrey Streatfield, R. C. Sherriff | Comments Off

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’

Posted on October 22, 2003 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – A clutch of Tony Awards doesn’t always mean that a Broadway show will win over British audiences but “Thoroughly Modern Millie”, which won six including best musical, has succeeded where “City of Angels”, “Grand Hotel”, … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Reviews, Theatre | Tagged 'Thoroughly Modern Millie', Amanda Holden, Craig Urbani, Dick Scanlon, Marti Webb, Maureen Lipman, Micahel Mayer, Mike McGee, Richard Morris, Rob Ashford, Shaftesbury Theatre | Comments Off