Clybourne Park – Reviews Round-up
February 10, 2011
Round-up of reviews for Clybourne Park at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London
Sophie Thompson and Lorna Brown in Clybourne Park
A terrific cast, including Sophie Thompson, star in Clybourne Park, Bruce Norris’s award-winning play directed by Dominic Cooke, that gets a well-deserved transfer from the Royal Court into the West End.
This bitingly funny play about property and racial tensions in America sees the first act set in 1959, when a black family buys a house in a white Chicago suburb. Act two sees the actors take on different roles and the story reverse to the same house but in 2009. The modern-day neighbourhood is now predominantly black, and a white couple are trying to buy the same house.
The cast is singled out for special praise, particularly Sophie Thompson, Stuart McQuarrie, Sarah Goldberg, Stephen Campbell Moore, Lucian Msamati and Lorna Brown.
The play is shockingly funny and the critics loved it as much the second time round as the first. The play has been winning every Best Play gong going, including the Evening Standard awards, and is tipped to do well at next month’s Olivier Awards.
See reviews below from the Telegraph, Guardian, Times, Evening Standard and Independent.
Book tickets to Clybourne Park at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London
Clybourne Park scoops awards
January 25, 2011
Bruce Norris’s new play Clybourne Park, produced by the Royal Court last year and transferring to the Wyndham’s Theatre from 28 January, has scooped two major best new play awards.
Sophie Thompson in Clybourne Park
In ceremonies held today in central London, the South Bank Sky Arts Awards and the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards both presented Clybourne Park with Best New Play gongs.
The Royal Court also picked up two more awards from the Critics’ Circle, both mirroring their wins at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards last year: the Most Promising Playwright Award for Anya Reiss’s Spur of the Moment and Daniel Kaluuya for most promising newcomer for Sucker Punch.
The National, RSC and Donmar Warehouse also did well from the Critics’ Circle awards with Michael Grandage and Thea Sharrock jointly awarded best director for King Lear at the Donmar and After the Dance at the National respectively.
Other winners included theatre veterans David Suchet receiving a best actor award for All My Sons at the Apollo and Derek Jacobi a best Shakespearean performance award for King Lear at the Donmar. Best musical went to the RSC’s Matilda The Musical based on Roald Dahl’s popular children’s book and best actress was awarded to Jenny Jules for her performance in Ruined at the Almeida.
The South Bank Sky Arts Awards led by Melvyn Bragg, the first to be presented by the Sky Arts channel following ITV’s axing of Bragg’s South Bank Show last year, saw Dame Judi Dench awarded the Outstanding Achievement award. Alongside Clybourne Park’s win, best opera production was awarded to Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg from Welsh National Opera and best dance was Akram Khan’s Gnosis at Sadler’s Wells.
LINKS
Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards 2010 – full list of winners
South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2011 – full list of winners
BOOK
Book tickets to Clybourne Park at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London
South Bank Sky Arts Awards – Winners 2011
January 25, 2011
Awards announced: 25 January 2011, Dorchester Hotel London
The Dorchester Award for Outstanding Achievement:
Dame Judi Dench
Theatre:
Clybourne Park, Royal Court
Opera:
Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg, Welsh National Opera
Dance:
Akram Khan’s Gnosis at Sadler’s Wells
Classical Music:
BBC Philharmonic and the Halle, Mahler’s 8th Symphony
Comedy:
Rev, BBC2
Film:
Monsters, directed by Gareth Edwards
Literature:
What To Look For In Winter: A Memoir In Blindness, Candia McWilliam
Pop Music:
The Defamation Of Strickland Banks, Plan B
TV Drama:
This is England ’86, Channel 4
Visual Arts:
Tacita Dean Craneway Event, Frith Street Gallery
Times Breakthrough Award:
Everything, Everything
New this week: The Children’s Hour
January 24, 2011
New shows coming to London this week include The Children’s Hour at the Comedy Theatre starring Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss; the Royal Court’s award-winning Clybourne Park to the Wyndham’s Theatre; and Will & Grace star Leslie Jordan in his Trip Down the Pink Carpet.
The Children’s Hour
Lillian Hellman’s classic, controversial play started previews at the Comedy Theatre on Saturday (22 January 2011), with an official opening night on 9 February.
The play is generating much interest but more because of the casting than the subject matter: when the play premiered in 1934 it was swiftly banned in London and Boston for its story of two school mistresses accused of being lesbian lovers by a school girl. Rather, this new production directed by Ian Rickson at the Comedy Theatre is in the papers for its starry casting. Hollywood actress Keira Knightley is back in the venue after her 2009 run in The Misanthrope, and is joined by Elisabeth Moss, aka Peggy from Mad Men, as well as Oscar winning actress Ellen Burstyn.
Ex-Royal Court artistic director Ian Rickson will direct The Children’s Hour, following his huge hit with Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem in 2009.
Book tickets to The Children’s Hour at the Comedy Theatre
Leslie Jordan – My Trip Down The Pink Carpet
Hilarious American actor Leslie Jordan brings his outrageous show to London. Best known for his role in Will & Grace, Jordan tells an entertaining collection of true life stories from small-town USA to the pink carpet of Hollywood.
Self-styled as “the gayest man I know”, Leslie Jordan reveals his childhood agonies, dangerous temptations, and revealing celebrity encounters — from Boy George to George Clooney — in his laugh-out-loud show about Hollywood, fame, addiction, gay culture, and learning to love oneself.
Clybourne Park
The Royal Court brings its Evening Standard award-winning play Clybourne Park into the West End for a limited run.
Bruce Norris’ satirical comedy transfers to the Wyndham’s Theatre from 28 January staring Sophie Thompson and Stephen Campbell Moore, and is directed by Dominic Cooke.
Bruce Norris’s hilarious satire explores the fault line between the worlds of race and property, contrasting late 50′s Chicago to the present day.
Book tickets to Clybourne Park at the Wyndham’s Theatre
COMING SOON
IN ONE WEEK…
Frankenstein starts previews at the National starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller (from 5 February). Lee Mead waves goodbye to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria (5 February).
IN TWO WEEKS…
Shoes the Musical – the hugely successful Sadler’s Wells show – is West End bound at the Peacock Theatre from 8 February. The Children’s Hour gets its official opening night at the Comedy Theatre on 9 February. And The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee starts previews as the Donmar Warehouse from 11 February.
Clybourne Park tickets at the Wyndham’s Theatre starring Sophie Thompson and Stephen Campbell Moore
October 14, 2010
Winner of Best New Play at the 2011 Olivier Awards, the Royal Court transfers Bruce Norris’ satirical comedy Clybourne Park to the Wyndham’s Theatre for a strictly limited run, staring Sophie Thompson.
Tony Awards tonight
June 13, 2010
The annual Tony Awards will be announced tonight, Sunday 13 June 2010, at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
Sean Hayes, presenting this year's Tony awards
The star-studded event will be hosted by Sean Hayes, best known as Jack from Will & Grace and currently starring in Promises, Promises on Broadway.
The awards, the most important in the US arts calendar, will feature performances from current Broadway shows including American Idiot, Fela!, Memphis, Million Dollar Quartet, La Cage aux Folles, A Little Night Music and Ragtime. Star presenters will include Katie Holmes, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Angela Lansbury, Mark Sanchez, Daniel Radcliffe, Barbara Cook, Stanley Tucci, Idina Menzel and Laura Bell Bundy!
Other appearances and performances will include Glee’s Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison, Paula Abdul, Antonio Banderas, Cate Blanchett, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Douglas, Scarlett Johansson, Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren, Chris Noth, Bernadette Peters, Raquel Welch and David Hyde Pierce, who will receive a special Tony Award and is slated to appear in London next month in La Bete at the Comedy Theatre.
Shows up for awards this year include a revival of August Wilson’s Fences starring Denzel Washington (10nominations); Broadway musical Fela! (11 nominations) – and which makes its UK premiere at the National Theatre in November; and nods for a number of high-profile Hollywood stars including Christopher Walken (Behanding in Spokane), Liev Schreiber (A View From The Bridge), and Scarlett Johansson (A View from the Bridge).
Glee's Lea Michele rehearsing on Friday for the Tony Awards
Recent Broadway musical The Addams Family starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, failed to find favour with the Tony awards committee, scoring only two nominations – best original score and best supporting actor in a musical for Kevin Chamberlin.
UK creatives or shows have garned 28 nominations this year. The Menier Chocolate Factory in South London will be awaiting news on two of its successful productions that have transferred to Broadway and received 15 Tony nominations: La Cage Aux Folles opened at the Longacre Theatrein April to enormous critical acclaim. The show features original London star Douglas Hodge and US actor Kelsey Grammer, both of whom have been nominated in the best actor in a musical category. In total the show has picked up 11 nominations, including best revival of a musical, scenic design (Tim Shortall), costume design (Matthew Wright), lighting design (Nick Richings), sound design (Jonathan Deans), direction (Terry Johnson), choreography (Lynne Page), orchestrations (Jason Carr) and best supporting actor (Robin De Jesus).
Also A Little Night Music, which started life at the Menier in 2008 before transferring to the Garrick theatre in the West End, opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr theatre in December 2009. It has picked up 4 nominations, including competing against La Cage in the best musical revival category, and nods for Catherine Zeta-Jones (best actress in a musical), Angela Lansbury (best supporting actress in a musical), and sound design (Dan Moses Schreier and Gareth Owen).
Douglas Hodge and Kelsey Grammer in La Cage Aux Folles
Other nominated UK shows include the Donmar Warehouse’s transfer of Red which enjoys 7 nominations including best play, best actor for Alfred Molina, best supporting actor for Eddie Redmayne, and best scenic design (Christopher Oram), lighting design (Neil Austin), sound design (Adam Cork) and direction (Michael Grandage). The Donmar production of Hamlet sees a nod for Jude Law and best lighting design of a play for Neil Austin. And the Royal Court’s production of Enron, which failed on Broadway but continues to sell well in London is nominated for best original score (music by Adam Cork and lyrics by Lucy Prebble), best supporting actor for Stephen Kunken, best sound design (Adam Cork) and best lighting design (Mark Henderson). Also veteran UK actress Rosemary Harris also received a best supporting nod for The Royal Family and one of the UK’s greatest living playwrights, Alan Ayckbourn, will receive a lifetime achievement award.
US viewers can watch the awards on CBS from 8pm ET. Selected countries are also airing the awards over the next week, although not in the UK. TonyAwards.com will only be featuring live footage of the red carpet arrivals and Creative Arts Awards from 6pm until 8pm ET.
See a list of Tony Award 2010 nominations here
Enron – Save £11
June 10, 2010
Save £11 on tickets to see Enron at the Noel Coward Theatre in London
Valid Monday to Wednesday performances and Saturday matinees until the 11th July
Lucy Prebble’s acclaimed new play exploring the infamous Enron corporate scandal.
Based on real life events and using music, movement and video, Enron explores one of the most infamous scandals in financial history, reviewing the tumultuous 1990s and casting a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009.
Written by Lucy Prebble, whose debut play The Sugar Syndrome won the George Devine Award and the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, Enron premiered at the Royal Court directed by Rupert Goold. He has previously directed the award-winning Macbeth and Six Characters In Search Of An Author (both Gielgud theatre). More recently he has directed Pete Postlethwaite in King Lear (Young Vic), Michael Gambon and David Bradley in No Man’s Land (Duke of York’s theatre) and Rowan Atkinson in the revival of Lionel Bart’s musical, Oliver! (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).
The Times 
Financial Times 
Time Out
The Telegraph
The Guardian
BOOK NOW: Save £11 on tickets to see Enron at the Noel Coward Theatre in London
Valid Monday to Wednesday performances and Saturday matinees until the 11th July
La Cage dominates Tony nominations
May 7, 2010
The UK’s Menier Chocolate Factory has scored another hit with its production of La Cage Aux Folles – this time on Broadway.
La Cage Aux Folles starring Douglas Hodge and Kelsey Grammer
The small South London arts venue has dominated this year’s Tony Awards nominations – with a total of 15 nods. Its musical productions of Jerry Herman’s La Cage Aux Folles and Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music have both garnered multiple nominations for their Broadway transfers.
La Cage Aux Folles premiered at the Chocolate Factory in 2008 before transferring the Playhouse Theatre in London, and opened at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway last month to enormous critical acclaim.
The show features original London star Douglas Hodge and US actor Kelsey Grammer, both of whom have been nominated in the best actor in a musical category. In total the show has picked up 11 nominations, including best revival of a musical, scenic design (Tim Shortall), costume design (Matthew Wright), lighting design (Nick Richings), sound design (Jonathan Deans), direction (Terry Johnson), choreography (Lynne Page), orchestrations (Jason Carr) and best supporting actor (Robin De Jesus).
A Little Night Music, which started life at the Menier in 2008 before transferring to the Garrick theatre in the West End, opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr theatre in December 2009. It has picked up 4 nominations, including competing against La Cage in the best musical revival category, and nods for Catherine Zeta-Jones (best actress in a musical), Angela Lansbury (best supporting actress in a musical), and sound design (Dan Moses Schreier and Gareth Owen).
Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury in A Little Night Music
Overall, it has been a successful year for the UK on Broadway, with a total of 28 nominations going to UK creatives. Other celebrated UK shows include the Donmar Warehouse’s transfer of Red which enjoys 7 nominations including best play, best actor for Alfred Molina, best supporting actor for Eddie Redmayne, and best scenic design (Christopher Oram), lighting design (Neil Austin), sound design (Adam Cork) and direction (Michael Grandage).
The Donmar also saw its production of Hamlet garner a best actor nod for Jude Law and best lighting design of a play for Neil Austin.
The Royal Court’s production of Enron, which transferred to Broadway but was not well received and has closed early at the Broadhurst Theatre, was nominated for best original score (music by Adam Cork and lyrics by Lucy Prebble), best supporting actor for Stephen Kunken, best sound design (Adam Cork) and best lighting design (Mark Henderson). Enron is currently playing to strong audiences in London at the Noel Coward Theatre.
Veteran UK actress Rosemary Harris also received a best supporting nod for The Royal Family and one of the UK’s greatest living playwrights, Alan Ayckbourn, will receive a lifetime achievement award.
Other big hitters nominated this year include a revival of August Wilson’s Fences starring Denzel Washington (10 nominations); Broadway musical Fela! (11 nominations) – and which makes its UK premiere at the National Theatre in November; and nods for a number of high-profile Hollywood stars including Christopher Walken (Behanding in Spokane), Liev Schreiber (A View From The Bridge), and Scarlett Johansson (A View from the Bridge).
Recent Broadway musical The Addams Family starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, failed to find favour with the Tony awards committee, scoring only two nominations – best original score and best supporting actor in a musical for Kevin Chamberlin.
The 64th awards will be presented on 13 July in New York.
See a list of Tony Award 2010 nominations here
Posh – Royal Court – Review
April 16, 2010
Review of Posh at the Royal Court theatre in London
Given the Royal Court’s long-running anti-Establishment bias, you didn’t have to be Nostradamus to predict that Posh would be a loaded play about class.
It’s set in a private dining room of an Oxford gastropub where The Riot Club, comprising ten pukka male students in their early twenties, meet for a ritualistic dinner whose main course is a ten-bird roast, and where the bottles of wine outnumber the guests.
All harbour an inflated sense of entitlement, convinced they are responsible for putting the ‘great’ in Great Britain – past present and future, and resent the fact they are no longer in power.
Bright but foul-mouthed, conspicuously debauched (they each bring a sick bag with them as a hedge against excessive eating and drinking), and with a stereotypical Hooray-Henry approach to the world, practically everything they say reeks of a snobbish class-consciousness rather than class.
With ten characters in the mix, playwright Laura Wade, by necessity, has chosen only a handful on whom to concentrate. And while each has his revelatory moments, a few, such as Tom Mison, as James, the Riot Club’s president, David Dawson as their resident gay poet (deliciously named Hugo Fraser-Tyrwhitt), Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Dimitri, a Greek by name but an English toff by nature, and most memorable of all, Leo Bill as the group’s repellently outspoken (and violent) member Alastair, make the most impact.
Indeed, the one element not in short supply is impact, and after the initial hour or so – the time Wade allows her characters to establish themselves, the play dramatically shifts gears. The meal starts uneventfully enough. There’s some discussion about the wine on offer and it’s discovered that the ten-bird roast comprises only nine birds (no guinea fowl could be found). Nor does the The landlord (Daniel Ryan) endear himself by asking the lads to keep the volume of noise down as other paying customers have complained.
The evening is further compromised when a ‘prozzer’ (prostitute) called Charlie (Charlotte Lucas) who has been booked for the night refuses to indulge in the sex act expected of her and is forced to leave when the landlord discovers her presence. The evening climaxes not in sex, despite a clumsy attempt on behalf of one of the boys to kiss the landlord’s waitress daughter (Fiona Button) against her will, but when the aggressive Alastair floors the landlord with a vicious uppercut after they trash his dining room.
It’s at this point that incredulity supersedes shock as all ten students, oblivious of their victim’s life-threatening wounds, stand around bickering and apportioning blame rather than calling an ambulance.
Despite their all-for-one and one-for-all philosophy, self-preservation kicks in and the rest of the group decide that Alastair, who administered the blows, should take the blame.
Wade’s coup d’grace and her ultimate thrust of the dagger into the heart of a political party she clearly despises, is a final scene in which an influential Tory MP (Simon Shepherd) reassures an unrepentant Alastair that the party needs more men like him, and that the influential old-boy network to which he belongs will help clear his name prior to recruiting him into Conservative politics.
If ever a play loaded the dice to make a point, this is it. The relish with which the playwright hammers home her message comes dangerously close to caricature and you will search in vain for a smidgen of decency among her ten offensive toffs, not one of whom appears to have a single redeeming feature.
Yet there is undeniable ingenuity in the way the play is constructed, in the characters’ authentic speech patterns and in the author’s ability to juggle so many characters without losing focus.
Laura Wade is certainly a talent to watch and it will be interesting to see how she handles a play with less easy targets and with a fairer, more balanced point of view.
Lyndsey Turner’s skilful and fluent direction and Anthony Ward’s settings contribute immeasurably to the success of an evening, which although flawed and manipulative, packs quite a wallop.
CLIVE HIRSCHHORN. Courtesy of This Is London.
Theatre pieces: Hunter Parrish, August:Osage County, Chichester
February 20, 2009
After Gareth Gates, do we have a new Joseph?
Gareth Gates seems to be doing a fine job in Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre – at least if comments on the westendtheatre blog are anything to go by. Whilst musing on Spring Awakening’s demise on Broadway, we turn our attention to Hunter Parrish – pot smoking star of TV’s Weeds – who recently played the lead role of Melchior on Broadway.
Well known for his love of all things theatrical, in a recent interview he said: “I want them to bring back Joseph [and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]. If anyone has that idea, I’m your man!” Could he be prize casting post-Gareth – or in any future Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway plans?
August the Movie?
Apparently a film version of August: Osage County, the play by Tracy Letts that wowed critics and audiences alike at the National Theatre recently, is on the cards. Written by Letts herself, the Weinstein Company is backing the adaptation and aiming for a 2011 release. There are some potential dream casting scenarios for this one.
Starry Chichester
There is much oo-ing and ahh-ing over this year’s Chichester Festival Theatre season, with lots of big name stars. Chief amongst them is Joseph Fiennes who is to headline Trevor Nunn‘s staging of Cyrano de Bergerac; also Rupert Goold directs Enron before it makes it’s way to the Royal Court; Oklahoma! gets a revival from Sweeney Todd stage director John Doyle, Iain Glen stars in a new adaptation of Friedrich Schiller play Wallenstein, and Diana Rigg stars as Judith Bliss in a revival of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever.
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