Edinburgh Festival Blog 2009

FRIDAY
Well, it was a surreal start to the festival. I turned up at the appointed time at the Mercure Hotel for a ‘show’ by a Belgian company who had wowed last year. There were 4 others. We stood in a row, then a screen rose to reveal five others who proceeded to change places until they [...]

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The Rest of August (in London)

ART
A catch-up month!
Telling Tales is a small exhibition at the V&A where contemporary designers respond to three themes – forest glades, enchanted castles and heaven & hell – with narrative art / design works. It was quirky and intriguing, but I’m not sure I got the point! Radical Nature at the Barbican is an even [...]

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Collaboration

This Ronald Harwood play presents the dilema Richard Strauss faced when pressed by the Nazi’s to distance himself from his Jewish librettist.
The first half is slow and very dull and by the interval I was seriously thinking of giving up. Even though the second half does present a more intersting debate, I’m afraid it never really recovered enough to make me [...]

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A Streetcar Named Desire

All the great playwrights and plays of the 20th Century were American – O’Neill, Williams, Miller - and this is one of the best by one of the best.
Given it’s choreographer Rob Ashford’s second directorial outing, his achievement is astonishing. You gasp yet again at Christopeher Oram’s design, which makes you feel like you are actually [...]

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Call Me Madam

This is the second of the prolific Thom Sutherland’s fringe Broadway offerings this month. Irving Berlin’s 50’s musical is a bit fusty. The story of  a female American ambassador to a small European Duchy who makes diplomatic blunders whilst falling in love with the country’s PM is a bit flimsy. Her assisitant falls for the princess and [...]

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Helen

This first Greek drama at The Globe proves quite a treat. It helps that Euripides cheeky version of the story has Helen nowhere near Troy when they fought over her and that Frank McGuiness’ translation is irreverent and playful, making the play very suitable for the Globe.
Helen is stuck in Egypt, about to be married [...]

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State Fair

It’s extraordinary to think this is the European premiere of a Rogers & Hammerstein show – and in a stuffy room above a pub in Earls Court too!
Three love stories (if you include the pigs!) interwoven with competitions for best hog, pickle and mincemeat at a state fair (mega-fete to you!). It started as a [...]

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Hamlet

This is a very good Hamlet with real pace, facilitated by a relatively small stage and a simple but elegant design.  A little dark and monotone maybe, but gripping nonetheless.
Having seen Jude Law a number of times (albeit most of them some time back) I knew he was a good stage actor, but I have [...]

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Jerusalem

Until this year, only two Jez Butterworth plays have been produced since his debut with Mojo 14 years ago. Then along come two in quick succession! This is without question his best - I’m not sure it’s a classic, but it is a theatrical feast.
There are many themes being explored here – changes in rural life, [...]

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Sing For Your Supper

The second compilation show of the summer – this time a slicker, more professional look at Rogers & Hart. Rogers, of course, invented the serious musical in his partnership with Hammerstein (Oklahoma, South Pacific, The Sound of Music…..) but before this, with Hart, he created some lighter funnier escapist fare.
This show included lots of less well [...]

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