Mr. Foote’s Other Leg
7 December 2015 (Mon), West End
Simon Russell Beale in peak form. Continue reading
Category Archives: Play
The Homecoming
The Homecoming
5 December 2015 (Sat), London Trafalgar Studios
A little Pinter goes long way with me, but this was the one play that my friend and I could agree on; I felt I should see it at some point anyway. As with most Pinter plays, it’s too stylized and obscure to make much sense, though the characterizations on their own were interesting. A brother, who has gone off to the US, brings his wife home for the first time after years of marriage and introduces her to his misogynistic widower dad, his hopeless two brothers and his chauffeur uncle. Thrown in the middle of a bullying, macho, frat-type environment, the wife uses her sexual wiles to manipulate all and gain control. Continue reading
Farinelli and the King
Farinelli and the King
5 December 2015 (Sat), West End
This was one tough ticket. I had tried for seats several times from Tokyo, but had only managed to get a standing-room seat for the evening show (and even those were eventually sold out). I went to the box office in the morning to see if I could find something better, and ended up snagging not just a seat but a house seat for the matinee – this was apparently the final day of performances, so the producers must have been holding back a number of tickets just in case. Great luck. And I even managed to sell my standing-room ticket to an extremely grateful guy. So all’s well that ends well. Continue reading
Tonya Pinkins: I’m every black woman
Hilarious: It seems that the actress Tonya Pinkins dropped out of a New York production of the classic Mother Courage because, as she puts it, her “perspective as a Black woman was dismissed in favor of portraying the Black woman, through the filter of the White gaze”. The production, which has a white director, had been reset to the Congo in contemporary times. I don’t know much about the production, or about the Congo for that matter. But from an Asian perspective, I find it funny that Pinkins thinks that because she’s female and black, she has special insight into the feelings of a Congolese woman trapped in a brutal war. Is there some Black gene that makes all black women worldwide think and feel the same way? I wonder if the fictional woman would even think of herself as “black” given that virtually the entire population of her country is the same; surely she would find her identity elsewhere. Continue reading
The Anderson Project (English/Japanese)
Archives: The Andersen Project
25 June 2006 (Sun), Tokyo
A one-man show conceived and performed by the inimitable Montreal-based director Robert Lepage. He was evidently commissioned by the Danish government to create a show celebrating Hans Christian Andersen, but what they got, unsurprisingly with Lepage, was something completely different. Continue reading
The Lieutenant of Inishmore (English/Japanese)
Archives: The Lieutenant of Inishmore
29 April 2006 (Sat), Broadway
Wild black comedy by Irish dramatist Martin McDonaugh, author of the memorable Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Pillowman. This show considerably ups the gruesome quotient with the most blood I’ve ever seen spilled on stage. An Irish terrorist discovers that his beloved cat has been run over, and utter mayhem breaks loose as he seeks his revenge. Continue reading
Othello (NT Live)
Othello (National Theatre Live)
19 October 2015 (Mon), Tokyo cinema
I loved Adrian Lester a few years back in Red Velvet as a 19th-century actor playing Othello, so I wasn’t going to miss him in the real thing. With direction by Nicholas Hytner and the added attraction of Rory Kinnear as Iago, my expectations were high. Continue reading
Needles and Opium
Needles and Opium
10 October 2015 (Sat), Tokyo
A revival of Lepage’s breakout one-man show of 1995 – a reworking really, since it adds a character and evidently ups the technology factor considerably. I never saw the original, but any Lepage show is an event as far as I’m concerned, so I bought the tickets without knowing much about it (and despite the off-putting title). Continue reading
Ninagawa Macbeth
Ninagawa Macbeth
2 October 2015 (Fri), Tokyo
I had seen this production maybe 20 years earlier but, with only the vaguest memory of it now, I immediately said yes when a friend suggested going. This is Ninagawa’s revival of his first version of the show, the one that put him on the map internationally. The run was completely sold out before it opened on the strength of its considerable reputation, and my friend fortunately moved quickly when they announced an extra show. Continue reading
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