Review – Happy Now? National Theatre

And so it was that the Whingers set out on what has officially (by a man in Cardiff, no less) been declared the most depressing day of the year in pursuit of an uplifting evening in the hallowed auditorium which is the Cottesloe “Theatre”.

And how appropriate (or ironic, depending on your take) that the piece in question should bear the title Happy Now?

But even with WEW fave Anne Reid in the cast, it would take some pretty deft writing on the part of playwright Lucinda Coxon (or more likely a bottle or two of red) to shake off the Whingers’ winter blues (not to mention the day’s hit on Andrew’s already pathetic pension fund).

Review – The Emperor Jones, National Theatre

Andrew would have loved this one.

The play that launched Eugene O’Neill’s career The Emperor Jones turned into a music and dance spectacle with a multi-cultural cast and all over without an interval in a mere 70 minutes.

Where could Andrew have been? Well, as regular readers will know, since seeing the abysmal Take Flight at the Menier Chocolate Factory Andrew’s been inspired to do a little of his own flying solo. Only last Thursday he inveigled himself to join a posse of fellow theatrical bloggers at The Bacchae without so much as a nod to poor Phil who was desperate to see Alan Cumming’s bottom for the nth time.