Posts Tagged ‘Tom Stoppard’
Thursday 10 July 2014
What’s Shakespeare in Love about then?
Well, it’s about 3 hours.
We’ve probably used that ‘gag’ before, but since the West End is hooked on recycling movies and musical back catalogues we feel moved to join in with some gentle regurgitation too.
SIL, should you not know, was a popular and reasonably entertaining film that inexplicably went on to win 7 Academy Awards (you remember, Dame Judi won the Best Supporting Actress statuette for her 8 minutes of screen time as Queen E 1) and is delivered extravagantly to the Noel Coward in both production values and running time. The only brevity here comes in the form of a ceruse-faced Anna Carteret who drifts around oozing regality in the Dame J role in similarly and frustratingly brief appearances. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in West End Whingers | 32 Comments »
Tags: Anna Carteret, comedy, Declan Donnellan, Disney, entertainment, Lee Hall, London, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Marc Norman, Nick Ormerod, Noel Coward Theatre, play, review, Shakespeare in Love, Sonia Friedman, theatre, Tom Bateman, Tom Stoppard, west end, William Shakespeare
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Ah yes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Another thing with regard to which we are way behind the curve so we won’t labour things. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in West End Whingers | 4 Comments »
Tags: entertainment, Jamie Parker, London, play, review, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Samuel Barnett, theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket, Tom Stoppard, Trevor Nunn, west end
Monday 1 June 2009
The Bridge Project. What’s that all about then?* It’s an unprecedented three-year, transatlantic partnership uniting The Old Vic with Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Neal Street Productions which turns out not to be where Andrew buys his cheese, as he thought, but director Sam Mendes‘ production company (Shrek the Musical etc).
What it really means is we get to see cheese and chalk Simon Russell Beale and Ethan Hawke on stage together Tom Stoppard‘s new adaptation of Ibsen’s The Cherry Orchard (they’re also doing The Winter’s Tale but one unprecedented transatlantic production is enough for the Whingers). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in West End Whingers | 12 Comments »
Tags: aluminium harp, Anthony Ward, Anton Chekhov, entertainment, Ethan Hawke, Kevin Spacey, London, Old Vic, Rebecca Hall, review, Richard Easton, Sam Mendes, Selina Cadell, Simon Russell Beale, Sinead Cusack, The Bridge Project, The Cherry Orchard, theatre, Tom Stoppard, Trafalgar Studios
Sunday 18 January 2009

A Accurately Advertised running time for once. 65 minutes long.
B Brevity. The Whingers approve.
C Coughing. Had the National imported the audience from Oliver! wholesale?
D Don’t people bother with cough sweets theses days?
E Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is a play for actors and orchestra (Southbank Sinfonia) by Tom Stoppard and André Previn. It’s a rarely performed curiosity. An extravagance. But is it worth the effort? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in André Previn, Bob Crowley, Dan Stevens, entertainment, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Felix Barrett, Joseph Millson, review, Southbank Sinfonia, theatre, Tom Morris, Tom Stoppard, west end | 18 Comments »
Tags: André Previn, Bob Crowley, Bruno Poet, Bryony Hannah, Dan Stevens, entertainment, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Felix Barrett, Joseph Millson, review, Southbank Sinfonia, theatre, Tom Morris, Tom Stoppard, west end
Friday 7 November 2008

While the rest of the world was holding its breath to find out if McCain had had his chips and the moose huntin’ maverick was back at Walmart, the West End Whingers were bating their collective, slightly wheezy breath with a far more pressing concern: would Ivanov be yet another success in their consecutive list of theatrical junkets?
Would it be assigned a place on The Bagnold Barometer or be put on their list of theatrical abasement: The Fram Scale?
Phil’s now enjoyed an unprecedented eight trips to the theatre, the only thorn in his proverbial side being An Ideal Husband (but since that was in the provinces it doesn’t seem fair to include it and spoil his extraordinary run).
Are the Whingers losing their modus operandi, their raison d’être? Will they have to start searching for a new soubriquet ? Why have they stopped writing in English? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Andrea Riseborough, Anton Chekhov, Christopher Oram, Donmar West End, entertainment, Gina McKee, Ivanov, Kenneth Branagh, London, Michael Grandage, review, Sylvestra Le Touzel, theatre, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Stoppard, west end, Wyndham's Theatre | 6 Comments »
Tags: Andrea Riseborough, Anton Chekhov, Christopher Oram, Donmar West End, entertainment, Gina McKee, Ivanov, Kenneth Branagh, London, Michael Grandage, review, Sylvestra Le Touzel, theatre, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Stoppard, Wyndham's Theatre