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Showing posts from 2016

No Man's Land

I watched Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land at Wyndham's Theatre. I normally assign a rating afterwards but I'm not sure about this one. It is a strange play. I understand the No Man's Land between the living and the dead, where memories exist and disappear at the same time. But the story itself is hard to follow so much so that I'm not surprised if people say there isn't one. Yet it explains the no man's land effectively. It leaves you with this unsettling feeling that life is slipping out ever so slowly and there is little you can do about it. In that sense, it is a well written abstract play, and nothing like those modern abstract plays that try so hard to be cool by being abstract (check out my favourite scapegoat, The Valley of Astonishment ). Having said that, the play is only as good as its actors. And Ian McKellen holds it all together, with little support from Patrick Stewart. The other characters are entire

The Spoils

I watched The Spoils at the Trafalgar Studios and give it a 4.5/5 rating. We went to watch it for its star cast (Jesse Eisenberg, Kunal Nayyar, Alfie Allen) and it's got rave reviews on the Broadway. It certainly lived up to it. Written by Jesse Eisenberg, it looks at the life of a spoilt rich brat in his late twenties. The humour is good and the acting is brilliant. Everyone fits well into their roles but of course, it's Jesse Eisenberg's play, written for himself. He is natural at it, not just wanting but believing himself to be the centre of the universe. In some ways, so is Kunal Nayyar naturally in his comfort zone of a hard-working immigrant. Alfie Allen (so different from his sad existence on Game of Thrones) is a bubbly happy man about to marry the love of his life. He works at an asset management firm which people his age think is success, except our self-centred protagonist. Among Game of Thrones' finest actors, his acting prowess is wasted in a one dimensio

The Threepenny Opera

I watched The Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre and give it a 5/5 rating. Now then, it received mixed reviews but I thought it was wonderful entertainment. And to think Rory Kinnear is a bad guy, Casanova and a true opportunist! He wasn't the lovable parish in The Casual Vacancy or the self-sacrificing Prime Minister in Black Mirror or the victimised citizen in The Trail. But then, I missed him as Iago a few years ago and now that I can see how perfect he would have been, I regret more. It is a funny play with minimal sets. I shouldn't say minimal actually, because it really was the set of a set, with the scaffolding and all that. It was interestingly a musical, one I would not have expected on National Theatre, but of course, nothing like the West End production extravaganzas. It was also one of the few old plays the I liked. PS: I delayed it for so long it makes little sense to publish it, except for my own logs.

Doctor Faustus

I watched Doctor Faustus at Duke of York Theatre and give it a 2.5/5 rating. In spite of the terrible reviews the play had already received, we wanted to watch it. Mostly for Jamie Lloyd (we had just watched The Maids) and some what for Kit Harington. Firstly, Kit Harington. Everyone knows he plays Jon Snow in Game of Thrones and he had come back from the dead which means that he will have to continue to maintain his hairstyle, which means whatever movie or play he acts in, he will look like Jon Snow. When the series started, he was one of the worst actors on show and as seasons passed I assumed I got used to his acting than he getting better. So when he was wonderful on stage as Doctor Faustus, I was pleasantly surprised. He blended into Doctor Faustus swinging between vanity and despair. Secondly, Jamie Lloyd's play. It was superbly terrible. The first half was downright incomprehensible. The dialogues are archaic and the sets are not. The cast is too small and they are all we

The Boy

I watched Boy at Almeida Theatre and give it a 5/5 rating. It's a haunting play of a lost boy knowing he is lost but not sure how to get back on his feet and his meek attempts to find a pillar are left midway when the system fails him. Leo Butler's script is tight in spite of the story itself seeing little happening. The Boy goes in and out of the council offices, hangs around bus stops, walks about aimlessly, tries to grab on to friends who seem more sure of themselves, tries to grab on to any friends. All of it in vain. A boy does not know what he wants and no one to inspire him or guide him. Frankie Fox is natural in his debutant professional theatre performance, at times making you wonder if that is who he is. Sacha Wares as the director and Miriam Buether as the set designer bring together an incredible show. The set is a concave elliptical conveyor belt and different objects are placed on it to create new sets. There is an army of people to make sure that right object i

The Invi$ible Hand

I watched The Invisible Hand at the Tricycle Theatre and give it a 4/5 rating. It's about this American trader working for Citibank who gets kidnapped by revolutionaries (not terrorists) who believe American bankers are preying upon their country and supporting corruption. Since the Citibank won't pay his ransom, he asks to be able trade and make that money. The dynamic between the banker and the people who captured him is well played out, as does the invisible hand of the market. It's a tiny little stage and such a small seating area that anywhere you sit, you get a good view. After the interval, they tried to do something to the stage that I didn't quite follow and felt was unnecessary but otherwise well executed. With little sets the play pulls you in with a tight story and great acting. The banker was amazing, as was Basheer, his junior captor cum junior trader. Imam Salim had a weird accent that was surely not Pakistani and more of a South Indian or Srilankan ac

Half a Yellow Sun

Prologue : l mulled over the review for nearly a year now. Actually, I mulled over the book itself for weeks after I finished reading it. I'm back to this review now after months because I read news about the upcoming Nigerian elections and about a political party that is reaching out to  Biafran sentiments. *** Books are windows into different worlds. I knew so little about Nigeria except for some basic geography and that it was a British colony at some point. The aspirations of new generations I learnt through Americanah , and thought diaspora of English speaking developing countries reach out to the UK and the US in similar ways and we must all be the same. Half a Yellow Sun showed me a different history and a different world I would have never known otherwise. I'm sure in today's world of polar divisional opinions there would be many Nigerians who reject the version from Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie. To them I would like to say that I may not know the whole story but I w

I See You

I watched I See You at the Royal Court Theatre and give it a 4/5 rating. The play, though set in post-apartheid South Africa, does find resonance across the globally confused young people of today. It's a strong story line, introducing us to our posh African teenager Benjamin who meets Skinn, a local white girl living rough. She is more South African than he is, though judging by the looks people tend to think he is. They have a run in with the cops and there is a little of the insight into the politics within the system and the power the police have over the general public. But that's not the main story. Our cop Buthelezi  was a freedom fighter and fought against white people. And then he runs into Ben, with an English name and unable to speak his monger tongue. Buthelezi calls Ben a white boy and hates him for not being thankful for his freedom and becoming Anglicised. And Ben to begin with is just confused. The stand off between them escalates until the boy gives up becaus

Les Blancs

I watched Les Blancs at The National Theatre and give it a 5/5 rating. After watching I See You, I was looking forward to watching Les Blancs because it is play about the world of settlers or the colonisers in a remote village in Africa and because it is playing at the Olivier Theatre. The story is written elegantly with so many versions of the truth such that the truth becomes your own. The play is largely set in a village missionary clinic set up by the settlers. The Truth is not defined by the colour of your skin. There are white people who believe this missionary is providing faith as well as medicine to these villagers. There are also white people who see this missionary as patronising and are dejected that they are party to it. There are black people who believe in the missionary at its purpose and there are those who want to fight for freedom. And then there are the others, who are black and white and understand that this difference is down to human beings and not the colour

The Father

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I watched The Father at The Duke of York Theatre and give it a 3/5 rating. It's a sweet, heartwarming play. An old man losing his sanity to Alzheimer's, confuses his life, refuses the help of a nurse and forgets his own daughter while his daughter and her partner lose their patience, eventually sending him to a home with round the clock care. Kenneth Cranham with his charm and acting skills steals the show. Deservedly, he won the Olivier for it. There, that's done. Now I can say that I didn't like it. The acting was good, the gradual confusion was beautifully done and the sets were nicely setup into a warm living room. But the play was an artist's cry out to be noticed and a rather messy one at that. At one point, I felt like I've had enough and may be I could grab a quick nap.

Hand to God

I watched Hand to God at the Wyndams Theatre and give it a 5/5 rating. Terribly funny and weird, the play is an American comedy that revolves around a boy and his mother grieving over his father but separately. She turns to God, at least she tries. The boy turns to a puppet. The puppet becomes his alter ego, cruel and hateful and begins to control his life. And what follows is drama that is crazy and hilarious. The sets are simple yet attention to detail gives it a certain sense of completeness that it absorbs us. The story is pretty simplistic and American which is why I think it got bad reviews in British newspapers. To me it is comedy that grows on you. The play however, was largely upheld by the wonderful actors. Harry Melling was masterful with his puppet and his split personality as a shy awkward teenager and the vicious puppet. Jemima Rooper plays his crush, a quirky teenager who is able to connect with him better than any of the well-meaning adults. She has a sarcastic sense

The Maids

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I watched The Maids at the Trafalgar Studios and give it a 4/5 rating. The Maids is an old French play. But it was very masterful in being adapted to the modern day and age without actually been adapted. Even if they wore frilly maid like dresses, they are still relatable to all the invisible help of today that are expected to exist around other people's existence. Laura Carmichael was wonderful with her patronising kindness that switches so dramatically and unexpectedly into cruelty without her seeming to notice the change. Uzo Aduba looks to be the subservient one not ever playing the pretty Laura in any of the role plays the two maids concoct. She seems never in control and always fearing the dreams her friend makes up that they are so out of reach. However, she turns aggressively mad and rises consciously stronger as she manipulates her partner and friend into taking all the blame when things go wrong. ( I know my interpretation differs from others.) Zawe

Future Conditional

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I watched Future Conditional at The Old Vic and give it 3/5 rating.  I don't know much about the educational system in Britain but suffices to say it's confusing and people are always complaining. There are of course, some basic issues everywhere like elite schooling gives you more probability of getting admission into an elite university like Oxford or Cambridge (or Oxbridge as it is referred to here). (And here I must say I was very surprised when I found out that not only are a chunk of the influencing members of the ruling conservative party from a single elite high school, so are some of the most influential members of the opposing labour party which was supposed to represent the working class.) What the play suggests is while these issues exist and while the society fights it out to try to change these, some of the more powerful people who can bring about change are not enthused to do it because in effect they are removing the privileges that they and their

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

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I watched Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Donmar Theatre and rate it 5/5 ! What could be better than French scandalous comedy with brilliant acting. It's an old story, told in an old fashioned way. It's the same old love, deception, revenge. And usually old stories bore me to death in spite of stars like Benedict Cumberbatch but I watch for the stars sometimes. And so I agreed to watch this for Dominic West with little expectations. So may that's why I give a five, because it was well beyond my expectations but might be not so in general. Yet it was wonderful. Dominic West was charming and ruthless as the Vicomte de Valmont, so I was glad I went to watch him. Janet McTeer however, admirably a brilliant actor, played the lead Marquise de Merteuil which such dignified cruelty that I can't imagine anyone else portraying her. The story twists and turns and keeps you running with it. It also helps that we were sitting in the front row and can't as much

Red Velvet

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I watched Red Velvet at the Garrick Theatre and give it a 4/5 rating. It was a well-researched, flawlessly written play. It maps out the controversy around Theatre Royal and Ira Aldridge, the first black Shakespearean actor. For a play set in the past, the undertones of society are so smoothly woven in. Written by Lolita Chakraborthy, it feels like it was with Adrian Lester in mind that the play took shape and he wears Ira Aldridge like a glove. The young, ambitious and overconfident Ira Aldridge takes on the powerhouse of London Theatre. While his colleagues eventually warm up to him, the public is outraged and reviews are mostly about his blackness and stereotyped "monstrosity" rather than his or his colleagues' acting prowess. His fury, disappointment and hurt (in that order) are apparent when eventually the director (and originally his only believer) decides to let him go because Ira refuses to tone down his emotional acting that the press finds very