SlishaCrazy

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.

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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 ...