Theatre

Adam

Adam is the true story of Adam Kashmiry, a young transgender man born in Alexandria, Egypt, who sought asylum in Glasgow to live safely as his authentic self. Adam has existed in various forms, including a Fringe production with only two actors. The version streaming on iPlayer, directed by Cora Bissett and Louise Lockwood, has been adapted from a stage play to a “theatrical on-screen drama”. Over the course of an hour, we watch Adam’s agonising search for a resolution to the trap in which he has been placed: no gender clinic will help him transition until he has been granted asylum, but he will not be granted asylum unless he can “prove” he is a trans man. Warm, uncompromising, funny, heart-breaking and above all human, Adam is an emotional tour-de-force.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray, a would-be internet ‘influencer’, sells his soul – perhaps figuratively, perhaps literally – for an experimental photo filter which will keep his online persona eternally young and perfect. At once, Filloux-Bennett and director Tamara Harvey’s interest in retelling this story becomes clear. One can only guess at the biting wit Wilde might have imparted regarding the modern world’s seeming obsession with personal brands, para-social relationships and the drive to ‘sell’ an image of oneself on social media. A digital age of political radicalisation, misinformation and ever-eroding privacy.

Dream

Until Saturday 20 March 2021Royal Shakespeare Company; available to stream live at https://dream.online/ There is no way to overstate the heavy toll continued covid restrictions has taken on the arts industry, especially theatre. Yet, companies and practitioners persevere, experimenting with new ways to deliver remote performances. One such experiment is Dream, a new production from Read More

The Devil and Michael Scott: A Gallimaufry of Fife and Beyond

Tom Hubbard(Grace Note Publications, 2020); pbk: £7.99 The Devil and Michael Scott: A Gallimaufry of Fife and Beyond (2020) is the latest insightful offering from Tom Hubbard. In this intriguing collection of poems, essays and a stage play, Hubbard offers us a wonderful jumble of Fife, its history and its people. The famous polymath and Read More

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s best-known and most-performed plays. Nicholas Hytner’s adaptation is a spirited spectacle (pun intended). We see fairies swinging on silks, beds moving through space, and parts of the stage rise up from the floor and disappear. The staging is as immersive as it is impressive—giant disco balls bob Read More

Small Island

This stage adaptation of Andrea Levy’s Orange Prize-winning novel of the same name, staged in 2019, is unusually prescient, given how relevant the themes are today. Coincidentally, as I write this review, the world marks Windrush Day, marking the 72nd anniversary on which Caribbean individuals and families boarded the HMT Empire Windrush to journey to Read More

Coriolanus

  Josie Rourke’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s last tragedy & his last Roman play is uniquely suited to the sparse setting of the Donmar Warehouse. This small stage is open to the audience on three sides; only 14 chairs, a ladder, and the back wall serves to embody the whole of ancient Rome. Yet what it Read More

A Streetcar Named Desire

‘I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.’  Blanche Dubois If you’re looking for a literary treat before lockdown’s slight easing, you could do worse than immerse yourself in the National Theatre’s compelling interpretation of the classic Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire.  This contemporary version has everything; from revolving stage, relevant music and Read More

Antony and Cleopatra

https://youtu.be/lWc6_aCTqI0 As the lockdown continues, the National Theatre is screening another gem from its history, as part of its National Theatre at Home fundraising campaign. This time, the play being shown is Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Simon Godwin. With Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo in the titular roles and in a modernised setting, Read More

Frankenstein

  https://youtu.be/dI88grIRAnY February 2011 saw the premiere at The Royal National Theatre in London of Frankenstein, written by Nick Dear and directed by Danny Boyle. The play proved a masterful adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel, capturing both the horror and above all the tragedy at the heart of the story. Since then, recordings of this Read More