Almeida Theatre Archives - North West End UK

13Apr

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

A Doll’s House – Almeida

My first brush with A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was in 1988. The play was a text for Theatre Studies ‘A’ Level. Our study of the Norwegian classic coincided with the Second Summer of Love. We were listening to French Kiss by Lil Louis on pirate radio, as E-fuelled Acid House swept the nation. Ibsen’s critique of the claustrophobic strictures of 19th century society, with its heavy sideboards and gloomy dialogue did not jive with the vibes of my fellow drama students. We yawned, eye-rolled and gurned, wearing smiley face t-shirts and muddy Kickers. In 2022, in the crazy throes of lockdown, Soho Theatre produced an online adaption of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. It was created, written and directed by Jen Heyes and starred the avant garde legend David Hoyle. HEDDA (after Ibsen), blew my mind....

3Feb

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

American Psycho – Almeida Theatre

Premiering last Friday, American Psycho, Artistic Director Rupert Goold’s hotly anticipated revival, has returned to the Almeida Theatre and has already sold out its run. After witnessing this incredible musical in the flesh, it’s easy to see why. Based on the original 1991 novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, which inspired the 2000 cult film starring Christian Bale, the dark satirical comedy follows Patrick Bateman, a young investment banker working in New York City’s Wall Street, who, dissatisfied with his seemingly perfect life of wealth and flawless appearances, descends into a dark double life as a serial killer. Es Devlin’s set design is simple yet effective, a blacked-out stage with a few set pieces brought in and out via a stage lift and by the ensemble, perhaps refl...

31Oct

By Holly SewellNo Comments

London

The Line of Beauty – Almeida Theatre

Alan Hollinghurst’s 2004 novel The Line of Beauty takes its title from William Hogarth’s work on the empirical analysis of aesthetics. Its protagonist, Nick Guest, is obsessed with this idea of beauty; he drifts from gorgeous lover to gorgeous lover, coming alive only for sex and conversations about Henry James; he is enticed by the lifestyle of the wealthy, but doesn’t quite belong in their world. The Almeida's adaptation of the novel grapples with Nick’s struggle between his aesthete sensibilities and impossibility of life as a young gay man during Thatcherism and the AIDS crisis. Michael Grandage’s production captures the ‘80s zeitgeist deliciously. There’s ‘80s pop anthems throughout, booming from the radio onstage and smoothing over scene transitions; and, conversely, there’s the e...

18Sep

By Holly SewellNo Comments

London

Romans: A Novel – Almeida Theatre

Three brothers are born to daughterless parents sometime in the eighteenth century. Each is uniquely traumatised by his upbringing: the beatings of boarding school, the horrors of war, the witnessing of his father’s suicide by a gunshot to the roof of the mouth. And yet each must go on with life. Romans: A Novel is a story of three men, spanning 150 years, trying to answer the question of what it means to be a man - in other words, what it means to live. Alice Birch’s study of masculinity is focused, among other things, on the importance of the written word in deciding who gets to have a voice. Its structure is informed by the development of the novel: we begin with Jack Roman narrating his own life alone onstage, wandering into the fog and meeting his long-lost uncle, presumed dead fro...

24Aug

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

81 (Life) – Almeida Theatre

81 (Life) is an interesting experiment with a lot of heart, lacking in the structure and drive to make it fly. 81 (Life) is part of a set of community plays designed to examine what it means to be a part of Islington’s community. This installation follows a group of Islington residents (played a cast of 60 local participants) as a semi-secret group called ‘The Forum’ develops within their community. With them, we set out to explore the plays central questions of life: How to begin, how to join, how to choose and how to let go. The first two of these come through the story of Anya. After her friend Happy decides that she has become bored of their regular TV Tuesday nights and needs a break, she finds herself suddenly alone. In steps The Forum, magically appearing in her living room and e...

15May

By Sadie PearsonNo Comments

London

1536 – Almeida Theatre

A period drama which couldn’t be more pertinent, 1536 by Ava Pickett is a triumph of feminist rage against a system which is perpetually rigged against women. The trail of Anne Boylen seen through the eyes of three anonymous women - stripping patriarchal attitudes down to bare bones, this electrifying drama exposes – with a warning claxon – the dangerously well-trodden path toward female subjugation. It is not a play to be missed. ‘History is told by victors. And for most of history, men have been the victors’ states Suzannah Lipscomb in the programme’s foreword. This is a play which inverts that narrative. In a small village near Essex, Anna (Siena Kelly). Jane (Liv Hill) and Mariella (Tanya Reynolds) gather in their seclusion of their childhood meeting place, hungry for London’s gossi...

5Apr

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Rhinoceros – Almeida Theatre

Deeply relatable, remarkably crafted and rooted in reality. Rhinoceros was originally written by Eugène Ionesco in 1959. Based on his personal experience of dissenting Nazi propaganda and bursting left-wing disbelief of the growth of fascism. The play is already rich with symbolism, metaphors and satire. It makes a mark not just with the doyens of theatre who have come together for this production. Hayley Carmichael, Paul Hunter and Alan Williams bring effortless wit and candour to their roles. Director Omar Elerian walks the tightrope of bringing humour in recreating the everyday. He also brings into sharp focus the political reality in our everyday interactions. The crowd engagement tools offer a live example of how and how much humans are willing to follow. Movement Director: Toby Se...

25Feb

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

London

Otherland – Almeida Theatre

Otherland is a remarkable, poignant, and emotionally all-encompassing play that explores love, the beautiful and terrifying nature of change, and the ‘many myriads’ of womanhood. In her ‘Note from the Author’, Chris Bush states that she aimed to ‘write with a vulnerability’ she never had before, but nonetheless create a ‘theatrically expansive… rollercoaster’. Well, if that was the goal, she’s passed with flying colours. Jo and Harry, despite a picture-perfect wedding and 5 years or marriage, are breaking up. Harry, assigned male at birth, needs to become her true self and Jo, though entirely supportive of Harry’s decision, needs space to figure out what she wants. She wants to be ‘unplugged’, for a while at least. We’re offered a window into their lives and the journeys they go on, bot...

20Dec

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Almeida Theatre

Hot off two acclaimed productions of Tennessee Williams’s Summer and Smoke and A Streetcar Named Desire, Rebecca Frecknall and the Almeida Theatre are reunited once more in her new staging of three-act play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. But can she make it a hat trick? One of Williams’s most famous plays — and reportedly his favourite — Cat on a Hot Tin Roof tackles family dysfunction, falsehoods, and the fear of death. Gathering for patriarch Big Daddy’s (Lennie James) 65th birthday, alcoholic son Brick (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and rags-to-riches wife Maggie (Daisy Edgar-Jones) confront their crumbling relationship amid a web of lies about Big Daddy’s ailing health. Having undergone recent tests, Big Daddy and Big Mama (Clare Burt) have been told he’s in the clear. It’s only his children who know ...

3Oct

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Look Back in Anger – Almeida Theatre

Renowned as a theatrical landmark, John Osborne's 1956 play changed the face of British theatre forever with its gritty realism. For such an important play it is surprisingly infrequently performed. I have only seen it once before and had forgotten what a powerful piece of drama it is. Staged at the Almeida Theatre in repertory with 'Roots', Arnold Wesker's renowned play of the same era, it forms what they have titled 'Angry and Young' season. The most striking thing about director Atri Banerjee’s production is the dispensing of a realistic set, which was one of the hallmarks of the original production and presenting it on a bare circular stage with an outer ring revolve and an inner ring lift. The lift was used for raising the few pieces of set furniture that were needed, a table and t...