George Fouracres Archives - North West End UK

10Nov

By Khushboo ShahNo Comments

London

Mates in Chelsea – Royal Court Theatre

A fistful of comedy of manners, a pinch of absurdism with a hint of surreal topping and you get Rory Mullakey’s Mates in Chelsea directed by Royal Court Associate Director Sam Pritchard. It follows the story of a vain, leisure-loving, man-child viscount Theodore ‘Tug’ Bungay (Laurie Kynaston) who has been living off inherited wealth in a spacious West London flat with a housekeeper Mrs Hanratty (Amy Booth-Steel) until one day there is none left and her mother Lady Agrippina Bungay (Fenella Woolgar) is forced to sell their Northumberland castle to a Russian Oligarch. The larger-than-life yet empty-from-within tone is set right from the beginning with clever design (Milla Clarke) and directorial choices- an empty, high-rising, narrow-looking white apartment with steel fittings a...

Much Ado About Nothing – The Globe Theatre

Shakespeare's Globe has started their summer 2022 season with a cracking production of the ever popular Much Ado About Nothing. Lucy Bailey's production maintains Shakespeare's traditional Italian villa setting but updates it to 1945. The production is fast moving, very funny and extremely comprehensible while retaining all the essential elements of the original text. Joanna Parker' s design conjures the exterior of an Italian villa with grassy banks and ivy-covered walls. The updating to 1945 provides the opportunity for some gorgeous period costumes supervised by Caroline Hughes and contemporary music played beautifully by an ensemble of five accordion players who moved around the stage accompanying the action. Director Lucy Bailey makes extremely good use of the ...

Hamlet – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

The first production of Hamlet in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in the Shakespeare's Globe was an event to look forward to. The intimate candle lit wooden interior of the playhouse provided the opportunity for a very different feel to what is probably the best play the Bard ever wrote. What a disappointment it turned out to be. It started well enough, the initial scene on the battlements with the ghost was in complete darkness and when the candles were lit for the subsequent scene the characters were dressed in more or less traditional Elizabethan costumes; the stage was bare apart from one or two chairs and a large circular well in the middle. There were a few inconsistencies: Horatio, sported a modern university type scarf and a single musician sat on stage...