Jack Weir Archives - North West End UK

Remembrance Monday – Seven Dials Playhouse

29Apr

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Remembrance Monday – Seven Dials Playhouse

Watching Remembrance Monday, I was reminded of a description I’ve always liked of memories that I read in an interview. The interviewee (it may have been Florence Welch but don’t quote me on that), talked about memories being like photocopies of photocopies, blurring gradually over time as you get further and further away from the original. And so it is with Julius (Nick Hayes), as his recollections of what initially appears to be a regular Monday night with husband Connor (Matthew Stathers) quickly take a much darker turn. In Remembrance Monday, playwright Michael Batten weaves seeds of doubt and confusion very early on, presenting questions about the reliability of Julius’s narration. I’ll keep this a spoiler free zone, but I will say that the twists and unfolding of the plot are perf...

Beauty and the Beast – Sheffield Lyceum

What a wonderful sight, a packed auditorium full of all age groups, laughing, engaging and experiencing collectively – a tradition that spans the generations – Pantomime! Well, as Sheffield Theatres have opened their panto season, it is well and truly Christmas in Yorkshire! This year’s excellent new production being Beauty and the Beast, written by Paul Hendry who can heroically claim his 17th year of directing writing and producing Sheffield’s panto. The script contains all the expected pantomime traditions from the audience participation, the ‘it’s behind you’ scene in the dark woods and the manic ‘messy’ comedy mayhem and some very funny moments which are very geographically and topically observant. ‘Woodseats’ is now firmly on the panto map and never has it looked so effortlessly gran...

Conundrum – Young Vic

Conundrum, written and directed by Paul Anthony Morris is an intimate and confronting piece that follows a person discovering the hidden elements of their own trauma and the journey to forgive oneself for the cycle of abuse brought onto them from society. Portrayed through movement and text, we watch how the trauma manifests itself pushing from inside mind, to grow throughout the body and into the space around them. We watch a person very comfortably enter the stage with boxes in hand in order to sort out the mess in the room, to then crumble by the memories and collapse with the overwhelming pressure of things that quite simply didn’t exist for certain others around him. Words, written all over the stage floor, chalk in hand and a mind that is more intelligent than most, this character...