Jermyn Street Theatre Archives

9Jan

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

Orphans – Jermyn Street Theatre

Orphans was written by Philadelphia-born Lyle Kessler and first staged in 1983, directed by Gary Sinise at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, before going on to a successful Off-Broadway run. Later, in 1986, the play transferred to London’s West End, earning Albert Finney an Olivier Award, followed by a filmed version in 1987. Set in Philadelphia, two brothers, Treat (Chris Walley) and Phillip (Fred Woodley Evans), live a strange life brought on by the abandonment of their father at an early age and the death of their mother. Treat, the elder brother, takes his role as caretaker seriously and has instilled an unhealthy fear of the outside world into Phillip in order to keep him from harm. But what effect will a stranger entering their small world have on the brothers’ relationship? Set d...

3Sep

By Charles PipeNo Comments

London

Cascando – Jermyn Street Theatre

Cascando was written by Samuel Beckett as a radio play, originally in French. It was first broadcast in English in 1963. Now, it has been boldly reimagined by Pan Pan theatre company as a promenade piece. Listeners arrive at Jermyn Street Theatre where they dump their bags, before being issued with hooded black cloaks, iPods, and headphones. They are lined up single file, the audio track is begun, and they are led in procession around St James’s. With their hoods up tp conceal their headphones, they appear to onlookers like some kind of strange, anachronistic cult or monastic order. Should the weather turn foul, umbrellas are provided, but audience members should bring their own layers for if the weather is chilly, and of course wear comfortable footwear. If you’re a lover of Beckett...

Extraordinary Women – Jermyn Street Theatre

26Jul

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Extraordinary Women – Jermyn Street Theatre

In post-First World War Italy, a multi-national group of women are enjoying a bohemian lifestyle on the fictional island of Sirene off the coast of Naples, with new-found freedoms and relationships. The island's calm is maintained by a group of four sirens who watch over the island and its inhabitants. It's an idyllic set-up, until the arrival of the penniless Rosalba upends the island's serenity. Flirting with everyone, manipulating relationships, and enjoying creating chaos and mayhem, she causes distress and jealousy to her lover Aurora, who has sunk her money into buying a villa as their intended home. Friendships and relationships are formed and shattered as Rosalba romps through the group like a human Vesuvius, egotistically declaring how extraordinary she is. Every...

25May

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

Little Brother – Jermyn Street Theatre

The Jermyn Street Theatre is known for its office winning productions is tucked away in the corner of the prestigious west end boulevard in central London. It has a neat line up of programs like creative associates supporting early career under represented theatre makers and women in Theatre lab. ‘Little Brother’ retraces the steps of adolescent Ibrahima Balde searching for his younger brother in Libya. The book on which the play is based, began with the conversations Ibrahima had with Amets Arzallus Antia, while seeking asylum. Youness Bouzinab, Blair Gyabaah, Whitney Kehinde, Ivan Oyik and Mo Sesay recreate memorable plethora of characters that young 11-year-old meets. Special mention to the innocence, grief and honesty captured by Blair Gyabaah. In his recreation of wide eyed ...

The Importance of Being Oscar – Jermyn Street Theatre

3Apr

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

The Importance of Being Oscar – Jermyn Street Theatre

There has never been anyone quite like Oscar Wilde. Famed as an author, playwright and poet in late Victorian England and then vilified for his homosexuality, his works remain as popular today,125 years after his death, as ever. Original Theatre and the Reading Rep Theatre have revived this dramatised biography, which was originally written and performed in 1960 by Micheál Mac Liammóir. Alistair Whately's one man show is a narrative of Wilde's life, illustrated with quotations from his best-known works: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Ernest, as well as some of his best-known poems and letters. The first half focuses on his rise from his early life in Ireland to his fame in London for his poems and theatrical works. The second half is darker with his prosecu...

Outlying Islands – Jermyn Street Theatre

16Feb

By Sadie PearsonNo Comments

London

Outlying Islands – Jermyn Street Theatre

What is human nature? How similar are our needs to those of the animals around us? Is society a force of refinement, or restriction? These are some of the questions posed by David Greig’s play Outlying Islands. August 1939, a prelude to the Second World War. Arriving on a remote Scottish island to a pagan chapel they will call home for the next month, Robert, (Bruce Langley) and John (Fred Woodley-Evans) are sent from London to undertake ministry-ordered observational research into the island’s seabird inhabitants. But this is not all that will be observed. Chaperoned by island owner Old man Kirk (Kevin McMonagle), accompanied by his young niece Ellen (Whitney Kehinde), the events which unfold offer a complex exploration of human nature. Our desires, when free from the shackles of socie...

17Jan

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

The Lonely Londoners – Kiln Theatre

This is unusual and creative adaptation of Samuel Selvon's 1956 book, which was one of the first.to focus on the lives of poor working class black people settling in England following the enactment of the British Nationality Act 1948. Set in the 1950s it provides vignettes of the life of a small group of black Londoners as they try to adjust to the cold and the blatant racism of the time, finding inevitably that London's streets are not paved with gold which they had been promised back in their home countries. This production, which has transferred to the Kiln theatre after a very successful run at the Jermyn Street theatre is a mixture of theatre and movement. The eight strong cast worked very well as an ensemble with members of the cast not directly involved in the current...

Interview with Stella Powell-Jones, Director of Eurydice at Jermyn Street Theatre

5Oct

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Interviews

Interview with Stella Powell-Jones, Director of Eurydice at Jermyn Street Theatre

North West End UK’s Deputy Editor, Caroline Worswick, discussed Jermyn Street Theatre’s exciting new production of Eurydice with director Stella Powell-Jones. A play written by Sarah Ruhl, it draws its inspiration from the Greek mythical tale of the beautiful Eurydice and the musically talented Orpheus, whose doomed relationship has been re-told by many ancient storytellers, including Ovid and Plato. Eurydice was written in 2003 by Sarah Ruhl, why do you feel that now is good time to re-imagine the play? On one hand, Eurydice is about something pretty eternal: love and earth. How do we deal with death? Does love survive death? What would we do if we got a second chance? Sarah wrote the play while mourning her own beloved Father. My own Dad died unexpectedly when I was young...

Being Mr Wickham – Jermyn Street Theatre

11Jun

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

North West

Being Mr Wickham – Jermyn Street Theatre

What makes a seductive storyteller? Is it the charm that derives from easy confidence or perhaps the anxious titillation induced by performed vulnerability? Being Mr Wickham, one ought to learn one way or another. A character as easy to hate on second reading of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as he is tempting to root for in one’s first exposure to the novel, if any version of George Wickham knows one thing, it’s how to arouse a reaction in an audience. This play, itself by Adrian Lukis, who played Wickham in the BBC’s iconic Pride and Prejudice at 38 and now reprises the role in a script of his own genius at 67, works hard to flesh out the irredeemable rake and cast him in new light. Neither dastardly villain nor tragic hero, Lukis’ vision of Wickham on the night of his 60th ...

Yours Unfaithfully – Jermyn Street Theatre

9Jun

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Yours Unfaithfully – Jermyn Street Theatre

The Mint Theatre Company of New York specialises in uncovering forgotten plays that deserve to be remembered. In Unfaithfully Yours by Miles Malleson they have uncovered a little gem, which was premiered in New York in 2017 and now UK audiences have the chance to enjoy it at the Jermyn Street Theatre. The play features an outwardly extremely happily married couple, Anne and Stephen Meredith, who secure in the knowledge of the soundness of their relationship are happy for each other to engage in dalliances on the side. However, their intellectual commitment to allowing their partner to do what they like in order to further their happiness is severely tested byte feelings of jealousy which arise. At the time when it was written 90 years ago this would have undoubtedly been a shoc...