Simeon Miller Archives - North West End UK

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...

Of Mice and Men – Octagon Theatre

At one point over 90% of teenagers taking GCSE English Literature in UK schools studied ‘Of Mice and Men’ and many of the greying press night audience I spoke to had affection for the novel from their distant school days. However, Steinbeck’s moral fable of friendship and companionship has fallen out of favour in academia in recent years due to the overtly racist language, casual misogyny and portrayal of disability, so it was an interesting exercise to see how this stage production would translate to a more critical 21st-century environment. Increasingly in post-Covid regional theatre, we are seeing a movement towards co-productions as a way of mitigating risk and sharing costs, this production combines the resources of Octagon Bolton, Hull Truck, Theatre by the Lake and Derby Theatre ...

Brief Encounter – Royal Exchange Theatre

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2 is undoubtedly one of the most famous pieces of music in cinematic history, the dark strains being synonymous with the 1945 David Lean directed 'Brief Encounter', its tone of repression and guilt defining a certain very English attitude to love and sex in the immediate post war period. The film was based on Noel Coward's pre war one-act play 'Still Life', and this festive season the Royal Exchange Theatre has turned this melancholy tale of squandered opportunity into a quirky and witty musical using songs exclusively from Coward's extensive back catalogue. The resulting Christmas confection is a soft fondant of nostalgic memory wrapped round a bittersweet centre. The central love story is the paper thin tale of Laura (Hannah Azuonye), an upper middle c...