Thursday, November 21

Tag: Sophie Thompson

Present Laughter – National Theatre Live: The Old Vic
REVIEWS

Present Laughter – National Theatre Live: The Old Vic

Filmed live during its sell-out run at The Old Vic in 2018, director Matthew Warchus’ multi-award winning production of Noël Coward‘s provocative 1943 comedy delightfully returns to the big screen, as it depicts a few days in the life of the successful and self-obsessed light comedy actor Garry Essendine (Andrew Scott) as he prepares to travel for a touring commitment in Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce and with the support of a knowing valet Fred (Joshua Hill) and a housekeeper Miss Erikson (Liza Sadovy), he has to placate both his long-suffering secretary Monica (Sophie Thompson) and his wife Liz (Indira Varma) who form part of his inner circle along with Morris (Abdul Salis) and Helen (Suzie Toase), whilst in this updated gender swap version, also fighting off the a...
Little Wars – Ginger Quiff Media
REVIEWS

Little Wars – Ginger Quiff Media

Ginger Quiff Media’s rehearsed reading of Little Wars by Steven Carl McCasland, is an emotional rollercoaster taking place against the backdrop of a literary salon in 1940s France. Gertrude Stein (Linda Bassett) and her girlfriend, Alice B Toklas (Catherine Russell) host the get together and their guests talk about everything from their lives as Jewish people during wartime to the role of female writers and their work. Directed by Hannah Chissick, the play opens with typewritten stage directions, which create a nice sense of the period and nods to the literary theme of the play. A good way to take advantage of the online format, the stage directions which appear throughout the piece create a good sense of the action that we are not seeing during the rehearsed reading. The play is ful...