Tuesday, October 15

Tag: Stephen Boxer

Suite in Three Keys – Orange Tree Theatre
London

Suite in Three Keys – Orange Tree Theatre

Comprised of the individual plays, A Song at Twilight, Shadows of the Evening, and Come into the Garden, Maud, the latter two offered as a double bill, this is a hefty theatrical event for both performer and audience. Directed by Tom Littler, the Orange Tree Theatre’s Artistic Director, this production makes thorough use of the theatre’s performance facilities, and even positions one of its actors in the bar during pre-show and interval to serenade audiences in dulcet Italian tones with songs of the plays’ era. Referred to in each script simply as “Felix, a waiter” this Mediterranean songbird, played with charming humility and buoyant grace by Steffan Rizzi, provides the melodic throughline linking each piece to the other. The set, designed by Louie Whitemore is also remarkably consiste...
A Splinter of Ice – Original Theatre
REVIEWS

A Splinter of Ice – Original Theatre

This is story of two friends, Kim Philby and Graham Greene, two ex-spies, one turned traitor and one turned author. If you're interested in the story of these two men and their friendship but don't know many details, don't worry: this three-hander tells pretty much the entire story of Kim Philby's part in one of the biggest spy scandals of the 20th Century through one conversation between them. Written by Ben Brown and directed by Alastair Whatley with Alan Strachan, the team behind the play which inspired the Oscar-winning film Darkest Hour, the play imagines the final reunion between them just a year before Philby's death, their only meeting since the latter was revealed as a member of the Cambridge Spy Ring and fled to the USSR. I say “imagines” because, though the circumstances behi...
Ben Brown’s new play A Splinter of Ice begins UK Tour on 8th June
NEWS

Ben Brown’s new play A Splinter of Ice begins UK Tour on 8th June

Following a highly productive and successful season of online productions, Original Theatre Company is delighted to announce its first live stage production since March 2020.  The UK Tour of Ben Brown’s new political drama, A SPLINTER OF ICE, will open on 8th June in Malvern and will tour until 31st July.  The production, starring Oliver Ford Davies as Graham Greene and Stephen Boxer as Kim Philby and directed by Alan Strachan with Alastair Whatley, has also been filmed on stage at the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre and will be released online via originaltheatreonline.com from 15th April until 31st July 2021.  Whilst Sara Crowe will play Rufa Philby in the online version, she is unavailable for the tour, so the casting for Rufa on tour is to be confirmed. Moscow 1987 and th...
Birdsong – Original Theatre Company Online
REVIEWS

Birdsong – Original Theatre Company Online

Written by Sebastian Faulks and adapted by Rachel Wagstaff, Birdsong was first staged by Original Theatre and toured between 2013 and 2018.  It was hugely successful with 4- and 5-star reviews and was seen by more than 250,000 people in 75 theatres across the UK and Ireland. As we pass the 104th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, this play is a timely reminder of the severe loss of life between 1st July and 18th November 1916.  On the first day of battle a man was killed every 4.4 seconds, the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army.  The battle was described by war poet Siegfried Sassoon as a “sunlit picture of hell”. The play begins in France 1916. The Sappers (a team of ex-miners) were conscripted as tunnellers, setting mines an...