Wyndham’s Theatre Archives - North West End UK

10Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Unfriend – Wyndham’s Theatre

We've all done it - you're on holiday, you're relaxed, you meet a fellow tourist and strike up a vacation-friendship. You say, "We must keep in touch", even exchange contact details without ever really meaning anything other than "Goodbye" and never really wanting to see that person again. Maybe you exchange Christmas cards but nothing more. It's part of the British psyche to avoid appearing even a little impolite, so you will do everything to escape a hint of awkwardness or embarrassment. Thus, when Peter and Debbie meet ebullient far-right-wing American, the Trump-supporting Elsa Jean Krakowski, on a cruise and she invites them to visit her in Denver, they reluctantly give her their email address. A few weeks later she's manipulated them into letting her stay for a few days and she turns...

1Nov

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

London

King Lear – Wyndham’s Theatre

Written in 1604, King Lear is sandwiched between Measure For Measure, Othello and Macbeth, a period in the bard’s writing dedicated to history and tragedy. 419 years later, and following many extraordinary performances, how can Kenneth Branagh and team bring something different to their production? And here is where I feel that some modern productions fall foul, the need to modernise and bring today’s razzamatazz into the equation. Call me old fashioned, call me a Shakespeare prude, but I want to see, hear, and feel the language, the small nuances that a blank stage can offer, and when I hear the words spoken, allow them to touch me, without the hinderance of external factors introduced by an over eager director wishing to put their own mark on Shakespeare’s work. S...

13Oct

By Caroline JamesNo Comments

London

Life of Pi – Wyndham’s Theatre

Adapted from the book, Life of Pi is a beautiful piece of storytelling, full of vibrancy and wonder. Chirag Benedict Lobo led the cast as Pi on this performance. We meet him in a hospital where he is being questioned about the ship he was on and how it sank. The rotating stage and realistic floor projections allowed a seamless transition from the hospital to the open sea. A lifeboat appears as if from nowhere and the joy Chirag Benedict Lobo brings as he jumps into the stage floor, magically disappearing into the ocean, sent a flurry of delight through the audience. The sound, designed by Carolyn Downing, created the world at sea for us along with Tim Lutkin’s lighting design and Andrzej Goulding’s video design. In addition to the strong lead role, the ensemble moments really shone in t...

Leopoldstadt – Wyndham’s Theatre (NT Live Transmission)

28Jan

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

London, REVIEWS

Leopoldstadt – Wyndham’s Theatre (NT Live Transmission)

The NT Live transmission, in conjunction with Sonia Friedman Productions, from Wyndham’s Theatre of Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, was somewhat timely coming as it did on International Holocaust Memorial Day, and more so when its depiction of the travails of a Jewish family resonates so strongly with the unveiling of portraits of the last survivors of the Holocaust. Centred around the extended Merz family in Vienna, we travel through four generations from the turn of the twentieth century to the creation of an independent Austrian republic in 1955, where amidst the all too familiar humdrum domestic scenes we explore what it means to learn and love; to live and die; to discover what identity really means within a family, society, race, and religion, and the extent to which any of us can ev...