Guest Blog: Can theatre ever be up to date?

Dan Phillips

Earlier this year Nick Hytner and The National Theatre announced a controversial new production just days before its first performance. The play, Great Britain, penned by Richard Bean (One Man Two Guvners, Made in Dagenham) explored the phone hacking scandal and raised eyebrows as the issue was still ongoing. 

This is perhaps the most up to date production in recent history, cashing in on the subject of previous weeks to create a sharp and very present representation. However, could this have been done anywhere other than The National Theatre? 

Theatre is notorious for its inability to move quickly from pre-production to opening night. Only somewhere with the manpower, readily available space and money could put together a production like this in the time it took, and all under the radar. The issue of this, of course, is the regular development of the script and continuous ambiguity to the outcome of the story, creating what some see as a watered down or slapdash ending to the play. Despite Great Britain’s impressive ticket sales when at The Lyttelton Theatre, some critics couldn’t help feel that the piece felt a little rushed. 

Review: Neville’s Island at the Duke Of York's Theatre

Neville’s Island
Duke Of York's Theatre

Reviewed on Saturday 18th October (matinee)
★★★★

Last seen in the West End twenty years ago, Neville’s Island is back after a successful run at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Written by Tim Firth, whose name has become synonymous with British comedy after the runaway success of Calendar Girls both on the screen and stage, Neville’s Island explores the relationship between four men who find themselves stranded on an island together.

Review: The Commitments at the Palace Theatre

The Commitments 
Palace Theatre

Reviewed on Wednesday 8th October 2014

★★★★

As soon as the announcement was made that Jamie Lloyd would be at the helm of the stage musical adaptation of The Commitments, my heart exploded with anticipation. As a child of soul, growing up watching the iconic movie version of Roddy Doyle's gritty and hilarious novel and obsessing over the characters and music so much that I started a soul band of my own when I was 17, it had always baffled me why it had not been done before.

Edinburgh Review: Private Peaceful at Underbelly, Bristo Square

Private Peaceful 
Underbelly, Bristo Square (Venue 300)

14:45 / 1hr 15mins

Reviewed on 15th August 2014
★★★

To mark the centenary of World War I there has been a wave of theatre that looks back on the Great War. Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful has been staged at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Guest Blog: A Forgotten Epidemic – Directing Safe Sex and On Tidy Endings

Dan Phillips

Dan Phillips writes for West End Frame about directing Safe Sex and On Tidy Endings at the Tristan Bates Theatre.

When a small community of gay men in San Francisco in the late 70s began to fall down dead, the fears of a ‘gay cancer’ quickly got around. By the mid-80s over 15,000 Americans had died of what was to become known as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) and across the pond another 8,000 had died by the same time. In this time of fear and confusion, the one thing to strive and grow was art.

There are plenty of examples of theatre which looked to explore the AIDS epidemic and tried to offer a viewpoint from within the community it had hit the hardest. Companies such as Doric Wilson’s The Other Side of Silence and Gay Sweatshop in the UK were working with new writers and producing gay theatre from and for the gay community. This was the first time gay artists had a voice and were starting to become visible within the wider community; however, it was AIDS that truly outed the entire gay world. Works like Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart broke ground in the early 80s with its portrayal of a man with AIDS on stage, and along with Tony Kushner’s Angels In America and a little later Jonathan Larson’s rock musical Rent, there was a sudden burst of plays that had something to say and something to show. These are all very important pieces of theatre which have all made it onto the big screen (The Normal Heart being the last to make the transition after its 2013 Tony Award for best revival) but they all have the same flaw, they only really deal with people with the virus.

Review: David Baddiel - Fame: Not The Musical at the Menier Chocolate Factory

David Baddiel - Fame: Not The Musical 

Menier Chocolate Factory

Reviewed on Thursday 1st May 2014

David Baddiel is back and at the top of his game. Following sold out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and London Southbank Centre, Baddiel explores what it is to be famous and what fame is like in the 21st century.

Review: One Night With Joan at the Leicester Square Theatre

One Night With Joan

Leicester Square Theatre

Reviewed on Sunday 2nd February 2014

The dirt is well and truly dished by this Dynasty diva.

There are not many institutions in the world quite like the Collins sisters (Jackie and Joan), and with anecdotes aplenty, more dropped names than a Simon Cowell Christmas party and celebrity goss that could make Look magazine blush, Joan is back in London to bare all in an honest and frank behind the scenes look at her life in Hollywood.

Ben Vivian-Jones to star in Valley Boy City Life at the Union Theatre

On Sunday 22nd September 2013, Ben Vivian-Jones (pictured right) will star in Valley Boy City Life at the Union Theatre.

Valley Boy City Life is musically, comedic evening which follows a young boy's virginal voyage up the M4 motorway to the Big Smoke (via the West Country). Join Vivian (played by Ben) in his search for fame, fortune and "a couple more F's"...

The evening features music by Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stiles and Drew, Brunger and Cleary, Pasek and Paul, Jonathan Reid Gealt, Drew Gasparini and even a few classic pop tunes! Directed by Dan Phillips, the performance will also feature appearances from Kirsty Marie Ayers, Gareth James Healey and Catherine Mort.

Review: Up4AMeet? (UK Tour) at the Courtyard Theatre

Up4AMeet?

The Courtyard Theatre

Reviewed on Thursday 11th July 2013

I never thought there would be a point where seeing naked men would become tedious, but unfortunately that day came with the revived tour production of Jeff Moody's Up4AMeet. Playing at The Courtyard Theatre, advertised as 'naked comedy', this production is only half right. The story, of which there is very little, follows a collection of gay men and their fag hag who all live within the same block of apartments.