Peter Viney's Blog

Othello- NT Live 2026

05/03/2026 by Peter Viney

The National Theatre are streaming the Theatre Royal Haymarket OTHELLO to cinemas (follow link). It was an all star 2025-26 West Enfd production with David Harwood, Toby Jones and Caitlin Fitzgerald. Having read some somewhat sniffy reviews, we thought the filming with close ups of so much subtle acting probably enhances it. We thought David Harewood the best Othello we’ve seen but they are all great. It will eventually be added to NT At Home.

Picture: Iago (Toby Jones) watches Desdemona (Caitlin Fitzgerald) and Othello (David Harewood) with seething resentment.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Lisa O’Neill – review

26/02/2026 by Peter Viney

Review of Irish singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill at Poole Lighthouse added. Follow the link. She has a very unusual instrumental line up, and tends to preach to the audience at times. She is still on tour.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

“Wuthering Heights” review

18/02/2026 by Peter Viney

Review of the 2026 film of Wuthering Heights (follow link). The director, Emerald Fennell, thinks the quotation marks around the title, allows her a fantasy distance. It stars Margo Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Cathy & Heathcliff, but to us Martin Clunes as Cathy’s father and Alison Oliver as Isabella Linton steal the show. It’s extremely controversial. Reviews range from one star to five stars. Have a read. The original is my favourite 19th century British novel. Do comment.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

BSO: Valentine Classics review

15/02/2026 by Peter Viney

Follow the link to the review of The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s “Smooth Valentines Classics” at Poole Lighthouse. The interest may be in the choices they made. I’ve commented on them and the performances. The striking thing was a young conductor, Enyi Okpara, and an even younger phenomenal solo pianist. Thomas Luke.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Hamlet – NT 2025, NT Live

23/01/2026 by Peter Viney

The National Theatre production of Hamlet from last autumn (FOLLOW LINK TO REVIEW) was streamed yesterday to cinemas. It may be repeated (though it wasn’t full at Poole), but if not it will eventually appear on NT At Home. It’s very different, though it was the FIFTH major Hamlet production of last year and might have had higher ratings in a different year. Read the review. (Plot spiler: most die at the end.)
Below: Hamlet with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Then Laertes, Polonius and Ophelia.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Deutsche Grammophon

22/01/2026 by Peter Viney

Deutsche Grammophon (follow link) added to the Philips /Phonogram section at AROUND AND AROUND. The world’s oldest record label. The one that inspired the article below too. Always distinctive, but strangely rarely commanding high prices from collectors of classical.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

A Publishing Alternative History (link)

22/01/2026 by Peter Viney

A short article which may be of interest to people in ELT, in publishing generally as well as fans of classical music. The true story of how STREAMLINE ENGLISH (link here) might have been published by Deutsche Grammophon instead of OUP.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Polydor

19/01/2026 by Peter Viney

New at AROUND & AROUND. Polydor (folow link) added to the Philips / Phonogram section. One of the largest labels of all, from James Last to Jimi Hendrix to James Brown to The Jam. And that’s just the J’s. Add The (early) Beatles, Cream, The Who, Style Council, The Bee Gees and many more. This is heavily illustrated and it has taken far too long to do. Phew!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

The Beaux Stratagem (revisited)

17/01/2026 by Peter Viney

We saw this production of The Beaux Stratagem at the National Theatre in 2015 (follow link tro the review). We decided to revisit in 11 years on as it is available for streaming on NT AT Home, which is where you can see it right now. We had missed a lot of it because we had such awful seats right at the side in the theatre and the set was angled away from us. Rewatching was a chance to catch up on the bits we missed. I added a short note at the end of the 2015 review and updated the links. I like linking NT At Home because everyone has a chance to see it.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

The Forsyte Saga, Parts 1 & 2, RSC – review

09/01/2026 by Peter Viney

Review of THE FORSYTE SAGA PARTS ONE & TWO added (follow link). It’s a stage adaptation by Shaun McKenna and Lin Cochlan, at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Each act, two per play, gets an entire novel in. So how do they do it? Read the review.