31/05/2026 by Peter Viney
This is one you can see. It’s streaming to cinemas, so will soon be on NT At Home. J.M. Synge’s THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD at the National, featuring Nicola Coughlan. Follow link to the review. The review contains autobiographical asides, as I met Karen doing the play 55 years ago. Then the production has some folkloric asides. Still, it’s a major production of the great Irish play that influenced Brian Friel, Conor McPherson, Martin McDonagh and Jez Butterworth.
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29/05/2026 by Peter Viney
Follow the link to my review of Eclipse by John Morton at Chichester Minerva Theatre, directed by John Morton as well as written. It’s hard to describe. A family gather for the end of their dying father (we never see him) and it manages to be funny as well as poignant. It’s apparently nearly sold out for the last week, but given Chichester’s success at moving productions on there’s a good chance that it will re-emerge somewhere.
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23/05/2026 by Peter Viney
Review added of THE UNTHANKS at POOLE LIGHTHOUSE. Follow link to review. We never miss them. As ever a music of sublime singing and superb piano and violin. They veered to the poetic side tonight … Emily Brontë, Siegfried Sassoon, Molly Drake and the Songs From The Shipyards. The set is different every time we see them. This was the more somber end of their catalogue.
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23/05/2026 by Peter Viney
Follow the link to my review of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at Shakespeare’s Globe, 2026. This is the 25th review I’ve done of the Dream. It’s my favourite play. This did it justice in a rollicking audience-participation version which was perfect for the day. I want to see it again! Directed by Emily Lin.
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17/05/2026 by Peter Viney
My rant on Eurovision 2022 has been updated with a section on 2026, FOLLOW THIS LINK
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11/05/2026 by Peter Viney
I’m adding more to the 60s film retrospective reviews with a focus on New Wave / Kitchen Sink. This is part of an Alan Sillitoe bing.e There will be more eary 60s reviews coming. The latest is SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING (link to review) , by Alan Sillitoe, directed by Karel Reisz, produced by Tony Richardson. This was Albert Finney’s breakthrough film.
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A return to my retrospective 1960s film review. The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner (follow link to review) directed by Tony Richardson, based on the story by Alan Sillitoe. It’s 1962, and the story of a lad in Borstal. It was Tom Courtenay’s breakthrough role, and also features Michael Redgrave, James Bolam and Avis Bunnage in major parts. It’s an important British film and well worth re-watching.
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03/05/2026 by Peter Viney
Review of MAGIC by David Haig, (FOLLOW LINK TO REVIEW) currently in its worlds premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre. David Haig plays Sir Athur Conan Doyle, convinced totally by spiritualism, and Hadley Fraser plays Harry Houdini, the escapologist, who becomes determined to disprove it. Stellar performances from a fine cast with direction by Lucy Bailey. It’s on for another couple of weeks. A good reason to go to Chichester!
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28/04/2026 by Peter Viney
New at AROUND AND AROUND. Warner Bros (Pye) 1965-1970 (follow link) takes on the next five years of Warner Bros in the UK. They switched to Pye distribution, and the Everly Brothers continued, but then add The Association, Harper’s Bizarre, and The Grateful Dead, Van Morrison and Van Dyke Parks.
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26/04/2026 by Peter Viney
Review of DRIFTWOOD by Martina Laird (follow link to review) at the RSC’s third theatre, The Other Place. Directed by Justin Audibert. It’s an exciting new play set in Trinidad in 1956, a society with soon to depart British colonial types and newly arrived American ‘chancers.’
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