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Joy

Joy

Directed by David O. Russell
Writers: David O. Russell and Annie Mumolo

124 minutes
JZe4Gaq

with

Jennifer Lawrence as Joy
Robert de Niro as Rudy, Joy’s father
Bradley Cooper as Neil Walker, QVC entrepreneur
Edgar Ramirez as Tony, Joy’s ex-husband, a singer
Diane Ladd as Mimi, Joy’s mom
Virginia Madsen as Terry, Joy’s grandmother
Isabella Rossini as Trudy, Rudy’s rich widow girlfriend
Dascha Polanko as Jackie, Joy’s best friend

American Hustle 2?
David O Russel writes and directs Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper again. There are unprepossessing plots but few less likely to excite a producer than the story of a woman who invented a better mop and sold it on he QVC shopping channel. QVC? You know the one. When you turn on your TV it asks if it can update the channel list, an act which ends up giving you more shopping channel clones you will never watch. Trust me, if you have enough grey cells left to switch on a computer and read this, you are not watching shopping channels. The story is allegedly true, which is terrifying. It’s based on Joy Mangano, who invented the Miracle Mop. Do 25,000 people watch QVC where an over-made up Barbie-woman in high heels is flogging the naffest cheap necklace ever seen, then buy it instantly on the phone. If so, the world has no hope.

Is the story telling us about the American Dream or lampooning it? I think it needed to jump on one side of the fence or other. At the root, this is the old American myth: The inventor in Mark Twain’s Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Horatio Alger, Andrew Carnegie, Dale Carnegie of How To Win Friends and Influence People . That is, if you invent a better shoe brush, door handle or nasal hair clipper you can patent it and the world will beat a path to your door, and you will become a multi-millionaire. OK, let’s add Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and switch to trillionaire. The revolutionary gadget was something of a 1950s to 1980s thing. Every department store used to have someone trying to flog boiled egg slicers, or  cucumber trimmers, or other apparently labour-saving devices. Most people ended up with a drawer full of such items quietly rusting away.

It would be nice to pretend we British weren’t such suckers, but then you have the popularity of The Apprentice TV series in Britain, where hopefuls pitch business ideas and inventions to Alan Sugar (being most careful to remember to address him as Lord Sugar.) Sugar’s Amstrad company was famed for producing car radios and cassette players so bad that in the days when car radio theft was common we used to say “Protect yourself against theft: Fit an Amstrad, no one will steal it.” They went on to produce a dire PC, then satellite TV tuners. We had two. They blew fuses at regular intervals, but the fuse was fitted behind the control panel so that the whole thing had to be dismantled to change it. Better makes had them accessible from the outside. Anyway, decades of producing such shite set him up as judge and jury over young entrepeneurs and inventors. Just as Bradley Cooper’s QVC boss is in this film.

35-Joy-Twentieth-Century-Fox

Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) and Rudy, her dad (Robert de Niro)

This is a story about a young woman, Joy, played by Jennifer Lawrence who invents a better mop. The reason it holds you is that Jennifer Lawrence must be a cert for another Oscar nomination. She holds together the household with two daughters, a soap opera addicted Mom, a grandmother who narrates, her ex-husband still living in her basement, and her dad who turns up to live there after being ejected by his girlfriend. Dad (Rober De Niro) runs Rudy’s Garage. Her stepsister Peggy is Dad’s favourite. Dad is into internet dating and hooks up with a rich Italian widow, played by Isabella Rossellini. Joy loses her job as a check-in clerk at Eastern Airlines at the start. She was class valedictorian, but gave up her career when her parents divorced.

joy-official-trailer-3-2016-jenn-752x440

Trudy (Isabella Rosselini) has to lend Joy the money

Joy is exhausted, exploited, food-spattered, put-upon from all angles. She’s in tight close up much of the time. She could do something about all those moles, but she is even more gorgeous tired and food-stained than she is done up to the nines, and I think the moles were applied to make her look “real”. The film’s great device is the soap opera that her Mom watches incessantly. It starts before the credits, woodenly acted in black and white (when Joy is a little girl) then continues two decades later dressed in finery that would shame Dynasty with the same ageing cast. Joy dreams herself into the soap. Inexplicably, and foolishly I think, they abandon the soap reference two thirds of the way through.

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Joy – about to go on QVC for the first time

Joy_2015-7

Bradley Cooper, as the QVC boss who gives Joy a chance

After many trials and tribulations Joy gets as far as the QVC studio and watches plastic woman in short skirts, shiny tights, high heels, big hair and layers of slap selling crap. She insists on doing her own thing and refusing the weird garb in favour of being herself in black pants and plain white blouse. It works. One of the cop-outs of the film, or maybe it’s a deliberate point, is that at the end, when we flash-forward to her future as wealthy inventor, she goes totally plastic – she has the cream skirt suit with shiny gold buttons, gold earrings, short coiffeur and shiny tights. I found that profoundly disappointing, a total sell-out, but maybe I was meant to wince at this image of well-groomed success for an American woman. Also the scene where she kindly encourages the African-American lady from Memphis  (with husband holding small baby) who has invented a Velcro clothes fluff remover is mawkish to the point of puking.

I could knock a lot. The women are full blonde or full black hair, nothing in the middle. Robert de Niro really, really cannot go on being the irascible father making an inappropriate wedding speech. He does it sublimely, but it’s like someone said at a script meeting, “I know! Her dad is just like Robert de Niro in his last ten films!” At the beginning, the young Joy is making a set-up with paper fences and paper wolves and houses. When her parents divorce, the precious shoe box with this stuff is trampled on the floor. At the end, she finds the box! OK, I’m sure some will say Citizen Kane homage, but I thought ‘Oh, no! Not yet another Rosebud moment!’ Bradley Cooper’s QVC executive’s final line when meeting the rich future Joy is I’m proud of you. I was trying to think of a definition for objectionably patronizing. Now I’ve got it.

MV5BNjgyNDI0NzQ3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzA0MzQzNjE@._V1._CR424329151573__SX914_SY538_-e1451596835535

Joy cuts her hair and goes to Texas

Joy has to confront the crooked California factory owners making her mops. She has to go on to confront their fraud of a boss in Texas. Her new short hair cut looks fabulous, but I still don’t think that Texan Good Ol’ Boy in bootlace tie and Stetson would have rolled over and surrendered that easily.

There are many good bits. Many that will only emerge on second viewing. My companion swears that the rich Italian widow (an excellent supporting role by Isabella Rosselini) is wearing the naff necklace that we saw being advertised on the shopping channel. I’m unsure what gender point the director was making. Apart from Joy, all the women are over-dressed, over made-up, in garish clothes, a reflection of the ludicrous glitz of the TV soap that Mom watches constantly. In close up, they then look raddled: mutton dressed as lamb. In contrast (apart from De Niro, Cooper and Ramirez) the men are incredibly scruffy and ugly in dull browns and beiges. The California factory guys are all spectacularly foul. In a scene where Joy tries to demonstrate her mop in a supermarket car park, ex-husband Tony appears with a very rough looking Latina girlfriend and two nasty-looking thugs.That’s why it’s such a shock to see that Joy has gone to the dark side … sorry, the plastic politician / businesswoman of the year well-groomed side … at the end. It’s also unsettling that what a woman has produced, and marketed against all obstacles with grit and determination, is merely a domestic gadget.

01-jennifer-lawrence-as-joy

Joy invents the mop head  using her child’s toy

As with American Hustle the found music is first rate, must get the soundtrack CD stuff. They use bits of 44 songs. Cream’s I Feel Free bookends the film, and is in a version by Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes over the closing credits. Edgar Ramirez does a cheerful Mama Told Me Not To Come as well as a duet with Jennifer Lawrence on Somethin’ Stupid.  Mama Told Me Not To Come is a companion piece to Delilah in American Hustle and Tony (Edgar Ramirez) states he wants to be the next Tom Jones (not usually the version of Mama Told Me Not to Come I think of). One suspects David O. Russell likes Tom Jones. Buffalo Springfields’s Expecting To Fly is played movingly over a death and funeral. There’s Elvis Presley on A Little Less Conversation when she loses her temper and marches out of dad’s garage, and vents her frustration on the rifle range next door. There’s To Love Somebody. A House With Love In It. First rate curated soundtrack.

landscape-1436966180-joy-trailer-jennifer-lawrence

Joy lets it all out the American Way,

Overall, like American Hustle last year it has a great cast, doing everything right. My main issue is how far we take this “Invent a gadget. Rags to Riches” bullshit at face value. It would have been better perhaps to emphasise the soap opera parallel plot more and for longer. We loved those bits. There’s a lot of humour. A lot of sentimentality. A lot of great music. The leading actor, Jennifer Lawrence, towers, but she usually does. Bradley Cooper’s supporting role is small in the overall length of the film, but when he appears he has instant charisma, and is totally believable as a man of enormous power … his TV shopping channel direction is that “hands are more important than faces” and when he first comes on screen, the camera only works from shoulders down so it’s a couple of minutes before we see his face.

(January 5th)
Oscar prediction: Jennifer Lawrence.
Best supporting actor nomination prediction: Bradley Cooper

NEGATIVE:

For years I’ve done “gratuitous smoking alerts” in stage plays. I’m introducing a “distressed baby” alert for films. There’s a bad one early on with Joy holding a very distressed crying baby. Babies can’t act. The only way you get a distressed baby on-screen, which is what they want, is by distressing a baby. It’s unacceptable. My companion wants to beat up the director every time she sees a baby like that. She’s right. In any house, running a tape for hours would give you genuine distressed baby sounds eventually. You can then hold the baby facing the other way and overlay the soundtrack.

 

 

 

 

 

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      • Best of 2015 – Theatre
      • Best of 2016 – Music
      • Best of 2016 – Theatre
      • Best of 2017 – Music
      • Best of 2017 – Screen
      • Best of 2017- Theatre
      • Best of 2018 – Music
      • Best of 2018 – theatre
      • Best of 2019 – Concerts
      • Best of 2019 – Theatre
      • Best of 2019- Music
      • Best of 2020
      • Best of 2020- Music
      • Best of 2022 – Music
      • Best of 2022- Theatre
      • Cars are cars
      • Chorizo is Vile
      • Christmas Markets
      • Christmases long past …
      • Civil Wars & Statues
      • Climate Change: my rant
      • Communication skills: Leaders TV debate 2015
        • Opposition Leader’s Debate, 16 April 2015
      • Crisis at the Cash Register
      • Culture Shock Bourbon Street
      • Cycling in London (and elsewhere)
      • Encounter: Saul Bellow
      • Eurovision 2022
      • Fawlty Towers and Tall Poppies
      • Flags and anthems
      • Football nicknames
      • Free Broadband in Every Packet!
      • Guilt and innocence
      • Hail, hail, the first of May
      • Howards End is a blur
      • In the April Garden …
      • In The Days of Covid-21
      • In the May Garden
      • Jangle Bells: shopping for Christmas
      • Jumble Sales
      • Land Of My Mother’s
      • London-centric theatre
      • Mail v Guardian
      • Major Brylcreem or My adventures in the CCF
      • Matinees
      • Not an amazing grace
      • On The Road: Information overkill
      • Parent and child spaces
      • Poppies
      • Princely Names
      • Quaint hotels
      • Remember, remember …
      • Secondhand Christmas
      • Shrink wrapping albums
      • Sloppy fiction?
      • Someone will call you back …
      • Sound … and Fury… at The Globe
      • SS-GB – Mumbling soundtracks
      • Supermarket check-outs
      • Surveys
      • Testing in schools
      • The “Poldark” Effect
      • The 2019 watershed?
      • The 70s were crap
      • The Building Behind Me …
      • The Cheerful e-bay seller
      • The Curse of The Crawleys: Downton Abbey Series 10
      • The Decline of Bournemouth
      • The End of Deference …
      • The Famous Five – by Paul F. Newman
      • The four day week?
      • The Great War
      • The Hacking Cough
      • The Long & The Short Of It
      • The March of The Halloumi Fries
      • The Shakespeare Cod-Piece
      • The Stitch Up
      • View From The Queue
      • What happened to car CD players?
      • What’s happened to air travel?
    • stage
      • ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore – Cheek by Jowl
      • ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore – Wanamaker
      • 8 Hotels
      • A Damsel in Distress
      • A Little Hotel On The Side
      • A Mad World My Masters
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – BBC TV 2016
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Bridge 2019
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Filter 2011
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Globe 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Globe 2016
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Grandage 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Propellor 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – RSC 2011
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – RSC 2016
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Selladoor 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Watermill 2018
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Watermill Tour 2019
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Young Vic
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bath 2016
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Globe 2019
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Headlong
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare
      • A Midsummer Nights Dream – Handspring 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream RSC 2016 Revisited
      • A Number
      • A Streetcar Named Desire NT Live
      • A Taste of Honey
      • A Very Very Very Dark Matter
      • A View From The Bridge
      • A Woman of No Importance
      • Abigail’s Party 2013
      • Absolute Hell
      • Ah, Wilderness!
      • Albion
      • All My Sons
      • All New People
      • All’s Well That Ends Well – RSC 2013
      • All’s Well That Ends Well- 2018
      • All’s Well That Ends Well- RSC 2022
      • Amadeus – 2014
      • Amadeus – NT 2017
      • American Buffalo
      • An Enemy of The People
      • An Ideal Husband 2018
      • An Ideal Husband- 2014
      • Antony & Cleopatra – RSC 2013
      • Antony & Cleopatra – RSC 2017
      • Antony and Cleopatra – Globe
      • Antony and Cleopatra 2012
      • Arcadia
      • Arden of Faversham
      • Around The World in 80 Days
      • As You Like It – Globe 2015
      • As You Like It – Globe 2018
      • As You Like It – National 2015
      • As You Like It – RSC 2019
      • As You Like It RSC 2013
      • Awful Auntie
      • Bakkhai
      • Balletboyz: The Talent
      • Barber Shop Chronicles
      • Bartholomew Fair
      • Beauty & The Beast (Ballet Theatre UK)
      • Before The Party
      • Birthday
      • Bitter Wheat
      • Black Comedy
      • Blithe Spirit
      • Blithe Spirit – Bath 2019
      • Blood Wedding
      • Blues For An Alabama Sky
      • Boudica
      • Bring Up The Bodies
      • Broken
      • Candida
      • Cardenio
      • Carmen Disruption
      • Caroline or Change
      • Comedy of Errors – Globe
      • Comedy of Errors – RSC, 2021
      • Comedy of Errors NT 2012
      • Comedy of Errors RSC ’12
      • Communicating Doors
      • Comus
      • Copenhagen
      • Coriolanus – NT Live
      • Coriolanus – RSC
      • Crazy For You
      • Curiosity Shop
      • Cymbeline – RSC
      • Cymbeline – Wanamaker
      • Dancing At Lughnasa
      • Death Of A Salesman
      • Deathtrap
      • Dedication
      • Dido, Queen of Carthage
      • Dinner With Saddam
      • Doctor Faustus
      • Don Carlos
      • Don Juan in Soho
      • Don Quixote
      • Doubt – a parable
      • Dream
      • Dunsinane
      • Echo’s End
      • Educating Rita
      • Edward II
      • Electro Kif
      • Endgame / Rough for Theatre II
      • Eyam
      • Fallen Angels
      • Fantastic Mr Fox
      • Far
      • Farinelli and The King
      • Fences
      • First Light
      • Flare Path
      • Follies
      • For Services Rendered
      • Forests
      • Fortune’s Fool
      • Forty Years On
      • Fracked! Or Please Don’t Use The F-Word.
      • Frankenstein – NT Encore
      • French Without Tears
      • Funny Girl
      • Future Conditional
      • George’s Marvellous Medicine
      • Girl From The North Country
      • God of Carnage
      • Gypsy
      • Hairspray, The Musical
      • Half A Sixpence
      • Hamilton
      • Hamlet – Cumberbatch
      • Hamlet – Globe 2014
      • Hamlet – Maxine Peake
      • Hamlet – NT 2010
      • Hamlet – RSC 2016
      • Hamlet RSC 2013
      • Hamlet- Almeida / BBC 2017
      • Hamlet- Young Vic 2011
      • Hangmen
      • Harlequinade / All On Her Own
      • Harlequinade / All On Her Own – review
      • Hay Fever
      • Hecuba
      • Hedda Gabler
      • Hedda Tesman
      • Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 RSC
      • Henry V – 2018
      • Henry V – Jude Law
      • Henry V – RSC 2015
      • Henry VI – Rebellion
      • Henry VI – Wars of The Roses
      • Henry VI: Three plays
      • Hobson’s Choice
      • Hogarth’s Progress
      • Home
      • Home, I’m Darling
      • Hysteria
      • Imogen (Cymbeline) – Globe 2016
      • Importance of Being Earnest 2010
      • Importance of Being Earnest – Suchet, 2015
      • Importance of Being Earnest – Watermill
      • Importance of Being Earnest 2014
      • Importance of Being Earnest- 2018
      • Inala
      • Institute
      • Into The Hoods – Remixed
      • Ivanov
      • Jack Absolute Flies Again
      • Jeeves and Wooster
      • Jerusalem
      • Jerusalem – 2018
      • Jitney
      • John Gabriel Borkman
      • Julius Caesar – Globe 2014
      • Julius Caesar – RSC 2012
      • Julius Caesar – RSC 2017
      • Ka
      • King Charles III
      • King John – Globe 2015
      • King John – Rose, 2016
      • King John – RSC 2019
      • King Lear Frank Langella
      • King Lear – Antony Sher, RSC 2016
      • King Lear – Barrie Rutter
      • King Lear – David Haig
      • King Lear – Globe 2017
      • King Lear – McKellen 2017
      • King Lear – Russell-Beale
      • Kiss Me Kate
      • Kunene and The King
      • La Bête
      • Lady Windermere’s Fan
      • Leopoldstadt
      • Life of Galileo
      • Little Shop of Horrors
      • Local Hero
      • Long Day’s Journey Into Night
      • Love
      • Love For Love
      • Love’s Labour’s Lost
      • Love’s Labour’s Lost – 2018
      • Love’s Labour’s Lost- 2016
      • Love’s Labour’s Won
      • Love’s Sacrifice
      • Love, Love, Love
      • Macbeth – Globe 2016
      • Macbeth – McAvoy 2013
      • Macbeth – National Theatre 2018
      • Macbeth – Tara Arts
      • Macbeth – Young Vic
      • Macbeth RSC 2018
      • Macbeth, RSC 2011
      • Macbeth, Watermill 2019
      • Macbeth- Chichester 2019
      • Macbeth- Wanamaker 2018
      • Mack & Mabel
      • Malory Towers
      • Man and Superman
      • Mary Poppins
      • Me and My Girl
      • Measure for Measure – Globe 2015
      • Measure for Measure – Young Vic
      • Measure for Measure RSC 2012
      • Measure For Measure- RSC 2019
      • Medea NT live
      • Miss Julie / Black Comedy
      • Miss Littlewood
      • Mojo
      • Monsieur Popular
      • Mrs Warren’s Profession
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Globe 2014
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Globe 2017
      • Much Ado About Nothing – NT 2022
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Old Vic 2013
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Rose 2018
      • Much Ado About Nothing – RSC 2014
      • Much Ado About Nothing- Northern Broadsides
      • Much Ado About Nothing- RSC 2016
      • Much Ado About Nothing- RSC 2022
      • Much Ado About Nothing- Wyndhams 2011
      • Murder On The Orient Express (stage)
      • Murder, Margaret and Me
      • My Brilliant Friend (play)
      • My Night With Reg
      • Neighbourhood Watch
      • Nell Gwynn
      • Nice Fish
      • No Man’s Land
      • Noises Off
      • Obsession
      • Oklahoma! – Chichester
      • Once
      • One Man, Two Guvnors
      • Othello – Globe 2018
      • Othello – RSC 2015
      • Othello NT 2013
      • Othello- ETT 2018
      • Othello- Wanamaker 2017
      • Othello- Watermill 2022
      • Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour
      • Our Man in Havana (musical)
      • People
      • People Like Us
      • Pericles
      • Peter & The Starcatcher
      • Peter and Alice
      • Peter Gynt
      • Peter Pan (pantomime)
      • Peter Pan Goes Wrong
      • Photograph 51
      • Pitcairn
      • Plastic
      • Platonov
      • Playing Cards 1: Spades
      • Plenty
      • POSH
      • Present Laughter – Chichester 2018
      • Present Laughter – Old Vic 2019
      • Present Laughter- Bath 2003
      • Present Laughter- Bath 2016
      • Pressure
      • Private Lives
      • Privates On Parade
      • Punishment Without Revenge
      • Punk Rock
      • Pygmalion
      • Quatermaine’s Terms
      • Queen Anne
      • Quiz – James Graham
      • Racing Demon
      • Ralegh: The Treason Trial
      • Relative Values
      • Richard II – Globe
      • Richard II – RSC
      • Richard III – Almeida
      • Richard III – Apollo 2012
      • Richard III – Freeman
      • Richard III – RSC 2012
      • Richard III – RSC 2022
      • Richard III – Spacey, 2011
      • Robin Hood (panto)
      • Romantics Anonymous
      • Romeo & Juliet – Globe 2017
      • Romeo & Juliet – RSC 2018
      • Romeo & Juliet 2014 – Box Clever
      • Romeo & Juliet, Headlong 2012
      • Romeo & Juliet- Branagh 2016
      • Romeo and Juliet – NT, 2021
      • Romeo and Juliet- Globe 2015
      • Romeo and Juliet: Tobacco Factory
      • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
      • Ross
      • Rules for Living
      • Salomé – RSC
      • Same Time, Next Year
      • School nativities
      • Secondary Cause of Death
      • Separate Tables
      • Shakespeare in Love
      • She Stoops To Conquer – Bath 2015
      • She Stoops to Conquer – Rain or Shine
      • Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads
      • Skylight
      • Slava’s Snowshow
      • Snow in Midsummer
      • South Pacific
      • Spring Awakening
      • Stepping Out
      • Strife
      • Swan Lake
      • Sweet Bird of Youth
      • Switzerland
      • Tamburlaine
      • Tangomotion
      • Tartuffe- RSC
      • The Alchemist – RSC
      • The Argument
      • The Beauty Queen of Leenane
      • The Beauty Queen of Leenane – 2021
      • The Beaux Stratagem
      • The Birthday Party
      • The Book of Mormon
      • The Broken Heart
      • The Canterbury Tales
      • The Captive Queen
      • The Caretaker
      • The Chalk Garden
      • The Changeling
      • The City Madam
      • The Constant Wife
      • The Country
      • The Country Girls
      • The Country Wife
      • The Cripple of Inishmaan
      • The Crucible, NT 2022
      • The Crucible, Old Vic 2014
      • The Deep Blue Sea – 2019
      • The Deep Blue Sea-NT live, 2016
      • The Doctor
      • The Dresser
      • The Duchess of Malfi – 2012
      • The Duchess of Malfi – 2014
      • The Duchess of Malfi – RSC 2108
      • The Entertainer
      • The Famous Five: A New Musical
      • The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich
      • The Ferryman (Acts 2 & 3)
      • The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk
      • The Four Seasons: A Reimagining
      • The Game of Love and Chance
      • The Ghost Train
      • The Height of The Storm
      • The Homecoming
      • The Hot House
      • The Hypochondriac
      • The Hypocrite
      • The Jew of Malta
      • The Knight of The Burning Pestle
      • The Ladykillers
      • The Lie
      • The Lieutenant of Inishmore- 2018
      • The Lieutenant of Inishmore-2001
      • The Lock In
      • The Lock In Christmas Carol
      • The Magistrate – NT Live
      • The Magna Carta Plays
      • The Man In The White Suit
      • The Merchant of Venice – Almeida
      • The Merchant of Venice – Globe
      • The Merchant of Venice – RSC
      • The Merry Wives – Northern Broadsides
      • The Merry Wives of Windsor – Globe 2019
      • The Merry Wives of Windsor – RSC 2012
      • The Merry Wives of Windsor- RSC 2018
      • The Misanthrope ETT
      • The Miser
      • The Narcissist
      • The Nightingales
      • The Norman Conquests
        • Living Together
        • Round & Round The Garden
        • Table Manners
      • The Odyssey
      • The Painkiller (2016)
      • The Play That Goes Wrong
      • The Play What I Wrote
      • The Price
      • The Provoked Wife
      • The Recruiting Officer
      • The Rehearsal
      • The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
      • The Rivals
      • The Roaring Girl
      • The Rover
      • The Ruling Class
      • The School for Scandal
      • The Seagull
      • The Seagull- Chichester
      • The Seven Year Itch
      • The Shoemaker’s Holiday
      • The Silver Tassie
      • The Southbury Child
      • The Spire
      • The Storm
      • The Syndicate
      • The Taming of The Shrew – RSC 2012
      • The Taming of The Shrew – RSC 2019
      • The Taming of The Shrew- Globe 2016
      • The Taxidermist’s Daughter
      • The Tempest – Bath Ustinov
      • The Tempest RSC 2012
      • The Tempest RSC 2016
      • The Tempest- Wanamaker
      • The Truth
      • The Two Noble Kinsmen- 2018
      • The Two Noble Kinsmen- RSC
      • The Unfriend
      • The Upstart Crow
      • The Wars of The Roses
        • Edward IV
        • Henry VI
        • Richard III
      • The Watsons
      • The Way of The World
      • The Weir
      • The Whale
      • The White Devil – Globe
      • The White Devil – RSC
      • The Winter’s Tale – Branagh
      • The Winter’s Tale – Cheek by Jowl
      • The Winter’s Tale – Globe 2018
      • The Winter’s Tale – RSC 2013
      • The Winter’s Tale – RSC 2021
      • The Winter’s Tale- Wanamaker
      • The Witch of Edmonton
      • There and Back Again – An Odyssey
      • Thérèse Raquin
      • This Happy Breed
      • This Is My Family
      • Timon of Athens
      • Timon of Athens – RSC
      • Titus Andronicus – RSC 2017
      • Titus Andronicus- Globe 2014
      • Totem
      • Travels With My Aunt (musical)
      • Travesties
      • Tristan and Yseult 2017
      • Troilus & Cressida RSC 2018
      • True West
      • Twelfth Night – Apollo 2012
      • Twelfth Night – Globe 2017
      • Twelfth Night – Globe, 2021
      • Twelfth Night – NT 2017
      • Twelfth Night – RSC 2017
      • Twelfth Night – Watermill
      • Twelfth Night – Young Vic
      • Twelfth Night RSC 2012
      • Twelfth Night- ETT 2014
      • Two Gentlemen of Verona – 2016
      • Two Gentlemen of Verona – RSC
      • Two Gentlemen of Verona- 2013
      • Uncle Vanya (Hare)
      • Uncle Vanya (McPherson)
      • Venice Preserved
      • Vice Versa
      • Volpone
      • Vulcan 7
      • Watership Down
      • Way Upstream
      • What The Butler Saw
      • While The Sun Shines
      • Wolf Hall
      • Woman in Mind
      • Women On The Verge of A Nervous Breakdown
      • wonder.land
      • Worst Wedding Ever
      • Woyzeck
      • Yerma (2017)
      • Young Chekhov Season
      • Young Marx
    • video
      • A Weekend Away, A Week By The Sea
        • Sections: Weekend Away / By the Sea
      • Dennis Cook: A history
      • Drama, dialogue and video
      • Teaching with video: techniques
      • Video: non-authentic
      • Video: on location
      • Video: Peter Viney Interview
      • Video: What happened?

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