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Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Eugene O’Neill

Directed by Richard Eyre
Set and Costume design by Rob Howell

A Bristol Old Vic Production
Wyndham’s Theatre, London

Friday 16th January 2018, 19.30

Show_LongDaysJourneyIntoNight

CAST
Lesley Manville – Mary Tyrone
Jeremy Irons – James Tyrone
Matthew Beard – Edmund Tyrone
Rory Keenan –Jamie Tyrone
Jessica Regan – Cathleen

The production started in Bristol in 2016, with Lesley Manville and Jeremy Irons in the lead roles, which are revived on its move to the West End. Since then, Lesley Manville has received a 2018 Oscar nomination for Phantom Thread. Michael Billington points out that both leads have improved, and that it’s 15 minutes longer. An even longer day’s journey into night, then. He should know the play as it is included in his 101 Greatest Plays of All Time.

The play is a legend in itself. Eugene O’Neill’s play dates from 1941. He wrote that it should not be performed until 25 years after his death, since it was so intensely autobiographical, and added that it should never be produced on stage. O’Neill died in 1953. They promptly knocked off 22 years off his request, and published then produced it in 1956, when it received the Tony for best play and O’Neill was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize, his fourth. The argument was that his intention was to spare his son the details, and that his son had committed suicide in 1950, so the instruction was no longer relevant. As in the play, ‘happy families.’ ‘Edmund’ in the play, taking the name of his deceased brother, stands in for Eugene himself. The first names are otherwise the same as the originals, his father, mother and brother. The baby brother Edmund who died, becomes Eugene. He changed O’Neill to Tyrone, the traditional Ulster region of the O’Neill clan. The events of 1912 actually took place in 1912. The house in the story is the O’Neill’s beach house in Connecticut, named after his father’s touring play, The Count of Monte Christo. The introduction to the text says that it’s far easier to list the few non-biographical facts than vice-versa.

I’ve read it, read about it, but never seen it. I’d been told that Long Day’s Journey Into Night was the pinnacle of 20th century American drama, the American equivalent of Hamlet.  It is an “exam pass notes” play.

A quote from my review of Ah! Wilderness:

 There’s personal history here. American Drama was a third year option in American Studies at university. Having done Drama subsidiary, I was written in for it. A summer spent reading Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Thornton Wilder and Arthur Miller in preparation, and I opted for American Slavery instead. And I do really like Arthur Miller.

It was a daft decision in retrospect, as I’d done most of the basic reading. On the other hand, I still believe so many years later that American theatre’s greatest achievement is the musical and that wasn’t on the syllabus. ‘Serious theatre” seems more separate than in Britain, addressed to audiences who would appreciate references to and quotes from Baudelaire, Swinburne, Dowson and Shakespeare, and who knew how to spell and pronounce Nietschze.  All are mentioned in this play. Too many serious American plays tend to share the same features … small cast, one set, long agonized speeches, family setting.  Even the classical rule of one location, one day. The Miller I most like are outside the frame, The Crucible  and View From The Bridge, not the one always compared with Long Day’s Journey Into Night which is Death of A Salesman.

I don’t see the play as a masterpiece, which sets me apart from most reviews before I start. O’Neill apparently thought it was 113 minutes long, and it turned out to run four hours in 1956. This version says 75 minutes Act One, 105 minutes Act 2, making three hours. It was three hours 15 minutes tonight. Plus an interval.

Now three hours 15 minutes is not exceptional for Shakespeare or Chekhov, but they have a larger cast, far more scenes and multiple plots with narrative movement, plus a lot of action. When it’s mainly one person speaking, or two people speaking with very little physical activity, it is truly long, however brilliant the actors, and they were all brilliant. They “say it” rather than “show it” too. This one has a marvellous set and an intricate and subtle lighting plot too.

I don’t know if the play has a plot, so much as a series of repeated recriminations. James, the father is an actor who is wealthy after playing one part on tour for years, but considered a miser by his critical family. Mary, convent educated, married beneath her. Their first child was Jamie. Then they had a baby, Eugene. Aged 7, the jealous Jamie disobeyed orders and went into the baby’s room with measles. The baby caught it and died. James and Mary were away on tour. They had another baby, Edmund. After the birth in a small town on tour, Mary was given morphine by a quack doctor. She is now addicted and in spite of repeated cures, is lapsing yet again.  Both incidents can be blamed on the miserly James … he forced her on tour, abandoning Eugene. He got the cheapest doctor. Son Jamie is also a actor, devoted to drink and whoring. Edmund has run off to sea but returned. Edmund has TB, waiting for a diagnosis through the first half. Mary’s father died of TB. She won’t face reality. James is still trying to turn off lights and tries to get Edmund into a cheap state (cheapskate) sanatorium. O’Neill’s great line here is that James will pay for anything for his son … within reason. Incidentally, I think it’s Jamie who says to Edmund, “If you can’t be good, be careful.” Did O’Neill invent that famous saying, or merely repeat it?  Well, whatever, there’s plenty to give rise to recrimination.

Jeremy Irons as James Tyrone

The part of James, the actor father, has been played by a parade of theatrical greats, with Jeremy Irons the current one. James O’Neill had, like James Tyrone, been typecast. Eugene’s real dad had played in The Count of Monte Christo on tour around 6000 Times (though 4000 in the introduction to the play text).

Long-Days-Journey-Into-Night-Wyndhams-Lesley-Manville-Mary-Tyrone-Photographer-Hugo-Glendinning-131

Lesley Manville as Mary

Lesley Manville plays the mother, Mary. Her award winning descent into alcohol-sodden in Mike Leigh’s Another Year was a great performance. She does descents superbly, here twitching and repetitive in finely controlled degrees depending on Mary’s last morphine hit. O’Neill writes her part best of all, I feel, with the nervy repetition and going over the same problems and greivances. On the other hand, the power of the text is her repetition … and that is, er, repetitive.  She is obsessed with her hair (the constant itchiness of addiction), her arthritic hands and her sons. My companion noted a negative … in spite of the constant fiddling with her hair, it stays neat. As she has so many retreats to “the spare room” where she takes the morphine, it would have been easy to add gradual disarray. In fact it looks less neat in the photos.

The trouble with the play structurally is that Mary is absent for all but the last couple of minutes of Act Four, and she is sorely missed. We have long decided she is the most interesting character. Lesley Manville has charisma. It is the best role. Like The Duchesss of Malfi, losing your female lead long before the end is a plotting error.

Matthew Beard, tall very thin and pale, was excellent casting for Edmund the Consumptive. Rory Keenan is a scruffy, combatative Jamie. You can believe he intended ill, even at seven.

Act Four feels interminable (and after the interval, we have already had Act 3), and is a series of long two person debates.  Act 3 was Mary and Kathleen the servant as a duo at the start  and gets a lot of humour. Jessica Regan is the Irish maid, adding a lot of plot in describing her errand to get Mary’s prescription. Very funny.

Act 4: Matthew Beard as Edmond, Jeremy Irons as James

Act 4 has James and Edmond, then Edmond and Jamie. As Edmond is describing his experiences at sea, this, as O’Neill himself, was dear to the writer but the text waxes poetic at too great a length. James’ theatrical anecdotes and hammed up Shakespeare is more interesting in itself (and beautifully weighted by Jeremy Irons) but there is a lot of it and we are talking alternating monologues rather than true dialogue.

I found some of it hard work, heavy going, and indeed it had emptied a few seats after the interval. The second half was a full 30 minutes longer than the first. They seemed to try and cut the length by taking the first twenty minutes or so much too fast.  I was surprised by the amount of (mild) humour they drew out of the lines. It is in there to be found, and this cast found it.

The play has irony on addiction. Basically three alcoholics are criticising an opiates addict. That’s interesting. The three do good drunks, just as she does good morphine. (As a footnote, O’Neill’s mother did successfully stop it in 1914).

I wondered about accents. I’d need an American to comment (please do) but to me they all sounded “British actors doing American very well, but with some lapses into British.” It made me think of The Captive Queen a week ago where they had an elaborate frame to justify Northern English accents. I’ve heard Shakespeare played in American accents, and I have no problem whatsoever. That has greater distance. Can you mention Broadway, the Midwest, “automobile,” being “fresh”, using “gotten” without doing an American accent? Nearly all the rest of the text could be played in English accents, yet we never think of doing that … switching to natural accents regardless of location  … with plays written after about 1890. Would it work?

Did O’Neill know the difference between Frankenstein (the doctor) and the monster he created? There are two text references to “Frankensteins” which here mean “monsters.” O’Neill was writing after the great James Whale films of the 1930s too. Was the interest in Frankenstein an anachronism for 1912? Mary Shelley’s original novel was far more famous after the films, than before them. Was it O’Neill or the character he was writing who got it wrong?

How do you assess the play? When we were doing English Language Teaching shows, 75% were our comedy sketch shows. 25% were plays. The school’s brochure mentioned Waiting for Godot, and we duly did it every few months, after all we had a Vladimir and Estragon who knew their parts. I watched ranks of students sitting gamely through it, they must have been bored and able to understand little, but they knew it was Serious Drama and they stuck with it. Then the four star reviews for this are a near unbroken rank (see below). Lots of superlatives; masterpiece appears more than once. Yet only two of them gave this ‘masterpiece’ five stars. The Independent “an unmissable masterpiece” 4 stars. How do you earn five then?

The power of the performances (and direction and set) make you think it impossible to give it less than four. Lesley Manville’s performance will be a contender for best of the year. Is enjoyment a factor? I enjoyed my evening at Lady Windermere’s Fan far more than this a few weeks ago, but I gave it just three stars. To me, Wilde is intrinsically in a different league to O’Neill. Ah, I’m shallow then.  I’m actually judging the entire genre of classic, serious American drama. That’s why I’ve avoided the last few big Tennessee Williams London productions. It gets my shallow, out on a limb, three.

***

TOILETS

West End horrors. Disgusting, cramped. A recent article said strict planning laws preventing improvements were killing these listed West End Theatres and they have to be relaxed to allow modern and more toilets in these old buildings. The theatre owners are trying, it said. Let’s hope they succeed.

THEATRE MANAGEMENT

Some one in the audience was taken ill … it sounded as if they had vomited. There was a great deal of fuss and consternation and audience and usher movement in a crucial early Mary-Edmond scene, which the actors cruised through with aplomb. I have seen this twice before in theatres, and both the other times a stage manager walked on and stopped the action so the problem could be cleared properly (Stratford and Bath). The actors there had stayed on stage, and paced or sat in character. Then seamlessly resumed the play when signaled. It is a better option than the audience being too distracted to follow the action on stage as happened here. They would have been better to pause here. They didn’t seem to have a contingency plan for such an event. Most of us missed 3 or 4 minutes of the play.

AUDIENCE REACTION

Standing ovations, 90% in the stalls. Rare for England, though less rare on a Friday night. Discounting the seats vacated by the incident several rows away on the other side, we had three empty seats in front of us after the interval, and two further along our row, and three in the row behind. Around us, I’d say eleven left half way. With expensive tickets that is hard to work out, though it happens a lot in the West End with premium productions. It’s extremely rare on the South Bank. I’m told that corporates buy Friday night shows for West End productions as gifts for visitors, often foreign visitors and that is the reason for them deserting at the interval. You can’t do that with the Friend / Members reliant South Bank theatres.

Or maybe they too found it heavy going.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:
The Stage’s Theatre Round-Up summarised the reviews:

 If there are a few question marks over Jeremy Irons’ performance, there are none at all over Lesley Manville’s. Four-star write-ups for the production, but hers is a five-star turn.

5
Sarah Crompton, What’s On Stage *****
Michael Ardetti, Express *****
4
Michael Billington, The Guardian ****
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph, ****
Paul Taylor, The Independent ****
Dominic Maxwell, The Times ****
David Jays, Sunday Times ****
Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard ****
Sarah Hemming, Financial Times ****
Alice Saville, Time Out ****
Tim Bano, The Stage ****
Ismene Brown, The Arts Desk ****
Marianka Swain, Broadway World, ****
Will Longman, London Theatre ****
3
Kate Kellaway, The Observer ***

LINKS ON THIS BLOG:

EUGENE O’NEILL
Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O’Neill, Young Vic, 2015.

LESLEY MANVILLE
Another Year, by Mike Leigh (FILM)
Mr Turner (FILM)

JEREMY IRONS
High Rise (FILM)

MATTHEW BEARD

Skylight by David Hare (Edward Sergeant)
The Imitation Game (FILM) (Peter Hilton)

 

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        • Suzanne Vega
        • Symphonic Pink Floyd
        • Taj Mahal
        • The Australian Pink Floyd
        • The Band
        • The Bleedin Noses
        • The Bootleg Beatles 2018
        • The Bootleg Beatles 2022
        • The Cactus Blossoms
        • The Civil Wars
        • The Decemberists
        • The Delines
        • The Demon Barbers
        • The Foundations
        • The Full English
        • The Grand Ole Opry
        • The Imagined Village
        • The Manfreds – 2016
        • The Manfreds 2011
        • The Manfreds, P.P. Arnold 2003
        • The Manfreds, P.P. Arnold, Zoot Money, Nov 2016
        • The Mastersons, Hymn For Her
        • The Mavericks
        • The palmer james group
        • The Platters
        • The Searchers
        • The Transports
        • The Unthanks 03.11
        • The Unthanks 04.2012
        • The Unthanks 10.2012
        • The Unthanks 12.11
        • The Unthanks 2.2015
        • The Unthanks 2019
        • The Unthanks 2022
        • The Unthanks 5.2017
        • The Waterboys
        • Thea Gilmore
        • Tom Jones
        • Van Morrison
          • Van Morrison 1998
          • Van Morrison 1999
          • Van Morrison 2000
          • Van Morrison 2001
          • Van Morrison 2002 Jan.
          • Van Morrison 2002 Oct.
          • Van Morrison 2003 Jul.
          • Van Morrison 2003 Sep.
          • Van Morrison 2005 Mar.
          • Van Morrison 2005 Nov.
          • Van Morrison 2007
          • Van Morrison 2012
          • Van Morrison 2013
          • Van Morrison 2019
        • Ward Thomas, Hyde Park
        • Zawinul Syndicate
        • Zoot Money
      • Gigs, venues and prices
      • HMV. His Master’s Voice silenced?
      • Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams
      • Music From Big Pink – 50th anniversary
      • Names, Scribble & Numbers
      • Nancy Sinatra
      • Note of Hope (Woody Guthrie)
      • Phil Everly RIP
      • Rock pictures
      • RoseAnn Fino
      • Shadows In The Night
      • Thank You For The Muzac
      • The Band reviews & pictures
      • The Beautiful Old
      • The Village Green Preservation Society
      • The Weight – covers
      • Twelve Songs For Christmas 2013
    • rants
      • 100 Days Plus and Counting …
      • Driving Me Mad …
      • A Fishy Story
      • A Legal Matter
      • A Post-Brexit Vision
      • Agatha Christie: Deduction in a dell’arte mask
      • Allergies … and lawyers
      • Baby Boomer v Wokeperson
      • Barcodes
      • Beaujolais Nouveau …
      • Best of 2011
      • Best of 2012
      • Best of 2013
      • Best of 2014
      • Best of 2015 – music
      • 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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