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The Argument

The Argument
By William Boyd

Argument-website-888x654-c

Directed by Christopher Luscombe
Designed by Simon Higlett

Theatre Royal Bath
Saturday 9th August 2019, 14.30

CAST
Felicity Kendal – Chloe, Meredith’s mother
Rupert Vansittart – Frank, Meredith’s dad.
Alice Orr-Ewing – Meredith
Simon Harrison – Pip, Meredith’s husband
Esh Alladi – Tony, Pip’s friend
Sarah Earnshaw – Jane, Meredith’s friend

We chose this from the advance programme purely on the director, Christopher Luscombe. It’s announced as ’75 minutes long. No interval’ which mildly pisses me off before we even get there. £43 each for a one act play plus parking and fuel and a two hour drive each way? When Terence Rattigan did plays at this length, he rightly put them on as double bills. 75 minutes is around a normal first half.

So we’re going in thinking this has to be REALLY amazing to justify the price versus the timing.  It hasn’t even got a large cast, just the six. We did a matinee, but it’s not going to be much of an evening out when you’re done by 8.45. I’d say it started at 2.33 or 2.34 (lots of messing about with walkie talkies and closed doors before the start) and ended at 3.42. 70 minutes, not the 75 online or the 80 in the programme. I wanted to ask as we left, ‘So when does Act 2 begin?’

In so many ways it resembles the play 8 Hotels which we saw just two days before: it consists of about eight very short scenes, nearly all of them are two part dialogue, infidelity is the major theme. So we’re wondering why 8 Hotels worked, and this didn’t.

One major fault is selling the production so heavily on Felicity Kendal. Even the tickets say “Starring Felicity Kendal’.

Argument tickets

Of the six roles, in terms of stage time and lines, I’d place her as fourth at the most. The leads are Meredith and Pip. Jack, as her husband, is a way more important role. Any award she is nominated for this would be “Best supporting actress.” No, she’s not the star. Yes, her name gets bums on seats. Yes, it’s dishonest. When she appears as Chloe, Meredith’s mum, as ever her comic timing and phrasing is immaculate. She is a great actress and a national treasure, and outstanding whenever she appears,  but this play isn’t about her character.

tn-500_alice-orr-ewing-and-simon-harrison-in-the-argument-at-theatre-royal-bath.-credit-manuel-harlan

The first scene: Meredith (aLice Orr-Ewing) and Pip (Simon Harrison)

Briefly. The central figures are Meredith (Alice Orr-Ewing) and Pip (Simon Harrison). She is an Oxford graduate museum curator, he’s a sharp business guy earning four times as much as her. Argument one starts by discussing a film they’ve seen and ends up with the realization that another woman is phoning him. They argue.

tn-500_felicity-kendal-and-alice-orr-ewing-in-the-argument-at-theatre-royal-bath.-credit-manuel-harlan

Chloe (Felicity Kendal) and Meredith (Alice Orr-Ewing) – this is a later scee

We move to Meredith and her mum, Chloe (Felicity Kendal), discussing her leaving Pip because he’s screwing a colleague, Mandy. They argue.

Then we have Meredith and her pal Jane (Sarah Earnshaw)  getting pissed and discussing Pip. Meredith realizes that Jane always fancied Pip. They argue.

tn-500_alice-orr-ewing-and-sarah-earnshaw-in-the-argument-at-theatre-royal-bath.-credit-manuel-harlan

Meredith (Alice Orr-Ewing) and Jane (Sarah Earnshaw()

Next up, Pip and his pal Tony (Eash Alladi) discussing Meredith in Pip’s awful Tooting Bec rented flat. Yes, it’s all two way dialogue scenes. They argue.

We have Chloe and husband Jack (Rupert Vansittart), discussing Pip … never liked him. They argue.

tn-500_esh-alladi-in-the-argument-at-theatre-royal-bath.-credit-manuel-harlan

Tony (Esh Alladi) in Pip’s Tooting Bec flat

Then there’s the scene in Tony’s bachelor pad where Pips’s pal Tony and Meredith’s pal Jane try to discuss getting them back together. They argue.

Chloe and Jack … well, they argue.

Jack and Meredith … then (in the funniest scene by a mile) the dad Jack and the eventually forgiven hubby Pip. What! They really, really argue.

Then we actually get FOUR ACTORS ON THE STAGE TOGETHER, BUT VERY BRIEFLY!

Finally, Meredith and Pip are back together and a wholly predictable clichéd ending which had been telegraphed wildly for half an hour. They don’t argue. But we know they will …

tn-500_felicity-kendal-and-rupert-vansittart-in-the-argument-at-theatre-royal-bath.-credit-manuel-harlan-2

Chloe (Felicity Kendal) and Jack (Rupert Vansittart)

Everyone in the play is unlikeable. There’s a massive class thing running through. The whole of Meredith’s family are unpleasant snobs. Meredith parades her superior Oxford education. Chloe is a superior snotty cow. Jack, the dad, (Rupert Vansittart, in far and away the best performance of the show) is an orthopaedic surgeon. I’ve spent much time with these medical professionals this year, and the younger group I met were not sclerotic, red-faced, alcoholic, upper class shits like Jack. None of them!  He is a daughter-centred daddy. He loathes Pip’s accent (which to me is about normal RP rather than Advanced RP). He considers it to be “barrow boy” and demonstrates a costermonger selling ripe bananas. He suggests to Pip that his father must have been in the building trade, a manual worker and is shocked to hear he’s a chartered accountant. He confuses ‘builder’ with ‘manual worker.’ Around here, builders are developers and drive Bentleys. Tooting Bec is apparently ‘non-U’ so funny. The name always was funny-sounding, but why the place?

tn-500_felicity-kendal-rupert-vansittart-alice-orr-ewing-and-simon-harrison-in-the-argument-at-theatre-royal-bath.-credit-manuel-harlan

The only time there are more than two people on stage, and then very briefly

Another classist scene is Tony (Pip’s mate) and Jane (Meredith’s pal). When we first met Jane with Meredith she seemed about normal and mild northern in accent. Then when she has the row with Tony, she suddenly becomes highly inarticulate “I’m like, you know, like, sorta, like …” kind of thing. Then Cambridge-educated Tony decides to attack her viciously for her “HRT” – high rising intonation …at the end of sentences … variously known as Australian “Neighbours” intonation, California Valley Girl intonation, upspeak, uptalk, upward inflection. Or how so many girls have chosen to speak for the last 25 years. Or how they spoke in rural Norfolk for centuries. Tony becomes hugely aggressive about her intonation so much so that I begin to think writer William Boyd is expressing a major personal prejudice against it. Weird to focus so heavily on it, as it has zero connection to the play … unless he wants to show what a load of snobs most of the characters are. I think he really doesn’t like the language pattern and shoehorned his prejudice in.

Snottiness on language runs through, at one point, Meredith (or possibly Chloe) says, ‘That is so …’ and self-corrects apologetically to ‘That is simply …’. In fact, if Boyd wanted to pin language viruses, starting speeches with So + full stop is the current one.

Also, sorry, William Boyd writes the inarticulate Jane bits very badly indeed, Either that, or Sarah Earnshaw can’t handle the inarticulate bits … like, you know, kind of like babble.  Boyd makes a major point in the programme notes on letting actors amend text in rehearsal (absolutely right) but someone got this bit so badly wrong. To me, I think I’d have to let the actor improvise it entirely. You can’t expect someone to follow a script on “how to be inarticulate.” This is from an EFL article I wrote:

So an authentic speech act might be: “Well. I’m like … Urgh? Yuk! …  and so he’s like … ‘Right!’ … then it’s just … you know, kinda SO random, cos he is like … No way! Why are you askin’ me? … and  so I’m kinda like, ‘You what? I dunno if… I mean, like … so, anyhow, what kinda crap you’re … “
Authentic. Yeah, right. Useful? Kinda not.
We cannot and should not teach learners to be inarticulate. Our model language demands clarity, and communication. There is no reason for a learner to emulate an inarticulate native speaker. Given enough exposure, they might acquire the ability to be as inarticulate, and sound as dumb, as a native speaker. But they don’t have to do that.

I was interested when Jack (the dad) describes his family. Meredith has an older brother, Ben and a younger brother, Josh. We never see them. Boy-girl-boy. The same as our three children. I was also wearing red trousers and a bright blue jacket and am of a similar build  … Hmm.

tn-500_felicity-kendal-and-rupert-vansittart-in-the-argument-at-theatre-royal-bath.-credit-manuel-harlan

But … really nice sets with fast transitions

Where this play wins over  8 Hotels (and the only place it wins)  is Simon Higlett’s set design which enables them to switch so fast between rooms: Meredith & Pip’s pleasant apartment; then Chloe and Jack’s concrete and glass modern mansion, then the Tooting Bec (Ha ha?) flat with peeling wallpaper that Pip ends up in, and his pal Tony’s black and brown cool bachelor flat dominated by a live  TV. While the sets are superb, I realized that no one actually uses them. You could do it with a two chairs and minimal location suggestion in a studio theatre … and that’s this play’s natural habitat. On the main stage at Bath, it’s production overkill.

We named our daughter Chloe in 1980. None of her teachers could spell it. You couldn’t buy name mugs or labels. Twenty years later it was the most popular girls name in the UK. But seriously, no one of Felicity Kendal’s age (born 1946) was called Chloe. No way. They should have called Jane Chloe, and Chloe Jane. Was the switch an in-joke? Neither of us ever met anyone of our generation called Chloe. Also, her 36 years of marriage suggest she had Meredith in her very late thirties. That happens a lot now, but more rarely 35 years ago. She is really about ten years too old for the part, not that she looks it. It would be so easy to change 36 to 46 years of marriage.

My rating? Two stars. It’s by no means “really good.”  It lacks the intriguing storyline of  8 Hotels. It’s a cliché ridden, predictable series of dialogue rows portraying “sophisticated” (in their own terms) nastily classist people. To be fair, the two funniest lines in the play are Jane’s robust final response to Tony’s goading, and Pip’s even more robust response to his father-in-law’s goading. The two biggest laughs too. I always think, if you are going to use the C-word in a play, use it sparingly as here, for maximum impact. So maybe we are supposed to identify with Jane and Pip against the language snobs. I hope so.

**

I’m very tempted to take one of those stars off for appalling value for money. But one star is unwatchable. This is watchable.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
I reviewed and rated before press night, which always makes the reviews more interesting for me. Did I get the rating in line with the consensus? Not that I worry if I didn’t. But this time, I did.
3 star
Michael Billington, The Guardian ***

… shrewdly observant and intermittently funny but it lacks any striking image and, at 75 minutes, seems far more suited to an intimate space like Hampstead’s Downstairs theatre, where it started, than to a main-house stage.

2 star
Domenic Cavendish, The Telegraph **

Despite its brevity, the whole thing feels like a colossal waste of time, talent and effort. … it rolls lumpenly along like a mis-bowled daisy-cutter. We don’t finally care who these people are, or what they’re saying. Maybe, just possibly, it’s worth seeing Kendal in a collector’s item sort of way, but this is a summer stinker really, one to avoid.

Sam Marlow, The Times **

William Boyd is well known for his novels and screenwriting; this play feels like an idle afterthought. It’s a scrap of a thing, lasting barely more than an hour and slighter than an overstretched sitcom. Still, if you actually enjoy listening in on other people’s tedious squabbles, you’re in for a treat.

Fiona Mountford, Sunday Times **

The tone of Christopher Luscombe’s production is tiresome, as everyone riles everyone else in wearying succession … Dime store philosophy is the order of the day from all six dislikeable chracters.

CHRISTOPHER LUSCOMBE (director)
The Nightingales, Chichester 2018
Travels With My Aunt, Chichester 2016
Twelfth Night, RSC 2017
Love’s Labour’s Lost– RSC 2014
Love’s Labour’s Won RSC 2014
Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC / Chichester 2016
Much Ado About Nothing, RSC / Chichester 2016
While The Sun Shines,  by Terence Rattigan, Bath 2016
Nell Gwynne, Globe 2015

FELICITY KENDAL
Hay Fever, Noel Coward, Bath Theatre Royal 2014

ALICE ORR-EWING
Don Juan in Soho, 2017
An Enemy of The People by Henrik Ibsen, adapted Christopher Hampton, Chichester Festival Theatre
Hay Fever by Noel Coward, Bath Theatre Royal 2014

SIMON HARRISON
The Changeling, Wanamaker Playhouse 2015
The Comedy of Errors – Globe, 2014
Henry VI parts I-III, Globe on tour
As You Like It, Globe 2015

SARAH EARNSHAW
Travels With My Aunt, Chichester 2016
The Nightingales, Chichester 2018

ESH ALLADI
Absolute Hell, National Theatre, 2018
Twelfth Night, RSC 2017

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        • 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 …
      • A Fishy Story
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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?
    • 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
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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 2107
      • 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
      • Jeeves and Wooster
      • Jerusalem
      • Jerusalem – 2018
      • 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
      • 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
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Globe 2014
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Globe 2017
      • 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
      • 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 – 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
      • Skylight
      • Slava’s Snowshow
      • Snow in Midsummer
      • South Pacific
      • Spring Awakening
      • Stepping Out
      • Strife
      • 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
      • The Deep Blue Sea – 2019
      • The Deep Blue Sea-NT live, 2016
      • The Dresser
      • The Duchess of Malfi – 2012
      • The Duchess of Malfi – 2014
      • The Duchess of Malfi – RSC 2108
      • The Entertainer
      • 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 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 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 – 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
      • Venice Preserved
      • Vice Versa
      • Volpone
      • Vulcan 7
      • Watership Down
      • Way Upstream
      • What The Butler Saw
      • While The Sun Shines
      • Wolf Hall
      • 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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