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The Painkiller (2016)

The Painkiller

by Francis Veber
Adapted by Sean Foley

Painkiller flier

Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company
The Garrick Theatre, London
Saturday 12th March 2016   14.30

Directed by Sean Foley
Set and costumes by Alice Power

Kenneth Branagh as Ralph
Rob Brydon as Dudley
Mark Hadfield as The Porter
Claudie Blakeley as Michelle
Alex MacQueen as Dent
Marcus Fraser as the Policeman

The third play in the Branagh season is a full-on French farce, though a modern one dating from 1969. Sean Foley adapted it (not simply “translated” it) and the same team of Foley, Branagh and Brydon did it at the opening season of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in 2011. Belfast is Branagh’s hometown, and the Lyric is a lovely theatre. Branagh and Brydon have worked together since … Brydon appears in Branagh’s live action film of Cinderella, whose stars, Lily James and Richard Madden will be in the fourth play in this season, Romeo & Juliet.

The programme notes that the adaptation has been reworked for the London revival, and that the natural setting for farce is a proscenium stage like The Garrick.

2644

Kenneth Branagh (Ralph), Rob Brydon (Dudley)

There are two modern hotel rooms, side by side with an interconnecting door and an invisible wall between them, its invisibility used to great effect. It’s a richly detailed modern luxury hotel, with one room in shades of lime green and the other in plum. Alice Power has created the sort of four star hotel where you wake at 3 a.m, put the lights on and shudder at the hotel’s concept of plush lime green and plum luxury. The first arrival is Dudley (Rob Brydon), a photographer from the Swindon Advertiser who has been assigned to photograph the arrival of a notorious gangster at the law court next to the hotel. However, Dudley is estranged from his wife, Michelle, who left him for her psychiatrist (Dr Dent). Dudley is suicidal and bent on hanging himself.

The next arrival is Ralph (Kenneth Branagh)… we don’t learn his name until the last few minutes. Ralph is a professional hit man, whose job is to shoot the gangster before he gets to court. His window is perfectly placed for this.

Painkiller2-xlarge_trans++USuiNG1GFUnOQ8rbuSnk0m8L-XzqIOkgrcUIkCJYfao

Ralph comforts Dudley

Ralph (aka “John Smith”) gets pulled into Dudley’s self-dramatizing suicide attempt by the Porter (Mark Hadfield). Dudley is a non-stop vocalizer, who is driving Ralph mad, and Ralph also has an assassination to carry out, and if he fails he will be killed horribly in turn. 2011 reviews added that the Belfast location added something to the tale, but here we’re in London. Ralph has no choice but to comfort Dudley, who then takes him to be a true friend. If he declines to help, the hotel will call the police to prevent Dudley killing himself, thus foiling Ralph’s plans.

After many shenanigans, Ralph gets knocked out by a metal roller blind, a key part of the play. A doctor has been called because of Dudley’s attempted suicide, who turns out to be Dent (Alex MacQueen, the burly seducer of Dudley’s wife. The doctor has never met Dudley, assumes the unconscious Ralph is the would-be suicide, and injects Ralph with a massive dose of animal tranquilizer … take it from there. Dudley’s estranged wife, Michelle (Claudie Blakeley) arrives, then a policeman and chaos ensues.

There is an incredible amount of physical action and business and indeed set pieces. Bits of set (roller blinds and lampshades) do their thing with precision timing and placing, as does the flash on Dudley’s camera. One of the funniest moments involves the policeman being knocked out and locked in a cupboard … it isn’t a farce if no one gets concealed in a cupboard. He comes awake and punches a hole in the door and his arm comes through, just as the porter arrives, and Branagh stands against the door pretending it’s his arm – and manages to do a little dance, both his arm and the policeman’s arm moving in time to hide the facts. I’ll skip telling you the next bit that happens. You need to see it.

Painkiller

PAINKILLER by Veber, , Writer – Francis Veber, Director – Sean Foley, The Garrick Theatre, London, 2016, Credit: Johan Persson/

Ralph and Dudley are on the bed. The porter (Mark Hadfield) gets the wrong idea,

Mark Hadfield’s porter is that key element in British seaside humour – the bystander / observer who gets the wrong end of the stick. I used seaside postcards to illustrate the male / female relationship in Hobson’s Choice in last Saturday’s review. Dudley and Michelle are in a similar relationship here. But in all seaside postcards, the innocent remark or event becomes funny / rude because of the surprise and shock of the person hearing or seeing who takes it the wrong way. This is Mark Hadfield’s role. He continually has to appear and find characters intertwined in compromising positions. The stress exacerbates his eczema.

the-painkiller-kenneth-branagh

PAINKILLER by Veber, , Writer – Francis Veber, Director – Sean Foley, The Garrick Theatre, London, 2016, Credit: Johan Persson/

Sean Foley says the part of the hitman needed a serious actor who can switch to comedy, which is why he thought of Branagh in 2011. On our way home from the play, we heard Ron Brydon on Radio 4’s Loose Ends talking about the play. He admitted that his casting as “a Welshman with personal problems” might not be surprising, but thought audiences would be surprised by Sir Kenneth Branagh in such an out and out farce. Well, not really. We saw Branagh in Harlequinade, the second in the season, and he has done a lot of Shakespearean comedy. This is genuine high-speed farce though … trousers descend to the ankles at a rate that even Brian Rix would have failed to match in the glory days of Whitehall farces, people smack into things, fall on top of each other, get locked in cupboards.

Rob Brydon is indeed playing a similar character, a Welshman with personal problems, to his stand-up routines (we saw his solo show in his early days), or the taxi driver in Marion and Geoff or Uncle Bryn in Gavin & Stacey. You get twin aspects too. He is cuckolded, like Geoff, but he also finds himself in embarrassing male on male situations, like Uncle Bryn. The role is “made to measure” for him, I suspect. i.e. it’s not “bespoke” (designed purely for him), but like a made-to-measure suit, pre-made components have been adjusted to fit. Since at least Shakespeare’s time, theatre audiences have found a Welsh accent in comedy intrinsically funny. It’s something to do with the rhythm, but also a combination of homely references, wide-eyed open-ness and a pinch of prurience. I never found it funny as a child, it was just the way my aunties and uncles talked … in Wales, you only have aunties, never aunts, and I think that’s part of it. Whatever, Brydon’s accent enhances the character, and mishearings (year / ear) are written in to fit. On the personal problems, one is that he can’t satisfy his wife, while her psychiatrist can. A truly memorable line is when he discusses his lack of ability with Michelle. Her withering comment is that “it was like trying to get a marshmallow into a piggy bank.” We wrote it down as soon as we came out.

Painkiller

PAINKILLER by Veber, , Writer – Francis Veber, Director – Sean Foley, The Garrick Theatre, London, 2016, Credit: Johan Persson/

Ralph is unconscious after Dr Dent (Alex MacQueen) jabs him

Kenneth Branagh is the producer, and its his season. You can see the attraction of the role. He has to go from cold and murderous and highly irritable, the serious bit, to being shot up with animal tranquilizer and zombified like a Heavy Metal musician on Mandrax. We see him trying to feel the tip of his own nose. There’s a funnier bit, but no joke spoiler. He finally forces Dr Dent to give him an antidote (the water squirted from the hypodermic hit my companion centre forehead in row F) which is amphetamine, so that he is constantly jerking and buzzing, then he gets a third dose of tablets, which seems to bring him back to normal but … Anyway, Branagh’s tranquillised, drooling, mouth-distorted assassin is a tour de force. The departure from classic farce is the effing and blinding, made even funnier because he can’t get the words out, so calls Dudley a “sock-cutter.” I’ll be using that one in future. The catchphrase is his mangled attempts to get the words out on “Leave me the fuck alone.” The script is very funny on this aspect, and it’s certainly a weapon that Brian Rix never had in his armoury.

4816

Claudie Blakeley as Michelle, and Rob Brydon as her husband, Dudley

Dent and Michelle are perfectly cast too, with Dent towering over Dudley and Ralph, and Michelle dressed to the nines now she lives in Harley Street, but still with a Brummie accent.

Rob Brydon described how exhausting it is because of the sheer amount of physical work, all requiring precision timing and positioning. There is a lot of theatrical business, and its non-stop and often multi-layered. After Dudley’s failed hanging in the shower, the Porter’s background work, trying to clear up the water is fabulous stuff, but then there’s funny stuff going on at the front. The intercutting of two phone conversations which appear to combine, though Dudley is talking to his wife, and Ralph to his boss, is very clever writing, direction and acting.

Painkiller1-large_trans++FRcamfF5XSIP2wR2yAqDpmtT0gK_6EfZT336f62EI5U

Two separate phone conversations appear to make sense as one …

I’m  tempted to type the star five times at the bottom, but here, a week in, I’m going to stop at four. I haven’t laughed as much in years, it’s true, but I have a couple of negatives. I think the sheer quantity of business / events takes away a looseness that comedy benefits from. There is too much going on for them to be able to pause and milk the laughs, for instance. There is too much to allow a little improvisation. The result is all the great business looks a tad contrived. On the other hand, you won’t see better dead knocked-out stage falls than Branagh in this, and he has to do a lot of them.

The-Painkiller-Kenneth-Branagh-Theatre-Company-Kenneth-Branagh-Ralph-Marcus-Fraser-Policeman_Credit-Johan-Persson_01698

Marcus Fraser as the policeman. Ralph pretends he’s a photographer

I’m also going to be very picky on one aspect. There are a lot of door slams into the face, a given in the genre. A few weeks ago, the cast of Talking Scarlet’s farce/thriller A Secondary Cause of Death gave a masterclass in door slamming. Every time they did it, you winced in shock before you laughed. Here you just laughed. I felt the punches never quite looked real either, especially when Ralph beats up the policeman. Branagh was telegraphing them. I also thought the gun looked “light” in weight – but no doubt these modern ones are a lot lighter than the Lee Enfields we used as forced army cadets at school.

So “slightly lesser door slams” and slapstick fighting, and a certain lack of room to milk laughs, and adjust pausing just shades it below a five. But we are seeing it a week in. Though they did it before, it was five years ago on a different stage.  It could well be that a further week or so will allow them to relax a little.

****

PROGRAMME

£5 as against the RSC/ National / Globe norm of £4. Two very good articles, Sean Foley on Veber and an interview with Foley and Power on this production. But that would be expected in the others too. A very slight case of milking the price, though not at Cumberbatch’s swingeing £8 level last year.

PRICING

It’s the West End. They are doing cheap seats at £17.50 and all credit to them. But in the best seats at £95, this 85 minute production (no interval), is exceeding £1 a minute. The door slamming comparison made me aware as I wrote the review that this can cost FIVE times as much as Talking Scarlet’s touring production, which also had me laughing non-stop. It’s also 50% more than the RSC or National doing Shakespeare for twice the amount of time, with a cast of thirty plus. OK, in Broadway terms it’s still an unbelievably cheap bargain. In London terms though? I realise that if they underprice, the difference will be rapidly garnered by ticket agencies and scalpers.

SONG CREDITS

It happens every time. Chris de Burgh’s The Lady in Red is a running gag, sung by Rob Brydon. It should be credited along with carpenters and transport in the programme. OK, they’re taking the piss out of it, but even so songwriters deserve credit.

LINKED REVIEWS ON THIS BLOG

KENNETH BRANAGH
The Winter’s Tale, Kenneth Branagh Company
Harlequinade, Kenneth Branagh Company

ROB BRYDON
Future Conditional, by Tamsin Oglesby, Old Vic, London

MARK HADFIELD
Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, Brighton Theatre Royal & tour

CLAUDIE BLAKELEY
Rules for Living, National Theatre
Comedy of Errors, National Theatre

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        • 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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