All stories by Libby Purves on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

COMUS Wanamaker, SE1 by Libby Purves

A MIRTHFUL MORALITY If Lucy Bailey's wickedly funny interpretation of Milton's moralising work gets another run (make it so!) anyone auditioning should make sure they are one of the parts wh…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:27PM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 30, 2016

RAGTIME Charing Cross Theatre, SW1 by Libby Purves

AMERICA'S STORY, EVERYBODY'S SONG     America's twentieth century belongs to all of us, and its events and themes echo round the world: the rise of corporate power, the racial and …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 02:05PM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 29, 2016

GLOBE GREATS REMEMBERED by Libby Purves

This is an unusual post, not about any current production,  and far too long.   And the latest current reviews are available below, AMADEUS at the top and well worth it.    But t…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 02:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 26, 2016

AMADEUS Olivier, SE1 by Libby Purves

ONE OF THE GREAT NIGHTS   The old man’s eye is unforgiving, his squat wrecked strength of will cows the vast room as he invokes us – “ghosts of the future" – to …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:07PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 25, 2016

A PACIFIST'S GUIDE TO THE WAR ON CANCER Dorfman, SE1 by Libby Purves

TUMOURS, RUMOURS,  A BIT OF HUMOUR   The cancer thing finished off another old friend at the weekend, the call coming between the official press night and my getting to Bryony Kimmin…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:08PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 18, 2016

A MAN OF GOOD HOPE Young Vic, SE1 by Libby Purves

AN AFRICAN ODYSSEY   Not all refugees are in Calais or aiming for here. This enthralling piece from Mark Dornford-May's Isango Ensemble of Cape Town tells another story, an African epic…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:27PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 17, 2016

THE RED BARN Lyttelton SE1 by Libby Purves

NOT A BARNSTORMER. NOT THIS TIME..   About 65 minutes in, the willowy monotone Mona sighingly asks her lover "Don't you get tired of your character? I think I do". So civil is the Natio…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:24PM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 15, 2016

OIL Almeida, N1 by Libby Purves

CO-CRITIC  LUKE JONES,   VIRTUOUSLY UNLUBRICATED,   DEPLOYS THE DIPSTICK OF JUDGEMENT..   What I like about the Almeida is that is that the audience smells as if they've bee…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:29AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 13, 2016

THE DRESSER Duke of York's, WC2 by Libby Purves

A DEVOTED DIGNITY   I was a little wary of this, the last two productions I saw (including the TV one) having left me mildly irritated and almost bored. For all its skill and wit, there…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:20PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 11, 2016

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI Donmar, WC2 by Libby Purves

AMERICA AT A CROSSROADS, 1964   When Teresa May at the Tory Conference quoted the Sam Cooke lyric "A change is gonna come" , many on the left suffered, not unreasonably, a violent conni…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:36PM[SHARE]

STRAIGHT TO THE HEART Arts, WC2 by Libby Purves

LIVES IN A LUNCHTIME      Having swerved going to the Edinburgh Fringe this year (costs, personal issues, exhaustion , don't ask) I felt I was owed some hour-long daytime sessio…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 12:10PM[SHARE]

THE AUTUMN GARDEN Jermyn St Theatre, SW1 by Libby Purves

AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER…SOUTHERN ACCIDIE.. Lilian Hellman – tough, personally unconventional, a liberal ahead of her time – counted this as one of her favourite works. Most …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 11:42AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 7, 2016

A ROOM WITH A VIEW Theatre Royal, Bath by Libby Purves

SEX AND SOCIALISM:   AN EDWARDIAN ESCAPE    The view E.M.Forster sought for his heroine in the novel is more than a pretty Italian backdrop or a Surrey hillside – t…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 04:33PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 4, 2016

TRAVESTIES Menier SE1 by Libby Purves

A SURREAL SPRITZER     Zurich a century ago: the still centre of a wheel of war, neutral refuge of “spies, exiles, refugees, artists , writers , revolutionaries and radicals…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:05PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

THE LIBERTINE Theatre Royal Haymarket, SW1 by Libby Purves

COMIC DARING, DILDO-JABBING, PHILOSOPHICAL DESPAIR…     It is not surprising that theatre falls in love with the Restoration : the stage itself springing back to life after Purit…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:48PM[SHARE]

THE WIPERS TIMES Watermill Theatre , W.Berks & touring by Libby Purves

  OH, WHAT A WITTY, AND PITIFUL, WAR   There is greatness in joking at the mouth of Hell; especially if those jokes are part of comradeship, a gift to those alongside. A hundred ye…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 03:07AM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 24, 2016

IMOGEN (Cymbeline) Shakespeare's Globe SE1 by Libby Purves

GUEST CRITIC LUKE JONES DOWN WID DA SHAKESPEARE  KIDZ     Someone find Mark Rylance and distract him. Take him far from Bankside so he can't see what they've done. Not only are …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 03:27AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 21, 2016

NO MAN'S LAND Wyndham's, WC2 by Libby Purves

AGE, MEMORY, WHISKY AND DEATH… DRINK TO THAT   “But you see, its ABOUT being rather bored and baffled. Thats the POINT” said a pleading voice in the interval scuffle. S…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:42PM[SHARE]

HOW TO DATE A FEMINIST Arcola, E8 by Libby Purves

 LIBERATION AND COURTSHIP IN A HEAD-ON CLASH   Not long left for Samantha Ellis' knowing, teasing little comedy of modern manners and delusions, and it's well worth a look. It was a …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 11:51AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 18, 2016

GIRLS Hightide Festival, Aldeburgh by Libby Purves

CHILD PRISONERS OF TERROR     The faces of Nigerian Chibok schoolgirls – kidnapped en masse from school or in smaller village raids – haunt the world. Bright teenage…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 11:56AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 12, 2016

PILGRIMS Hightide Festival, Aldeburgh by Libby Purves

TWO UP A MOUNTAIN, ONE LOOKING UP IN ANGER From Wales to this easternmost festival Tamara Harvey – newish artistic director of Theatr Clwyd – brings a new play by Elinor Cook. It…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 01:30PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 1, 2016

KING LEAR Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon by Libby Purves

A SERIOUS, DARK-TONED MORALITY     The court is ancient, formal, superstitious. Hunched and huddled figures, anonymously poor, scuttle aside for the courtiers to assemble. When the…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:18PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 31, 2016

ALLEGRO southwark playhouse, SE1 by Libby Purves

A RARITY, AND A TOPICAL TREAT     It's an American story and a universal one: choose money and status, or idealistic service? Big business or big heart, slick city or smalltown val…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 10:30AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 30, 2016

THE ENTERTAINER Garrick, SW1 by Libby Purves

KENNETH BRANAGH IS NO KEN DODD…     If you find yourself in an audience of maturer years , flee quickly at the final curtain, or someone will creakingly inform you that they …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:45PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 16, 2016

GROUNDHOG DAY O ld Vic, SE1 by Libby Purves

MINCHIN MAGIC.  ONE TO SEE AGAIN. AND AGAIN.     The film by Danny Rubin gave us the expression for eternal déja-vu: Bill Murray played Phil the arrogant celebrity weatherman, …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:49PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 5, 2016

YOUNG CHEKHOV Olivier, SE1 by Libby Purves

A TREMENDOUS TRINITY      This trilogy, transferred from Chichester is an epic: a thrilling voyage through time to the earliest days of Anton Chekhov. And, if it is not too philis…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 12:49PM[SHARE]

YERMA Young Vic, SE1 by Libby Purves

A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR ALL TIMES AND NATIONS…   "Allow for a three-gin recovery period" advised a tweeter, during the previews of Simon Stone's take on this perennial theme of baby…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 12:13PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 29, 2016

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S Theatre Royal Haymarket SW1 by Libby Purves

GUEST CRITIC LUKE JONES LIKES LOTT A LOT…     It's easy to get worked up by celebrities and big names crowding out the talented-but-unknown usuals. 'They're just there to get…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 02:01AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 26, 2016

HALF A SIXPENCE Chichester Festival Theatre by Libby Purves

FLASH BANG WALLOP..     This 1963 show – based loosely on H.G.Wells' semiautobiographical KIPPS – was originally a vehicle for Tommy Steele. And there were moments, as …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:51PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 25, 2016

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD 1 & 2 Palace Theatre, W1 by Libby Purves

  JUST WHAT WE WAND-ED?   It's not only Henry IV who gets two plays. Cry God for Harry, Hogwarts and St Joanne: the woman who (whether you love the tales or not) admirably got a tell…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:50PM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 16, 2016

FRACKED Minerva, Chichester by Libby Purves

THE NEW F-WORD (AND A FAIR FEW OF THE OLD ONE)   You can trust Alistair Beaton to keep a cast learning last-minute lines. Here, just as grace-notes alongside the main theme, are jokes a…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 04:58AM[SHARE]

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