Episode notes
Jodi and I were lucky enough to be invited to see Elephant at the Bush Theatre last week. Elephant is a one-woman show, written and performed by Anoushka Lucas. Anoushka is a very talented singer, songwriter, actor and writer. As an actor she has appeared in Oklahoma! at the Young Vic, Henry V at the Donmar, After Life at the National, and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Open Air theatre in Regent's Park. She has written musical scores for other shows, and released an album of her own music, Dark Soul . Elephant is her first play, which was first seen at the Bush last year, and now returns in…
Podcast
The Play Review
Douglas Schatz and Jodi Rilot · Arts & Books · English
Douglas Schatz and Jodi Rilot review some of the current productions on stage in London. Douglas is the founder and host of The Play Podcast www.theplaypodcast.com, and Jodi is an avid theatre-goer as well as a community theatre director and actor.
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E14 · 23 Dec 2024 · 20 min
Autumn 2024 Roundup
I review some of the highlights of the shows that I've seen in London this Autumn. Brief reviews include: Death of England, The Real Thing, Abigail's Party, A Raisin in the Sun, Corialanus, Juno and the Paycock, Oedipus, Fear of 13, The Forsyte Saga and The Importance of Being Earnest.
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E13 · 12 Jun 2024 · 19 min
Bluets
Jodi and I review Bluets at the Royal Court theatre in London. Bluets is a dramatisation of American writer Maggie Nelson's poetic memoir, adapted by playwright Margaret Perry, and directed by Katie Mitchell. The production boasts a starry cast including Ben Whishaw, Emma D'Arcy and Kayla Meikle. Maggie Nelson's book is a collection of 240 brief paragraphs, sometimes as short as a single sentence, which chronicle her obsession with the colour blue. Her choice of the colour blue chimes with the psychological exploration that she also undertakes in writing the book, because she records and…
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E12 · 1 May 2024 · 23 min
The Hills of California
Jodi and I review The Hills of California by Jez Butterworth, currently playing at the Harold Pinter theatre in London's West End, directed by Sam Mendes. Do not be misled by the title; we are not in sunny California, but in the back streets of Blackpool, where four daughters come together to say goodbye to their dying mother. The play is a portrait of lost dreams, of deeply ingrained patterns of love and hurt within a family, and of suppressed and mutable memories. A new Jez Butterworth play is a theatrical event. Does it live up to our high expectations?
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E11 · 22 Mar 2024 · 27 min
An Enemy of the People
Jodi and I review An Enemy of the People , which is currently playing at the Duke of York's theatre in London's West End. Matt Smith, who of course many will know from Dr Who, stars in Ibsen's fable of truth and lies, political compromise and the environmental costs of capitalism. This production is very much a contemporary adaptation of Ibsen's original play. It was conceived by the German director Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubuhne theatre in Berlin, where Ostermeier is the Artistic Director, and has now been redrafted in English by the British playwright, Duncan Macmillan. While the…
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E10 · 23 Nov 2023 · 20 min
Clyde's
Jodi and I review Lynn Nottage's play Clyde's which is currently on stage at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London. The show is directed by Lynette Linton, who directed Nottage's last play at the Donmar, Sweat back in 2018, which I thought was a fabulous show. Clyde's premiered on Broadway in November 2021, and was nominated for four Tony awards in 2022. According to American Theatre magazine it was the most-produced play in non-profit theatres in America in 2022–2023, so there's something about this play that touches a nerve. Lynn Nottage is very well known in America, having won the…
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E8 · 9 Oct 2023 · 24 min
Pygmalion
Jodi and I review the new production of Pygmalion at the Old Vic in London. Pygmalion is arguably George Bernard Shaw's most famous play, partly of course because it spawned the even-more famous musical and film My Fair Lady. The play offers two iconic parts in Eliza and Higgins, played famously in the film by Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. The Old Vic production boasts two of the most respected stage actors of our time in Patsy Ferran, fresh from her Olivier-winning run as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire , and Bertie Carvel, who has conjured the figures of Donald Trump and Rupert…
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E7 · 30 Sep 2023 · 19 min
God of Carnage
The show that we are reviewing today is God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, which is currently playing at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith in West London. The play, written in French and translated by Christopher Hampton, had its English language debut in the West End back in 2008. The play followed Reza's earlier play Art, which was a worldwide hit in the 1990s, being translated into 30 languages and winning Olivier and Tony awards. God of Carnage was similarly a popular and critical success, reprising the Olivier and Tony awards, and in 2011 the play was also turned into a movie, Carnage ,…
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E6 · 15 Sep 2023 · 25 min
The Effect
Lucy Prebble's 2012 play The Effect is revived in an updated version at the National Theatre, directed by Jamie Lloyd, and starring Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell. The play charts the effects on two young people who participate in a residential drug trial, during the course of which they fall in love; but can they trust that their feelings are real? Jamie Lloyd's work as a director is not to everyone's taste – so what did Jodi and I make of his version of this very thought-provoking play?
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E5 · 21 Aug 2023 · 32 min
Accidental Death of an Anarchist and The Pillowman
Jodi and I review two shows in this episode. First up is Dario Fo's classic farce Accidental Death of an Anarchist which has been updated to modern-day Britain by Tom Basden. This hilarious new adaptation is directed by Dan Raggett, and is running at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until 9th September. Our second review is of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End, directed by Matthew Dunster, and starring Lily Allen and Steve Pemberton. How does McDonagh's uneasy mix of horror and dark comedy work in this revival of his 2004 play?
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E4 · 10 Aug 2023 · 28 min
Dear England
Jodi and I review James Graham's latest play Dear England , which is running on the Olivier stage at the National Theatre in London until 11th August 2023, but you will have another chance to cheer when it transfers to the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End from the 9th of October. Graham has earned acclaim for masterfully turning contemporary British history into accessible and thought-provoking theatrical drama. Dear England charts the rise and influence of Gareth Southgate as the Manager of the England men's football team from his appointment in 2016 to the present day. As unlikely as…
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