THE title of Lucy Kirkwood’s short but sharply satirical play, set in the world of lads’ and ladies’ glossy mags, stands for Not Safe For Work, referring to Internet content unsuitable for viewing while at work.
EVEN a last-minute enforced change of venue could not daunt this always-watchable company from mounting a most enjoyable version of Joan Macalpine’s adaptation of Henry Fielding’s bawdy 18th century romp through the bedrooms and taverns of Somerset and London.
Although Richard ruled England for 22 years, Shakespeare’s play focuses on the events of the last two years of his reign, and Ken Hann’s accessible touring production told the story with clarity and pace, against a backdrop of ladders and flags, the intimacy of the Studio Theatre emphasising the tensions, betrayals and murders involved in the king’s abdication and his cousin Bolingbroke’s accession to the throne as Henry 1V.
THE premise of a disparate array of family members gathering on a Yorkshire hillside to scatter their late father’s ashes is not an unreasonable one, particularly as it transpires that the place specified for their scattering was where he buried his ill-gotten gains from a life of crime.
Southsea Shakespeare Actors, Station Theatre, Hayling Island.
ON a sweltering opening night, an all-female cast worked hard to bring this tale of hypocrisy, double-dealing and moral dilemma into a contemporary setting, with just a few movable clothes rails for the staging.
With some strong performances, and some good ideas (particularly in the staging and lighting), Malcolm Chewter’s debut production for SUP took us back to the louche decadence of 1920s America, and focused on the relationship between idle millionaire Jay Gatsby and his neighbour Nick Carraway, cousin to Daisy Buchanan, with whom Gatsby is in love.
THIS was a fine evening’s entertainment and, though delayed from its original January slot, was very well worth waiting for in every respect.
ANY play about the onset of incontinence and senility needs extremely careful handling, and in the experienced hands of Bob Larbey, one of the country’s foremost scriptwriters, these subjects are tackled head-on in this touching and extremely funny play.
