Last 10 things seen at the theatre: #003

Finally! Another ten trips have passed! I very much hope to increase the amount of posts I make in future (o my poor neglected blog!), and figure this is as good an entry to restart with as any.

Friday 5: life lessons from this month's theatre

Theatre is not just for entertainment. Theatre can also be for imparting valuable life lessons that we should all learn. Here is what I have learned in March by going to the theatre.

Last 10 things seen at the theatre: #002

Hello! I'm very much afraid that life is still getting in the way of reviewing. However, it's not getting in the way of theatre trips, so out comes this meme again. The last 10 trips seem to have gone by very quickly!

Friday 5: favourite seats

When you go to the theatre a lot, it's inevitable you will find yourself returning to the same theatres. And when you return to the same theatres a lot, especially the smaller ones, sooner or later you will notice yourself sitting in a seat you've sat in before. And when that happens, you start picking favourites, based on both location and cost. Here are some of mine.

Friday 5: favourite Shakespeare plays

I've been in Stratford-upon-Avon all evening, and I'm now very very sleepy, so I hope you'll forgive me for just bashing out a quick, easy, and Shakespeare-related Friday 5 this week.

You can basically split Shakespeare's plays into five categories - Comedy, Tragedy, History, Romance, and Problem. (Sometimes I'm half-convinced there's a sub-category called What The Hell is Troilus and Cressida Anyway? but that could just be me.) So if you ever wondered what my favourite play of each type is, click for more!

Last 10 things seen at the theatre: #001

The purpose of starting this blog was to see if I could keep up any sort of regularity in reviewing the various plays, musicals, and other things I go to see at the theatre. My output thus far, however, has served mostly to suggest that I was trying to run before I could walk.

While I'm mostly keeping on top of my weekly "Friday 5" opinion posts (apart from this week, when illness got in the way), I'm finding it an extraordinary challenge to actually write coherent theatre reviews. It's not so very difficult when you absolutely adore a production, and it's even easier when the production goes out of its way to hit you over head with flaws. But the vast majority of productions - for better or for worse - land somewhere between the two extremes. Hence the difficulty in knowing what to write.

I'm going to keep working at it. I actually have a mess of unfinished reviews tucked away in my drafts folder, and I'm expecting to write a great many more in the future. But for now, I want to do something that publicly lists what I've been to see and records opinions I have. So I've dug out this questionnaire that I like to fill in every now and then, and I'll be redoing it every ten theatre trips, even if I do manage to get up to speed with my reviewing. I hope it'll somewhat serve as an interim opinion post despite not being especially indepth.

Review: Frankenstein, National (Olivier)

The hot ticket for spring 2011 is Danny Boyle's triumphant return to theatre directing with an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Not only does it have Benedict Cumberbatch, not only does it have Jonny Lee Miller, but they're both playing the Doctor and the Creature! In turns! For anyone who's a fan of either actor, or just intrigued to see how the dynamics differ according to who's who, this crafty gimmick has ensured that Frankenstein is now a doubly hot ticket. And at Wednesday's second press night, the 1,000+ seat Olivier was absolutely crammed to the gills with people curious to see if this production is really worth all the hype.

The casting combo for this particular performance saw Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature and Jonny Lee Miller as the Doctor.