Rev Stan's Theatre Blog
London theatre reviews and interviews
Category: Old Vic
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Video review transcript: How did Oedipus at the Old Vic compare to the production at the Wyndham’s last year [starring Leslie Manville and Mark Strong]? I think Wyndham’s is definitely the winner for me. This production at the Old Vic, starring Rami Malek and Indira Varma, mixes dance and play. And at first, I loved…
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There's been a lot of buzz on social media about The Constituent at the Old Vic, and on paper, it holds a lot of promise. But did it live up to expectations? Anna Maxwell Martin plays Monica, a back-bench opposition MP who is having new security cameras and a panic button fitted at her constituency…
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This was my first Pygmalion. I've not seen My Fair Lady either (musical 🥴), but I know of it, I know the story, so I was curious to see a production. This Old Vic production kicks off with a stagey bustle of posh people sheltering from the rain outside the Royal Opera House with snatches…
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There is a scene in Eureka Day at the Old Vic during which the audience is roaring with laughter, but it isn't anything to do with the actors who are on stage or what they are saying. And it isn't a mistake, it is intended, and it's a genius scene for a couple of reasons,…
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About halfway through the first half of Jitney at the Old Vic, I had set my mind on leaving at the interval. I couldn't connect with anything or see any signs of what it was building towards. Jitney, Old Vic theatre 2022 The rapid pace of the opening scene, where the drivers at Becker's (Wil…
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Camp Siegfried is more than a German-themed summer camp for German Americans in 1938 Long Island; alongside all the usual fun activities, Nazi doctrines are openly pedalled. Camp Siegfried, Old Vic, Sept 2021. Photo: Rev Stan The camp is based on a real Camp Siegfried, which operated in the 1930s and included flower beds in…
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This week's theatre question is inspired by the wintery weather. The weathermen forecast snow for this weekend here in London but instead, it's peeing it down with rain. Not that I mind too much snow is just a pain – on those rare occasions we get it in the city. Anyway, the prospect of snow…
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If you had a theatre-watching nightmare, one where you were forced to sit an watch something and it was everything you hate, what would that look like for you? For me, it would be a musical, written by Tom Stoppard and starring Ben Whishaw for reasons I explain in the video below. There is one…
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I miss sitting in a theatre and watching a live performance. I miss it terribly. But the Old Vic's latest In Camera production – Brian Friel's Faith Healer – not only worked really well as a live stream, it might have worked better. The 'curtain' during scene changes I've seen the play before, a production…