THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (Lawrence Batley Theatre/Barn Theatre/New Wolsey Theatre/Oxford Playhouse/Theatr Clwyd)****

 

By Aashiq 

Link: https://www.pictureofdoriangray.com 

Available until: Performances every day until Wednesday 31^st March. Access is for 48 hours.

Yes, I know I’ve already written one review today, but I needed cheering up. It didn’t work or anything, but I want to review it and if anyone tries to stop me, they’ll soon wish they hadn’t. I’m just not worth the stress.

Earlier in lockdown, Barn Theatre, the Lawrence Batley Theatre and New Wolsey Theatre did a play/film together called What a Carve Up!. Luckily, the public saw its brilliance, and its success meant that the theatres decided to team up again for a new project, only this time they let the Oxford Playhouse and Theatr Clwyd in on it. Which makes it a proper international production, but it did confuse me, going to the theatre websites and seeing that every theatre in existence had decided to do Dorian Gray all at the same time. It was like A Christmas Carol all over again, only without the turkey. It was only once they all started showing identical images for their productions that I realised the whole world hadn’t gone Wilde.

WHAT A CARVE UP (Barn Theatre/Lawrence Batley Theatre/New Wolsey Theatre)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.whatacarveup.com £12 or £16 with goody bag (programme plus a selection of recipes)

Available until: The performance you book becomes available at 7.30pm on the day of the performance and can be accessed for 48 hours. The final performance is on 29^th November 2020.

Warning: 16+ - features strong language and graphic descriptions of murder

What a Carve Up! is based on a novel by Jonathan Coe from 1991, though Henry Filloux-Bennett’s adaption includes scenes set in the present and addresses some of the issues we’re facing now. I would say What a Carve Up! is a film rather than a play as it is filmed on location - with social-distancing, from what I remember (I was too focused on the story to take note of this properly) though it seems very much a play about the distance between people, whether that’s physical or emotional or a time distance or separation due to death. The title might suggest a comedy and it has been described as a satire, but it didn’t really seem that way to me – though perhaps it might have done if I was old enough to remember Margaret Thatcher (I don’t even really remember Tony Blair but I’ve been told that’s probably for the best) or if I’d seen the comedy film from which the play takes his name. The political situation of the present seems more a tragedy than anything else and I can’t really imagine seeing the humour in it.