THIS IS THE PLAY WITHOUT A TITLE (The Far Away Plays)****

 

By Dave

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23fpdOl28lk 

Available until: Unknown

We’ve known about The Far Away Plays for a while but this is only the second time we’ve actually watched one. I doubt it will be the last. Judging from the standard of this play, we’ve missed some really great performances.

This version of This is the Play Without a Title was written by Simon Harris but it’s actually based on a play by Anton Chekhov. Chekhov didn’t much like it, it was never performed in his lifetime and he thought it had been destroyed but his sister had hidden it. After Chekhov’s death the play was rediscovered and performed. The work was untitled but an article in the Sydney Theatre magazine suggests it might have originally been called Fatherlessness, and it has been presented under many titles including A Long Play Without a Title, Chekhov’s First Play, Platonov, which is the name of the character at the centre of it all, and rather more confusingly, Wild Honey in an adaptation by Michael Frayn. Chekhov’s other works include A Story Without a Title so maybe that influenced the sort of title this play is usually given.

THE GINGERBREAD MAN (Theatre by the Lake/Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company)*****

 

By Lottie & Ricky

Link: https://www.theatrebythelake.com/event/gingerbread 

Available until: Performances on Monday 5^th and Tuesday 6^th April at 4pm

 

I WENT TO YOUR GRAVE TODAY (Gate Generations/Gate Theatre)***

 

By Dave 

Link: https://www.gatetheatre.co.uk/gate-generations 

Available until: Unknown

I Went to Your Grave Today is part of the series of short scenes paying tribute to past Gate Theatre productions. Some actors are performing scenes from the plays, others have rewritten them, others have written something in response to the play.

AN ELEPHANT IN THE GARDEN (Barn Theatre)****

 

By Alba

Link: https://barntheatre.org.uk/elephant-in-the-garden 

Available until: 18^th April 2021

Age rating: 8+

An Elephant in the Garden is based on a book by Michael Morpurgo. He wrote War Horse too. He writes proper books. I don’t like soppy books and I think Harry Potter is total stinking rubbish but Michael Morpurgo writes about real stuff.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT IT? (Five Star Theatre/Stream Theatre)*****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/80 

Available until: 8^th April at 11.59pm GMT. Available on demand.

Can We Talk About It? is a set of eight monologues (including three which feature the same character) about subjects we ought to talk about but very often don’t. They’re produced by Ethan J. Smith and Rhian Tilley and I would guess that part of their aim is to encourage people to talk about it, whether that means sharing our own problems or talking about some of the issues raised in these monologues.

BABYLON (Future Voices/Southwark Playhouse)

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hENM4sMGZbU 

Available until: Unknown

Just a reminder that Future Voices is a series of plays written by young people. I don't give star ratings because I don't want to compare them with the other Future Voices plays. But the standard of writing is very high and if I did give stars, they would compare very favourably to plays by professional writers.

Babylon is set in a strange world. Rules are different. Names are different. There are two characters. One of them seems to have some understanding of what’s going on. The other has questions and wants to understand more about the world she lives in.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (The Shows Must Go On)****

 

By Imogen 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BseBCzOh6s 

Available until: Sunday 4^th April at about 7pm

Jesus Christ Superstar was one of the first musicals Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber put online for free and now he’s bringing it back to celebrate Easter. Not that Easter was exactly the best time for Jesus but there are great musicals on all sorts of weird subjects. Sir Andrew has also written musicals about cats hanging round a junk yard and trains having races with each other and that sounds so boring but they’re actually good musicals.